Gary I.
Yelp
Bua Siam, strip mall Thai on Sherman Way right near Pa Ord, Sanamluang, and other Thai stores & eateries about a half mile south of Wat Thai Buddhist Temple. Very small & narrow, casual restaurant decorated with tchotchkes.
The fountain in the front corner is charming w/ pottery Thai dolls that remind me a bit of trolls, elves, or dwarves some people here use to decorate their lawns. A rubber ducky, Japanese Hello Kitty, & a smiling frog lying on its back hands behind his head also keep company.
I ordered through the new Yelp ordering system which was easy & fast. This way of ordering is more fail safe since ordering eover the phone may make it so the person taking the order mishears due to bad connection, noise in the restaurant, possible language gap. All you have to do is click the bar that has the name of what you want to order. Prepay by credit card or pay cash at the counter upon your arrival. You can also keep your credit card on file with Yelp so that you don't have to worry about putting in your credit card number w/ every order.
1) Ordered an old school dish from the late 1970's & 80's which isn't on many menus now. Mi Krob or Mee Grop is thin rice noodles thrown into hot vegetable oil so it puffs up & crisps.
Bua Siam version seems tossed in a mixture of sweet & sour red tamarind sauce, extremely sautéed small chicken strips so it seems like candied, dried jerky along w/ severely overcooked hard, tough shrimps. The portion is generous for the price however.
Because this is such a dry, sweet dish, I found it better to take it home to thinly shred cabbage, romaine lettuce, red onions & toss it all together so it becomes a sweet-sour crunchy, refreshing vegetal salad. Just eating it as it is makes for an almost monotone dry taste spectrum where one can get bored easily.
2) Pad Ka Prow w/ rice: The classic is to have this over rice, but Bua Siam sautées chiles, garlic, fragrant Thai basil, Nampla/fish sauce, soy sauce along w/ my choice of small pork strips and also dumps the jasmine rice toward the end to have a fried rice effect.
I like the contrast of the bland pure white steamed rice to contrast to the more spicy, salty, aromatic sautéed portion. However, Bua Siam's version has all the right flavours. Another huge generous portion.
I'm a big eater, but they give you so much that I was able to finish the Mi Krob since it is the type of food that will not keep since it gets stale so quickly in or out of the refrigerator. I had a few bites of the Pad Ka Prow to get an idea what its flavours were. There is still enough for at least more two lunches.
Bua Siam may not have sophisticated, refined Thai style cuisine, but it is a deal. You get a lot of bang for the bucks when all you want is basically down home Thai cooking in mass quantities. For now, 3++ Yelp stars for a whole lot of good food at a low price.
