Thai food

[quote=“Huang Guang Chen”]My GF is Thai, I eat at home and man is it good. The very best of Thai food involves a mortar and pestle.

HG[/quote]
They have one at the Bitan Bridge on the weekend. Athula’s rotis and green papaya salad. Fusion at its finest!

if you’re by Shipai station the place there is really good now. it’s one of the 2 “a-hui” places there run by the same family. they are on your left as you walk out of station, both have blue signs. you want the one down street a bit from station, sign reads “東方泰國餐館.” lady i believe they said is from burma cooking there now, she may be burmese-chinese but thai food is on money, pad thai, chili fried rice, papaya salad, green curry are faves so far

Hmm, I can see that working! HG’s roti and Kun Huang’s somtam . .

HG

There’s also a decent Thai restaurant called Home on Fuxing across from Breeze. Decent, not spectatular.

BTW, has anyone tried the new Thai place on the sixth floor of the new Eslite flagship store, Spice Market

… tried the Spice Market in new Eslite store. It’s ok - nothing spectacular. All-you-can-eat buffet, reasonable selection about NT$500 - NT$700 per person (can’t remember exact price). Best bit was the Thai roast beef which was first class, otherwise prefer the ‘Wasabi’ buffet in 101 (although that’s not Thai I know), for its selection.

Buffet, huh? No shopping for the stuff you want cooked? I guess I was misinformed. Thanks for telling.

The Wasabi buffet is good, we go there every now and then, but sometimes we just get that urge for spicy, tangy Thai food, and then it’s nice to have a good place up your sleeve.

First the ugly:
Thai City in Neihu (a couple of buildings down from Costco). Absolutely gross! I’m convinced that they used cow’s milk and not coconut milk for their curry. I was actually a little pissed off after that meal.

The Decent:
Bird Taipei in Jing Hua Cheng (the major mall on Bade Road). Pretty good. Worth your money and fairly authentic taste for many of the dishes I tried. I’ve been there about 4 times.

The Excellent:
Damn, can’t remember the name but it’s in Breeze Center (Fuxing North Road) on the 7th floor (the same floor as the movie theater). Spicy like the real southern variety. When my wife and I tasted the curry it blew us away. I kept taking up small sips of pure curry. The real test: It still tasted good after I was completely stuffed. I went to compliment the staff after the meal and the main male waiter spoke Chinese that definitely was not native (not that mine is anywhere near it but I guess good enough to tell). Turns out many of the staff and all the cooks are from Thailand. They looked like ethnic Chinese. Anyway, a bit pricey for a full meal with drinks but a definite must for Thai food lovers.

There is a very tasty little Thai restaurant called simply “Thai Food” (雲泰料理) in the courtyard behind the old red brick Playhouse in Wanhua (behind where the old Tower Records used to be). It’s a small and plainly decorated storefront restaurant, and everything on the menu is priced from around NT$50 to NT$150. I think it’s one of the best bargains in town for a casual meal or snack. It’s run by overseas Chinese from Thailand I believe - nice people.

The green curry (they’ll make it vegetarian if you ask), “dapao” (打拋) chicken, and sour papya chicken soup are among my favorite items.

This little courtyard is worth exploring in its own right as it also has (or had – not sure whether they’re all still in business) a gelato shop, a couple of good coffee shops, and a good rice noodle (河粉) place. For some reason the courtyard doesn’t get much foot traffic, despite being right on the fringe of highly congested Wanhua.

I hope people will go and support the Thai place because I’d like to see them stay in business.

Address:
No. 25, Lane 10, Chengdu Rd., Taipei
(02) 2389-5763
Open 11:30 am to 10 pm daily

i’ve been meaning to try that place, will one day. by the way, it’s in xinmending, not wanhua.

I second the poster who mentioned Mei Kung… I have had increasingly good experiences there.

As for Spice Market, I found that the closer you went to the opening times (lunch/dinner) the better/fresher the food was. The time I went towards the middle of the buffet period, the meat station was not as fresh.

I’ve been keeping a homegrown journal of places I like to eat in Taipei… and I have reviews and pics for both those places.

hungryintaipei.blogspot.com

I will have to try Thai and Thai and the other recommendations here!

I have had not such good experiences at Spoon, BTW, though I know there are several of them.

I went to Thai Heaven today (泰平天國) on Heping and Roosevelt Rd. I know they have another branch on Fuxing Near RenAi I think.

