I got my Zagat ballot in the mail and noticed that Plearn, the Thai restaurant on University in Berkeley (close to the UC Theater) was up for another mention this year, so I decided to give it a try. Wow! Contrary to last year's guide, the restaurant is not "resting on its laurels" although the service was a little off; the food was marvelous. Especially the tom kha gai soup (coconut, lemongrass, mushrooms etc.). So fresh! There are a handful of Thai restaurants around the East Bay and I always get them mixed up; the decor and food can be interchangable (like some Indian restaurants, I know, I know). But Plearn really stood out for me. Thoughts? Lisa Tsering
San Francisco, CA
Another vote for Plearn in Berkeley
In article , Kent Hagen Someone wrote: >What are they??? Cha-Am, Your Place, >Tell us please! >Kent Hagen > >Pete F. wrote: > >> >> I don't understand what people see in Plearn. It has a great reputation, >> but there are several superior Thai restaurants around. >> I regularly go to Cha Am and Subuy Sabuy (on College at Broadway) but the place on the West side of San Pablo in El Cerrito is pretty good too.
Pete F. wrote: > > LTsering wrote: > > >I got my Zagat ballot in the mail and noticed that Plearn, the Thai restaurant > >on University in Berkeley (close to the UC Theater) was up for another mention > >this year, so I decided to give it a try. > >Wow! Contrary to last year's guide, the restaurant is not "resting on its > >laurels" although the service was a little off; the food was marvelous. > >Especially the tom kha gai soup (coconut, lemongrass, mushrooms etc.). So > >fresh! > >There are a handful of Thai restaurants around the East Bay and I always get > >them mixed up; the decor and food can be interchangable (like some Indian > >restaurants, I know, I know). But Plearn really stood out for me. > >Thoughts? > >Lisa Tsering > > I don't understand what people see in Plearn. It has a great reputation, > but there are several superior Thai restaurants around. > > -- > Pete Fraser I gave Plearn a try up to three times years ago when I was at Berkeley. It was the worst Thai food I had tasted. All my friends hated it too. My favorite Thai restaurant at the time was Racha on Telegraph near Dwight Way. Can't vouch for it now because I haven't been back there for so long. Now whenever I crave for Thai food, I go to Saysetha on Telegraph near Alcatraz. I am biased because the manager and chef is my friend, so if anyone has tried it or is going to try it, let me know what you think or what changes you recommend. I will pass the words on. Sorry for the advertisement :-). Thuvan
User-Agent: tin/pre-1.4-980117 (UNIX) (SunOS/5.6 (sun4u)) Xref: alexander.INS.CWRU.Edu ba.food:37391 > Now whenever I crave for Thai food, I go to Saysetha on > Telegraph near Alcatraz. I am biased because the manager and chef is my > friend, so if anyone has tried it or is going to try it, let me know > what you think or what changes you recommend. I will pass the words on. We go there occassionally. Overall I would say the food is pedestrian; not terrible or anything like that, but not so well done either. The atmosphere is nice and friendly and laid back. On our last visit, about a month ago, we had our best meal there ever. It was good. We tend to eat at Sabuy Sabuy at the top of College near Broadway, and generally find them very good. But sometimes the portions are small, particularly wrt the meat or fish content of the dish. -- roy
At last, a mention for Won Thai. Portion size is small, but I've never had a bad dish, unlike Cha Am or Plearn. The Tom Kha Gai is superb. About 6 months ago there was a review of Won Thai in the East Bay Edition of The Chron, wherein the reviewer faulted the Ton Kha Gai for not having enough stuff in it, especially the scrawny chicken. My goodness ... it's the broth that's wonderful, the best I've ever had! Some people use Pad Thai as their test standard for a Thai restaurant, but I use this soup; the interpretation and quality vary wildly. Jerry Tunis Fletcher I. wrote: > < snip > > > I used to go quite regularly to Cha Am, not so much recently. When > I have gone in the last couple of years I've been disappointed, though > I thought the food was still good. I agree that the seafood specials > are often quite good, also appetizers (stuffed chicken wings mmmmm...), > mu yang, basil tofu. Smaller portions and less attention to the cooking > seem to be the responses to lines at the door. My response has been to go > to Won Thai on University near Acton, across from Andronico's - mom & pop > with wonderful traditional food and the best service/atmosphere anywhere - > him ma pan, pad khing, pra ram, and mus-a-man curry are personal favorites. > I've heard good things about Krang Tep (sp?) on San Pablo in El Cerrito and > liked it the one time I went. Siam Cuisine on University near San Pablo is > good - try the pad khing, chili pepper fried rice, and the green curry if > you, like me, like it almost inedibly spicy. =) > Hank Ibser -----------== Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News ==---------- http://www.newsfeeds.com/ The Largest Usenet Servers in the World! ---------== Over 72,000 Groups, Plus Dedicated Binaries Servers ==--------
NNTP-Posting-User: spp Xref: alexander.INS.CWRU.Edu ba.food:37478 Roy G. wrote: >We tend to eat at Sabuy Sabuy at the top of College near Broadway, and >generally find them very good. Having read a few recommendations for Sabuy Sabuy, we went there for lunch the other day. I would not rate them above Plearn overall. On the plus side, we ordered an appetizer that was quite nice -- a collection of ingredients including coconut, peanuts, lime, chilis, and ginger which one places in a spinach leaf and adds a (more boring than one would expect) sauce. The lunch menu was, by my parameters, very lacking in entrees, by virtue of the fact that over half of the rice plates offered, including all of the interesting-sounding curries, were chicken dishes; and I generally don't order chicken in restaurants. There was only one pork item among the rice plates -- pepper pork it was called. This proved to be a relatively bland dish (no heat whatsoever; a plain preparation of pork with a sesame-seed sauce). My dining companion ordered a ginger chicken curry which was marginally more interesting but still was not the least bit hot. Nothing on the lunch menu resembled my benchmark dish for Thai restaurants -- green curry pork, something which Plearn still excels at. There were however some noodle dishes that sounded interesting. So, the lack of interesting menu items and the total lack of spiciness of the food were two big turn-offs. (I go to Thai restaurants because I want *hot* food; I do realize there is an entire separate clientele for Thai places that isn't particularly seeking blazing hot food, but I'm not among them.) Steve