CC: [email removed] Hi all, Since I'm going to be judging Thai food, here's some background on me. I'm a 23 year old American-born Thai who has been back to Thailand during summertime 10 times, most of them after I hit age 12. I've eaten in everywhere from stalls to vendor stands to highway restaurants to southern specialty restaurants (Peppercorn in Bangkok) to oceanside places to fancy seafood and simple noodle places in shopping malls to M.K. Suki to Pizza Hut in Bangkok and also to several places in Chiang Mai. So, you can consider my taste authentic or not, but I know what tastes good or looks strange to me!! I consider at least moderate spiciness on some items to be necessary to authenticity, so take that into account. I live in the South Bay, so my experiences are mostly there and in San Francisco. I'm not much elsewhere in the Bay Area so suggestions from everywhere are welcome. I've seen the NetDiners Guide to the Bay Area on the web and highly recommend it for finding places to eat.. although I wouldn't necessarily go with the comments listed unless they're all bad. Beware of places called good until you've tried it yourself. I found too many well-rated places that I would not rate well. I'd love to find more places to go eat! However, if you can beat Gatip, it would surprise me. Tina -------------- So, here are my notes on where I've eaten: ***** Gatip Thai Classic on Lombard in San Francisco. This is the BEST I have found in the entire Bay Area. I have eaten at Gatip at least 3-4 times, so if it keeps me coming back, it's definitely authentic and worth the money for me. Most other times I eat Thai it's just because I have a hankering for it. However, if I had the chance, I'd fulfill my yearning for food here everytime! I also have an Indian friend who eats there with his wife and sometimes friends about twice a month! He also lives in the South Bay and has to drive an hour to get there. The restaurant itself isn't that big, but it has many hard-to-find dishes and tastes are authentic as they come. The prices are around $7 per dish, which is maybe $1 more than you would pay in a mediocre place, and you get good-sized servings of food and that means the entree itself, not rice or weird side things added. They don't put in onions or cheap vegetables to take up space and their Pad Thai is really the best. They serve fresh bean sprouts on the side, along with ground peanuts. They have a good sized vegetarian menu as well. They are courteous and efficient, and quickly pack the leftovers to take home. The restaurant has traditional dishes includes Northern style foods and choice of khao niew or jasmine rice. I ordered the som tam (this is the green papaya salad that is spicy, sweet and sour.. very delicous, and ate it with sticky rice). Their cha yen (Thai tea) is very good, and mixed so that it's appropriately sweet and cool, and not bitter at all). I ate the pla jaramet lad prik (fish with chilis) also, and it was very good, spicy for my boyfriend though, I had to eat it myself. Please give them business! I don't want them to ever have to move away. (and I am begging for selfish reasons, no pushing from them!) *** Krung Thai on West San Carlos in San Jose This place was reasonable, dim lighting and food was a little salty, but the pla jaramet lad prik (uhm.. this round, flat, fish.. don't know what it's called in English) was good... The service was good while I was there. I don't remember what else we ordered. I was there over a year ago, and only once, so try it for yourself. *** ThepThai on N Market in San Jose I just tried this place yesterday at lunchtime. They have a buffet with a few good items.. particularly the large mussels were very good. Their buffet was reasonable with 2 chicken dishes, but they added a lot of unnecessary vegetables to one of them and their soup though tasty was not hot.. just warm near 1pm. They also had fried wontons which were tasty, but had little meat inside. My boyfriend ordered Pad Thai, which was okay taste-wise but included napa cabbage, baby corn and onions (not green onions, onions). It had no fresh bean sprouts or any other fresh vegetable served with it, no peanuts or ground shrimp on the side, and was served with rice, minimizing the amount of noodle. The price of this place was 6.25 and included the soup and salad, which was almost gone when we arrived around 12:30. It may be that they ran out of the appropriate noodles, because they used sen mee and woon sen (rice and bean vermicelli!) mixed together. The color was lighter and the taste was just barely there. I would not call this authentic, and yet it was listed in the phone book as authentic Thai food and having '"Pad Thai"' with the quotes. The mussels and curry chicken were good, but the Pad Thai, which many people consider the rating dish, was NOT authentic the day and time I went. * Amarin Thai on Castro in Mountain View Don't expect anything authentic here. I have been there twice, once to take out hau mhok, a steamed fish dish that should have included fish and red curry paste pounded to a consistency with some other ingredients and steamed in banana leaves or in foil. What I got was okay taste-wise but not authentic. It was pieces of steamed fish in a watered down sauce with some curry paste in it and lots of cabbage. The second time I went I asked for Tom Kha Gai, the coconut chicken soup. It was nasty. It was not flavorful, it had weird things in it, and it was like drinking nasty-flavored watery coconut milk. I managed to eat a little of it, but only because I hate to waste food. We ordered something else, but I don't remember what. Try reading my entries on Thai places in the NetDiners Guide to the Bay Area.. www.w3.com I think.. do a search or something. ** Thai Spoons on El Camino in Sunnyvale Reasonable prices, food is pretty good.. good amounts of food in the order. Watch for use of vegetables added to fill the dish, though.. they have a lunch special on weekdays that is okay also. Light inside from windows is nice. *** Siam Thai in Los Gatos Very reasonable restaurant.. I have eaten their Kaeng Kiow Warn Gai before and liked it. The place is compact but bright in daytime from the sunlight in the windows. They have a very filling special at lunch with soup, eggroll, salad type items. ***** Pho Cuong 4 on El Camino in Sunnyvale This place is cheap and delicious. Okay, it's Vietnamese, but the food as far as rice noodle soups go is terrific! They give huge servings, so watch out when you ask for large bowls. Two people can often share a medium and order other side items. The brisket and tripe is my favorite.. the soup is very flavorful and you can get any combination of foods.. Their rice dishes come in great big portions and other items such as the fried spring rolls and fresh ones (these two are quite different, but the fried spring rolls are similar to Thai fried ones) are also great. Try some of the dessert drinks.. some are better than others. The red bean one is consistently good. **** Royal Thai on Clement in San Francisco I've been here twice and found it to be pretty reasonable. Their Kaeng Kiew Warn was very good, and they had a few hard-to-find items. It's been awhile since I've been there, though. I've also tried High Thai in Saratoga and Bangkok Gardens. I don't remember much about these two places, having been there only once or twice each so long ago, but High Thai I remember to be reasonable in quality. That's my word on it.. comments from others on different restaurants or on these is welcome.. There are some I have heard about both in San Francisco and in the rest of the Bay Area that sound worth trying. Tina
San Francisco Bay Area, CA