Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Thai Siam

Address: 1435 S State St, SLC, UT 84115. 801.474.3322.

Review: Thai Siam is one of my buddy Dan's favorite haunts, and for good reason. Upon examining the menu, the lunch special stood out. It allows you to choose two dishes (from among about 15-20 options), gives you a spring roll, as well as sticky rice. I chose the coconut soup with chicken and the pad pra ram vegetarian.

The coconut soup was sweet and savory and aromatic, with infusions of lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves. While it lacked the presence of sour and heat so often present in Thai cooking, it had enough elements to make it work. The mushrooms were uncooked and yet not soggy in the least. The chicken was thinly sliced and tasty and added a necessary protein element.

The pad pra ram vegetarian was equally good, if not better than the coconut soup. The vegetables were well cooked (i.e., they were cooked, but only to the al dente stage). The peanut sauce was unexpectedly sweet (in a good way) and afforded depth to the vegetables. Like the soup, however, the sauce lacked the balance of salty, sweet, sour, and heat so revered in Thai food. In a sense, the dish felt a little muted in order to appeal to an audience of Americans. This is understandably, if not somewhat disappointing. This said, I really enjoyed the dish. Heck, it even made me forget it lacked meat.

And the best part of this lunch: the price. It was $8 including tax. Honestly, a very tasty and reasonably-priced lunch.

Rating: 7.5/10 (5/10 is average).

Thai Siam on Urbanspoon

3 comments:

  1. Best Thai I've found: Thai Village, American Fork, Main Street

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  2. Funny you should say that because on of the guys said the exact same things while we were eating at Thai Siam yesterday. He was surprised such a good ethnic restaurant could be found in AF.

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  3. Angie and I were as well. We were living in AF when the restaurant came in, and, as a couple that ate out a lot, went to check it out. It was a Thai family import, which came here (they never could give a good reason for choosing AF) specifically to start a restaurant. There are a couple items that have lost their care and character over the years (their fried bananas for one), but overall, it is just as charming and delicious as it was six years ago or so when we first found it. Really, it's spectacular.

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