First Look: Super Thai

In the revolving door of restaurant openings, we now have Super Thai, formerly Krua Thai and the original Barley Swine location before it. Located at 2024 South Lamar, it is just south of the intersection of South Lamar and Hether/Mary Streets, and now literally being overshadowed by a multistory building being constructed at the corner.

Krua didn't last but five months or so. Then Sap's (former partner to Madam Mam's and now with two locations of his own) took over the Krua space stating it would be a different menu/focus than the other Sap's restaurants. So now we have Super Thai, which I hope will last (though realistically, I do wonder how long it will.....).

The exterior is a bit non-descript, but I liked the interior space, especially the screen right behind the hostess stand. Lots of natural light at the front of the restaurant.

I would say that the appetizer menu is two-thirds Chinese dishes: egg + spring rolls, dumplings, shu mai, wings. We ended up with the chicken and shrimp shu mai and the fried Brussels sprouts with a black vinegar sauce. The shumai where very dense and plump, and the dipping sauce had the flavor of kecap manis, a sweet, thicker soy sauce that I believe originates in Indonesia. The sauce on the Brussels was a bit heavy, and they were also sprinkled with pine nuts, which I happen to like, and they added a nice crunch. {It's funny, I know that China is a large producer of pine nuts, yet I rarely see them in Chinese cuisine.}

For mains, my friend ordered the Tom Yum Goong, which she asked for extra spicy. This clear-broth lemongrass infused soup was not for the faint of heart and was filled with shrimp, oyster mushrooms (the half moons in the photo are the mushroom stems), tomato and cilantro. I took a tiny taste and it did have amazing flavor, just too spicy for me! She likes it HOT and was very happy with it.

I ordered the larb moo, which is a room temperature salad so to speak, made of ground pork with chile, cilantro, mint, and toasted rice powder. This one was served with some lettuce, cucumbers, and kabocha squash on the side and a grilled rice ball/patty. Fearing the two chile pepper spice rating that was stated on the menu, I asked for it to be toned down a bit. It was still spicy, but had really good flavor to it, and the accompanying vegetables were helpful to cool down your mouth. I ate half and saved the rest for lunch the next day.

We split the mango with black sticky rice for dessert, and it was amazing! Loved the rice with coconut milk.

The menu has lot of excellent sounding proteins like rack of lamb with lemongrass sauce, tamarind duck, and tiger cry with wagyu beef. I would definitely like to try some of these!  I was saddened by Krua's departure, as it did seem to have a good following from the neighborhood. Super Thai did appear to have a steady stream of customers, so hopefully they survive the construction next door and become an area fixture.

First Look: The Yin and Yang of Mandala

South Lamar's Lamar Union complex has had a hard time keeping restaurants. Cantine, El Burro, VOX Table, Delicious have all cycled in and out in relatively short periods of time. TLC Austin (which I like very much, see this blog post for info on them) appears to be holding its own, Soto has replaced Cantine, Shake Shack and the Highball are still there too. Mandala, with its Thai and Vietnamese influences, opened in March at the old El Burro spot. Let's hope they can make it last!

I met a group of friends there on a weeknight for dinner; ironically, our same group of four had previously eaten at El Burro too. Another foodie friend had told me about a passion fruit cocktail, but it wasn't on the menu this evening. Our waiter, who seemed relatively new, didn't seem to have a full grasp of the liquors available at the bar, because when asked if they had Tito's Vodka he said no, but one of our group went to check with the bartender who confirmed its presence. They did have some half price bottles of wine held over from Mother's Day so we split a bottle of rose.

We started with their mini rice pancakes, which come seven per order. I inquired when we ordered if we could get eight since there were four of us. The waiter said no, but offered no explanation. I understood it when they arrived; they are not pancakes in the flat sense or something that is cooked on a griddle. They are a version of kanon krok, a type of Thai dessert that uses a pan not unlike those for Japanese takoyaki or Danish abelskivers. Anyhow, they were nice, crispy on the bottom from the rice flour, with a savoriness mixed with a sweetness from coconut milk. Could have used a dash of chile or at least one bold flavor.

Red curry with vegetables and shrimp also had good flavor. Lots of veggies and just enough kick in the red curry. (This made an excellent leftover dish the following day; I pan sauteed some red fish, added green beans and poured the remains of the curry over it. On my Instagram!)

These mussels were also done with a red curry sauce, and it was quite tasty. What I am noticing though, the menu online says they are served with garlic toast, and this was served with plain bread. Needed more of it too to sop up that delicious sauce.

