My husband and I were watching Gordon Ramsay’s “Great Escape”. It’s a documentary about his trip to India where he tasted different kinds of food, cooked in a train, and tried the authentic chutney which was made out of ant eggs and chili. They showed authentic Indian cuisine – talk about an egg placed inside a quail, the quail placed inside a chicken, then the chicken placed inside a goat, then the goat placed on top of some specially cooked rice. It was prepared for a wedding and people loved it.
So my hubs and I wanted to try Indian cuisine because some of the food they showed- especially the curry looked really tasty! We checked online for an Indian restaurant near our place, but we just missed their lunch special and we don’t want to spend so much money on food, so we figured we’d just try it some other time. Instead of going to an Indian restaurant, we decided to visit a Thai place since there’s one near us.
The first Thai place we went to was closed, so we went to another one called Smile Thai (Chai Thai before). The place was tiny and it was almost empty except for a family who are enjoying their lunch. We were greeted by a very nice waitress and we chose the tiny bunk seat right at the corner of the restaurant. We were handed the menu- which, by the way looked a little tacky for menu prices which costs more than $12! The menu was printed in white bond paper and it was placed inside a thin, green folder. Check their prices here: http://www.letseat.at/chaithaicuisine/menu (their lunch specials are not updated here. It's $6.95 when we went there). So much for not going to the Indian restaurant to save money.
It was embarrassing to leave, so we just ordered anyway. I have been to Thailand and staying there for a month made me a big fan of Thai food. I love the spices, flavor, and how much you could possibly cry when you don’t say mai pet (not spicy). Even when I say mai pet, it’s still spicy but I have learned to love it. I used to order the seafood rice which was 70baht at a restaurant near our Via Lingua school. It’s rice with shrimps, squid, shrimp paste, and lots of green onions. It was the best! Good thing that my classmates and I walk more than a mile everyday, so I lost weight even if I was eating so much rice everyday. I also remember having green curry one time and it was served in a bowl with a side of rice. It tasted okay, but I really didn’t like it ‘coz it has herbs in it that I don’t like and it had a weird after taste. I tried one of my friends yellow curry and it was good, so I made sure that I ordered the yellow curry when we went back to that restaurant. Yeah, I did order the yellow curry at Smile Thai and my hubs ordered drunken noodles. I wasn’t really expecting a lot ‘coz I thought it would just serve the Americanized Thai cuisine. The waitress asked us how hot we want our food to be; we just said medium hot ‘coz we both love spicy food.
So our order arrived… the servings were HUGE! No wonder they are overpriced! But it was worth the price, coz I was speechless when I tasted the curry. It was just like the curry I had in Thailand! American sized serving with the authentic Thai taste! I normally eat half of my rice, but this time I finished one cup ‘coz the curry was so good. My husband loved his drunken noodles and also finished one whole plate. He was sweating and all red while eating ‘coz the food was really spicy even when we said “medium” hot. I got used to it ‘coz that’s how they do it in Thailand. Our waitress was really nice and she kept coming back to offer us a glass of water. You totally need a glass of water with the spice they put in your food. We finished both of what we ordered and it was worth every cent we paid. We have learned our lesson though- visit the place from 11am til 3:30pm so you can take advantage of their lunch specials which is only for $6.95. The yellow curry and drunken noodle is part of the deal! You can even order fried ice cream for dessert.
I’m giving this restaurant 4 out of 5 stars. It’s just a little too pricey when you’re not ordering their lunch specials and the ambiance is a little sad. But with a friendly owner(she did say hi to us and asked how our food was) and waitress who would attend to your needs, you would just brush the feeling off and enjoy a hearty meal. The restaurant is called Smile Thai for a reason- that’s ‘coz the people who work there (at least those we met that day) are always smiling and we left the place with a smile on our face ‘coz the food was great! We will definitely go back to this place – at lunch this time.
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| Yellow Curry (click to enlarge) |
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| Drunken noodle(s) (click to enlarge) |
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