I'm generally unexcited by Thai food. The dishes I've had all these years were bland, watery, and uninspired. I have never been sure if it is Thai cuisine in general or just a spat of lousy Thai restaurants.
Buddy took us to Sripraphai last night. What a surprise. This Sripraphai place is different. I won't rehash the talk about the garden or the decor. I'll just talk about what we ordered.
The beef+mint and beef+ginger appetizers (which I don't remember the name of) were amazing. Silky, hot, crunch, cool. Mmm. They used actual, whole sprigs of mint. As if they were growing in the back or something. If I were on Iron Chef, I would say it reminds me of my childhood.
Now I usually hate "coconut" flavored dishes, which is strange because I like coconuts the fruit. I suspect it's because coconut flavor additives are this nasty preservative-laden crap, like how RealLemon(TM) is absolutely vile compared to actual lemon. Anyway, the coconut rice AND the coconut chicken curry were, contrary to my expectations, just heavenly. Could they have used actual, real coconuts? Amazing!!
I demanded to have the hottest dish on the menu (Southern curry with my choice of meat, which was pork) and while it did make my nose run a little, it didn't cause much pain. I'm not sure if they watered it down for what they thought was my inferior white flesh or if that's really what they call hot. Is Thai food even supposed to be hot? I have no idea. Can someone tell me where I can get the card that white people can present at asian restaurants that will signal them to serve the highest tier of spicy? Do I need to sign a waiver?
We also ordered what I am told was a papaya salad, but I don't think I bit into a single piece of papaya. Maybe I wasn't paying attention.
Will definitely try again.