I love Thai noodle dishes, and was excited to try the pad kee mao with chicken, especially after our waiter said it was one of his favorites. What arrived was a plate with clumpy, undercooked noodles that were in short little choppy sections. While I wasn't anticipating the rice noodles to be long and slurpy like ramen, I did expect them to be more than two inches in length! I asked for the manager to come over, and when he did, his attitude was more like "yeah, what's up" as opposed to "how can I help you?". I inquired if this dish was normally served this way; I don't recall what his specific words were but he did imply that no it did not look quite right and took it back to the kitchen.

This is the second version (below) of pad kee mao that arrived. You can at least see that some of the noodles are in longer lengths. Taste was okay, but for my likes, it could have used a little more sauce and not to mention flavor. Not much spice, though the menu says "spicy brown sauce." The manager did not come back to check on us.

As you can see, there is some yin and yang at play here. There are some dishes on the menu I really want to try, like the rice pie and the crispy fish with pineapple tamarind sauce. But after the noodle debacle, I am not certain that I would order it again. I know they have only been open about two months but if they are going to survive, especially at Lamar Union, Mandala needs their universes to be in sync.

Have you been to Mandala, and what was your experience with the food and service?

First Look: Krua Urban Thai

Editor's note: Krua closed in March 2018

Krua Urban Thai has moved into the old Barley Swine location at 2024 South Lamar. I had heard about their yummy crab fried rice from two different people, so it was time to go check it out for myself. My neighbor and I visited on the Friday before Thanksgiving, arriving a bit after 6 pm. We had no problem getting a table, but by the time we left the place was full and there were people waiting outside.

We decided on a variety of dishes to share, and told the server to send them out in whatever order they were ready.

Krua's Brussels sprouts were tossed in a bit of fish sauce and a basil vinaigrette. Nice and crispy with excellent flavor.

The crab fried rice, one of their signature dishes. Great flavor, but I thought it needed more uumph to it
 and the saucer with chili fish sauce did in fact help. 

Pad see ewe (or pad se ew) is one of my favorite Thai noodle dishes, as I love the wider rice noodles. This was quite good, though I think my favorite in town is still at Thai Taste in Oak Hill for the fact that theirs contains a touch more sauce.

Pork belly pak ka nar -- this pork was amazing. While it doesn't look it, it had a nice crispness to it

Overall, no complaints about the quality of the food. What did bother us though is the timing. The Brussels, which are an appetizer item, did come out first and relatively fast. And then we sat there for about 15 minutes until another dish came out. Then the other two dishes came fairly quickly after that. At a small two-top table, it is virtually impossible to have three large plates on the table. The tables are also fairly close together, which gave us the opportunity to admire the pad thai to one side of us (and to learn it was the father and young son's second or third time there, which for a place barely open a month says something), and the diners on the other side of us inquired about our food.

Pros: food was for the most part, delicious; more Thai variety in South Austin is great; online ordering coming soon. I took my leftovers to work the next day and my Thai friend Bee tried the fried rice and pork belly dishes. While she said it was not the same type of crab they use in Thailand, she did give her blessing to both dishes, and she and I are making plans to come back to Krua. Service was friendly though perhaps not highly experienced, though I guess we could have specified "keep the dishes coming in whatever order" rather than "whatever order they come out is fine."

Cons: the timing of the dishes, noise level (there's nothing to buffer the interior rock walls), decor was lacking (I can't really understand why there are two New Mexico chile ristras hanging over the counter), they were out of one of the wines we ordered.

Verdict: thumbs up! Will certainly be back!

Thai Taste

My Thai friend Bee has become friends with the owners of Thai Taste in Oak Hill. There's a Thai restaurant in Oak Hill, you say? Yeah, that was my initial reaction too, especially after learning they've been there for over 4 years! (They're in the same shopping center as the HEB.) Bee stops by Thai Taste when she doesn't feel like cooking certain Thai dishes, and began noticing there were never that many customers in the restaurant. So she mentioned to the owners that she has a food blogger friend (me!), and would they be interested in having me come out, try the food, and provide my honest feedback. And that's how we ended up at Thai Taste for dinner on a recent Saturday night. Disclosure: the food was comped by Thai Taste, but I was not compensated for my opinions which are my own.

 

The short version: Thai Taste is quite good, and deserves your attention.
The long version: keep reading!

We chatted with manager Som, and discussed some dishes to try. I think because we were there specifically for a tasting/sampling of the dishes, the portion size was not always representative of what's typically served.

Mixed appetizer plate, the pu pu platter of Thai food. Not a trace of grease on the egg roll or crab rangoon; spring roll nice and fresh; good flavor to the peanut sauce (and I am picky about peanut sauce because I make my own and I think it's the best of course); the chicken satay had nice grilled flavor and wasn't over-cooked; chicken wing was standard. The dumpling was the pleasant surprise on this plate as it had a bit of cumin in the ground pork, and it was very moist.