Anyways, if you are looking for Real Authentic Thai Food…well… this place doesn’t quite do it. It has been butchered into that infamous “TW” style thai food.

Having been to Thailand half a dozen times or so, and also being a bit of a cook and “foodie”, I think I’m qualified to give an objective opinion on this experience compared to Real Thai cuisine.

The Pad thai I had was lacking in dried shrimps and shrimp paste…I could barely taste any shrimp flavor. This was probably an effort to save costs. It also didn’t have a lime wedge…so the dish didn’t have a slight sour edge to it…as it should. The Pork slice salad I got came with a large pile of raw jullienne Ginger - Not green Papaya !!! WTF??. How could someone eat that much raw ginger… I know the Thai’s don’t, I couldn’t handle it myself. The salad also didn’t have any cilantro or lime in the dressing…as it does in Thailand. The biggest dissapointment was the Green Curry. The curry was not thick at all…more like a soup instead of a sauce, as there was very little coconut cream used in it (again likely a cost cutting effort). Also, Thai basil was not used, but local Taiwan basil instead. I think Thai basil and Kafir lime leaves are the most important ingredients for authentic Thai green curry. There was no Thai basil in this dish, and I could barely taste the kafir lime. Frozen Peas, and Taiwanese cherry tomatoes were also thrown into the curry. Usually, if a curry sauce is good, I drown all my rice in the sauce and finish it. I didn’t care to finish the curry suace I had here… of course, maybe that’s also because the rice they served was the typical Taiwanese sticky rice, and not the dry fluffy Thai rice steamed in coconut milk.

Overall, I would give Thai Heaven a pass. It wasn’t overly horrible, but it was dissapointing if you crave real genuine Thai cuisine. For 250-350NT a dish, its not getting my business again. The food was generally a watered down, more bland version of real Thai food, and lacking the spice and heat necessary for good Thai cuisine. The rice they used and Curry dish really pissed me off actually. If they are going to make one dish right…it should be those at least. It seems like they want to get 70% of the ingredients and taste right, but cheap out on the 30% that is the most important. Curry was really lacking heat and flavor…very bland tasting for a green thai curry.

My Taiwanese co-workers raved about Thai Heaven, but I was not impressed.

Three of my favorite cheap Thai places have disappeared in the last year. I need to find some cheap, authentic Thai food… maybe I’ll have to book another trip to Bangkok. Or make my own.

:laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

Surely it can’t be that bad?

Hg

I went to a place called… ok digging in my memory now… Yangon. Or is it Mandalay… Anyhow one of those Burmese cities. It’s in Gongguan, kinda near the corner of XingSheng and Roosevelt, across the street from a little park. It’s not a 100% Thai place but it’s pretty darn close. They have alot of the traditional Thai curries and cold meat salads. The taste is pretty darn similar, and I used to live in Thailand. A couple of reccomendations would be the Thai style fried chicken covered in a Thai style sauce. It’s really good and very fresh. Also they have the best shrimp cakes I’ve ever eaten, even better than most places i got them at in Thailand. They are light, fluffy, and pretty darn big. Speaking of big, everything you order is in generous portions. So bring some friends if you want to try a more than a few dishes or your gonna have to be rolled out of there.

That place is not far from Bongos, right? If you head into Lane 86 (behind the McDonald’s across from the NTU front gate) and pass the Lane 86 pub and Cafe Odeon and then turn right at the little park (I think there is a fruit stand there), that place is on the right hand side… right?

One of the best authentic Thai places I’ve ever eaten at was in GongGuan. It was on the same street as the old San Zhong hospital near the entrance to the movie theater.

I’m guessing you mean 泰國小館? The place on Dingzhou Rd with the cheap teatime specials?

I think you might be right there STG. It is a two story place, not done up much. Actually, the decor is as authentically Thai as the food.

Yeah, that’s gotta be it. It’s been there forever (I hear since the 70s) and the owners are Thai. I used to eat there about once a week, but I haven’t been back in a while. I don’t know if they still have the teatime special, but it was an unbelievably good deal. I just lookd it up - it’s No. 219 Dingzhou Rd Sec 3.

back twice since, same cook (thai) and still very tasty, for one thing shrimp cakes were crispy and way above inedible soggy slabs most places offer. they have english menu with pictures now.