TASTE OF THAI

Click images to enlarge

We were headed to Luigi's Italian in Summerfield, but the parking lot was so crowded we took a long detour to TASTE OF THAI on Westover Terrace in Greensboro.  The address is actually 1500 Mill Street, but the restaurant is located in the Westover Gallery of Shops.  Click on the link and go to the contact page to get yourself oriented if you're not familiar with the area.  We were definitely familiar because we've been to TASTE OF THAI many times.  We've never been disappointed.  The food is always good.  They do a buffet at lunch and offer a regular but a frequently changing menu in the evening,

I don't remember seeing the Oriental Grill sign before.  Maybe it's new.  I'm not sure what it means.  Note: I did a Google search on Oriental Grill.  The results were not entirely clear, but seemed to indicate Oriental Grill was a separate restaurant operated by the TASTE OF THAI.  Oriental Grill is now permanently closed.

This is the salad served at TASTE OF THAI.  I know it doesn't look like much and it isn't much.  A few pieces of torn up lettuce and a couple of carrot slices.  But it is damned good when they throw some of their peanut sauce dressing on it.  I could drink the dressing with a straw if somebody put it in a glass.

Here's my entree.  I know it looks like a tangled, undefined mess, but it was actually quite good. It was go good I slopped it all over my shirt, before putting a napkin cover on.  Then I slopped it on the napkin.  It must be terribly embarrassing to eat a good meal with me.

At first I wanted the Nua Koong, which was some sort of beef dish with tamarind sauce, but since I couldn't pronounce it, I settled on my second choice - Green Gulf.  Green Gulf turned out to be napkin slopping good.

Green Gulf doesn't sound good or look good, but that was not the case.  The green liquid is Green Curry Sauce.  I know it looks like vomit, baby poop, or pea soup.  Fortunately it tasted nothing like vomit, baby poop, or pea soup.  

The green sauce was delicious after I got over the initial burn in my mouth.  It was not heat burn.  I was spicy burn.  I love spicy food, but the green curry sauce was a shock,  I wasn't sure I was going to be able to eat it.  After three or four bites, and the addition of a little white rice, everything settled down.  I wanted to lick the bowl after I was done.

Click here for information about green curry.

In the green curry sauce is mixed seafood - lobster, shrimp, scallops, squid, and unnamed fish.  I had to dig the lobster out of its shell, but it was worth the effort.  The squid sounded suspicious, but that was good too.  I normally only eat squid when it's served as Calamari.  Bread it and fry it up and the rubber bands become pretty tasty.  They are also tasty when served with green curry sauce.

The shrimp and scallops were of course delicious.  I don't know about the unnamed fish since I couldn't identify which part of the dish was the unnamed fish.

There were several vegetables in the dish which I could not identify.  They all tasted good with the green curry sauce on them.  I did recognize string beans, which I hate.  But, the green sauce worked its magic and the string bean flavor was not recognizable, unless I separated one bean out of the mixture and tasted it by itself.

The small dish at the upper left is Crab Rangoon with yet another spicy sauce.  The Rangoon appetizer was quite good.  Rangoon is a fried wanton stuffed with crab, cream cheese, green onions, and garlic.  The spicy sauce was entirely different from all the other spicy sauces we were served.  The Thais know their spicy sauces!

Here's Debbie's plate(s).  She decided to order a gaggle of appetizers rather than a single dish.  On the right is Nua Jim Jaew.  Nua Jew Jaew is grilled sliced Sirloin with a spicy sauce.  I tasted this one.  It was very good.  To the left are Spring Rolls stuffed with glass noodles and vegetables and another spicy sauce.  At the top is Blanket Shrimp.  These are shrimp wrapped with spring roll paper and yet more spicy sauce.  I have no idea what spring roll paper is, but it's crunchy and tasty. I've had the Spring Rolls and the Blanket Shrimp, so I know they are good.  The two red sauces were the same. 

Here's the complimentary dessert they served after the meal.  Debbie and I each got one.  Neither Debbie nor I could figure out what it was.  It had no real distinctive flavor.  It had a slight fruit taste, but nothing I could identify.  The texture was a bit waxy but soft.  It looks sweet, but it wasn't.  It wasn't bad, but I couldn't call it good either.  It just was.  I seem to recall TASTE OF THAI pulling the same mystery dessert trick every time we've eaten there.

I'm showing this guy in order to brag about how honest we are.  He had no idea his wallet fell out of his back pocket while eating.  I saw it happen, pointed it out to Debbie, and she picked it up and returned it to the man.  He was very grateful, but he didn't offer to pay for my dinner or anything.  Oh, well...

Dinner set us back about $48.00 with the tip.  The tip was pretty meager.  

The kid waiter seemed in a daze.  Maybe it was his first day on the job.  Maybe he had too many hits on the opium pipe.  Asking for water with no lemon confused the hell out of him.  I had to ask again later to have my water glass refilled.  I asked to see a menu after dinner to take a photo of the dishes we ordered, so I could write this review.  He brought me a fresh glass of water, but not the menu.  Debbie had to get up and ask the cashier for a menu.  Otherwise we never saw our waiter.  The restaurant was less than half full.  Busy was not an excuse.

This was the one time out of many visits to TASTE OF THAI that the service was lacking, but the food was really good.  Try it sometime, but be adventurous when you order.  Hopefully, you will be rewarded. 

By the way, the lunch buffet is great!

Click images to enlarge