Fish cakes. Bee really likes these and I can see why! These tasted fresh, had a good firm (but not rubbery) consistency, and were especially nice with the sweetish cucumber sauce.

Moo ping with pork and tamarind sauce. I've had moo ping before at Sap's and always enjoyed it. This one I thought the meat was too tough, and I told them so. Like the satay, it had nice grill flavor, but had probably been left on the grill for too long. The twangy tamarind sauce had some heat to it, and was good also with the fish cakes and the other appetizers.

Som tum (green papaya salad). Surprisingly decent, though the addition of a bit of their house-made fish sauce mixture (fish sauce, lime juice, bit of chile, maybe a bit of palm sugar or other sweetener) really brought the flavors out and tampered the sweetness. I know this dish isn't for everyone, but I love the juxtaposition of the cooling papaya shreds with a spicy fish sauce dressing, along with a bit of crunch from the peanuts. A bit sweet up front, but then a late heat hits you.

Pad Thai. A bit sweet, but had nice flavor to it; good sized pieces of chicken. I found out talking to Bee and Som that this dish can take on many regionalisms, depending on where the chef is from. {Som is from Bangkok, Gib the chef, is from south Thailand; they have both worked at a number of Thai restaurants in different parts of Austin.} A little bit of the fish sauce balanced the sweetness out; I also liked this dish because it wasn't too dry. Certainly one of the better pad Thai dishes I've had in Austin. But can they be consistent with it? I have loved the pad Thai at Thai Fresh, but they are very inconsistent.

Green curry with beef. Whenever you see curries on a Thai menu, green curry is always going to be the hottest because it uses fresh green chiles. This was spicy, but had very good flavor, although the beef was on the tough side.

Pad see you. (Can also be spelled pad see ew.) This is typically one of my favorite Thai noodle dishes because of the wide rice noodles and the lightly sweet sauce made from black soy sauce (fermented and sweetened, so it's a different flavor that your typical soy). This was very very good, but that little bit of fish sauce really elevated it. I would SO eat this again! Bee says this is how the dish would be if you ate it in Thailand.

Larb, made with ground pork. A bit salty, but did the chef over-compensate a bit because we had already discussed the sweetness of the som tum and pad Thai? Still quite good though, and larb is always a dish I enjoy. Reasonably spicy too, and the leftovers I ate the next day for lunch seemed even spicier.

As I wrote this post up, I've realized that some of the things Thai Taste does exceptionally well are their sauces: the fish sauce mixture, the tamarind, the peanut, the fish cake dipping sauce. All were very well balanced. What disappointed me though was seeing a bottle of soy sauce on every table. Soy is not a typical Thai ingredient, or I should say it's not a mainstay like in Chinese or Japanese food. When I asked Som about it, she said, well, that's what customers want. I told her then and I say it again now, she's not giving her customers enough credit. Why isn't the fish sauce and chile condiments on every table? She says they, the servers, ask every table if they like their food spicy, and if so, they bring the tray.

My point to them was that not all customers will speak up or speak truthfully when asked. If it's there on the the table, they can be left to their own devices in enhancing their dishes with some umami (fish sauce) or spice. One of the places Som used to work was Thai Passion downtown (though they are now relocating to NW Austin); she said the clients downtown wanted their food much spicier than the clients she sees in the southwest Austin suburban area they're now in. But don't discount that because they aren't asking for it spicy doesn't mean they're not willing to dabble with the condiment tray.

We talked also about their website and social media presence. They do have a website, and I think just a few tweaks to it would really improve its look and functionality. (And website designers out there??) At least their menu IS online. As for social media presence, they have none. They have a Facebook page, which hasn't been updated since 2011. Ask any food blogger, and we'd say that having a decent social media presence is crucial for driving your business, particularly for mom + pop places, food trailers, etc. It would take just a little bit of work, and some good photographs of their dishes to get it up to modern-day standards, but it's free marketing. Som said she's hesitant with Facebook because she feels her English isn't strong enough, but I say go for it!

The exterior sign was on the building facade was not lit up when we left at dark-thirty. Hopefully this is just a very temporary thing, but the very first comment on my Instagram post on my food there was "oh, I thought this place was closed". They got to look open to expect customers to come in. I will say for the roughly two hours we were there, there were very few other customers dining at the restaurant, but there was a VERY steady stream of people picking up their to-go orders, so people do know about the place. And to the trolls on Yelp who complained about their floor: get over it. While it may not look ideal, did it occur to you that this might be a landlord issue and something that a small business can't afford to fix themselves? Otherwise, it was very clean and comfortable.

I hope this post/critique/feedback with help Thai Taste, and I hope it will encourage some of YOU reading this to go and try them. And to my knowledge, they are the only Thai place in that part of town for quite a ways. Their food is really as good as any Thai food I've had in Austin.