Good Thai in da house.

Restaurant: Thai House, Colonial Drive, near Bumby, Orlando, Fl

Companion(s): The Culinary Ninja

With The Princess out of town on business for the week, I've been fortunate to go on some culinary adventures with friends, to some places she isn't adventurous enough to try.  I haven't had Asian in a while, so I talked my good friend the Culinary Ninja, (who is a former chef, blackbelt in the dojo and in the kitchen) into joining me east of Downtown for dinner at the Thai House.  The building is kind of like a good oriental dumpling... rather ordinary on the outside, but inside, yummy!  Very nicely decorated, the ambiance sets the mood for the meal to follow.

We started off with some soup.  Tom Yum for the Ninja, and Tom Kha for me.  Tom Yum is one of my favorite Asian soups, with chicken, galangal (similar in appearance, but not flavor to ginger), mushrooms, lemongrass, celery, onion, red bell pepper, bamboo shoots, cilantro and lime juice in coconut milk.  The version here is outstanding, with the vegetables being at just the right level of doneness, and a perfect blend of citrus, and cilantro, smoothed out by the coconut milk.  Tom Yum is a spicy version of Tom Kha, minus the galangal, which is a key ingredient of Tom Kha (Kha being the Thai pronunciation for the ingredient).  CN really liked it, saying...

We also decided to split an order of dumplings, and like I said, humble on the outside but inside, quite yummy.  The dumplings themselves had a mild, pleasant flavor.  The ginger soy sauce they came with however really made the dish.  

For dinner I had Phad Thai, the Thai national noodle dish.  It consists of rice noodles, bean sprouts, paprika, other seasonings, and is slightly sweet.  This was an average version, without the depth of flavor of other Phad Thai I've tried.  The portion here was adequate, but not as large as some other Thai restaurants in the area.  On the bright side that left room for dessert!

CN opted for the fried cheesecake, which he described as fair.  He was expecting more.  I decided to be adventurous and go for the Mango and Sticky Rice, having no idea what to expect.  What I  got was a bed of sticky rice toped with a sliced mango section, coconut syrup, and toasted sesame seeds.  The rice was, well, sticky rice, and the mango wasn't as sweet as it should have been.  The coconut syrup, however, saved the dish, bringing the needed sweetness expected in a dessert, and the nuttiness of the toasted sesame seeds was subtle but there.  A sweeter mango and a few more sesame seeds would have made this an absolute hit, but as it was it didn't live up to what I was hoping for.

The atmosphere is nice, the food good and not overpriced, and while I've had better Thai in Orlando, I've also had much worse.  I recommend checking out the restaurant's website, as it is well done, including Thai dining etiquette tips, and an outstanding online menu with photos!  Even though there were only 6 dumplings on the plate, I'll give it 7 1/2 dumplings dipped in ginger soy sauce.  Yum!