Glenn C.
Yelp
Short review: Very good Southern Thai. Would recommend the Kua Kling/southern dry curry the most along with the Yum Hua Plee/banana blossom salad but everything was good. Perhaps would get duck elsewhere. Good cocktail selection. A bit drafty in front.
I went to this newcomer Thai spot a while back (overdue review) with one of my usual groups after he had found glowing reviews and I agree with most of them. As someone who usually prefers northern Thai food, the southern stuff here is excellent. We had a mix of dishes. They have a mix of unique cocktails and I went with the Saowarat with whiskey, green tea syrup, honey syrup, lemon juice, and pineapple juice. Very nice cocktail which was strong but had a good balance from the rest of the ingredients. The rest who had drinks loved their cocktails as well.
Our first dish that arrived was the Puek Tod for $13 which consisted of Taro cakes with radish, coconut, and peanut topped with fried garlic and served with house made sweet chili sauce. Nice texture for the taro cakes. Not overly fried and satisfying. Soon arriving was one of the best dishes of the night, the Yum Hua Plee for $16. This was a banana blossom salad with shrimp, ground pork, coconut milk, lime juice, fish sauce and roasted chili paste topped with fried green onion and mint. Similar to a laarb in terms of the toppings but I preferred the texture heavily from the banana blossoms. Very good stuff.
The Kua (or Khua) Kling consisting of a southern style roasted curry with ground pork, kaffir lime leaf and Thai chili served with jasmine rice and fried egg for $19 was my favorite of the main dishes and this might have been the best version I have had. Terrifically spiced with a perfect amount of kaffir lime to balance out the heavy heat. Would recommend heavily. Also good was the Roti Nam Kean for $21 consisting of southern Thai style pan fried roti with massaman curry made with potato, white onion, peanut, coconut milk topped with fried shallot. We got it with chicken and it was great. The massaman wasn't as overly sweet as other spots which is quite a good thing. I would only complain that I think there should have been more of the roti.
The Kra Prow (or Phat kaphrao) for $19 consisting of ground pork or ground chicken sautéed with basil, fresh chili pepper, garlic and onion in spicy basil sauce, served with jasmine fried rice and fried egg was quite good. We got ground pork and it was very nicely spiced with a good amount of basil. The fried egg had a better texture than most Thai spots and mixed in well with the rest of the ingredients. Our other main was the Kaeng Phed Ped for $27 which was a roast duck curry with pineapple, tomato, chili paste and coconut milk, served with jasmine rice. This was more on the sweet end with the pineapple almost reminding me of jackfruit which how sweet it was. Solid dish though I have preferred the duck at other Thai spots and it was probably the weakest of the dishes.
Consistent excellent Thai dishes. Would prefer larger portions overall but the flavors are outstanding. My only complaint otherwise is that the front was very drafty. Mid 4.