When you can’t go all the way downtown for a great, unique Thai food at Uncle Boons (you can read about it here: http://www.foodlovergirl.com/uncle-boons/), you still find another Thai restaurant that serves more than boring, brown dishes elsewhere. In Upper West Side, Thai Market is one of the most popular spot for Thai food options.
The inside is pretty spacious, with lots of table and half-booth seating. The wall facing the street is covered with large window from floor to ceiling, bringing in lots of natural light. The next largest wall was filled with large photos, lit from the back. The other two walls had red brick walls, which I always love. It also had some Bangkok street signs hanging from the ceiling, which was pretty cool.
I heard that the interior is designed in a way that make the customers think of the streets of Bangkok. I have never had the pleasure of visiting Bangkok, so I can’t really say that is true or not, but the Bangkok street signs and street-market photo murals certainly helps. I especially liked the red sunbrellas. The furniture is very simple, no frills.
Another thing I like about their place is their menu. It is designed like an old newspaper. I really like the look of it. And the contents of the menu is pretty great too. The prices are good and reasonable, and the offerings are more authentic than those commercialized Thai dishes you see at other places.
Their lunch special is really great. You get a choice of an appetizer and a choice of an entrée for $9.50. No matter what you choose, the price stays the same. Simple and easy. For appetizers, we got Curry Puff and Steamed Thai Dumplings.
The curry puff is made with curried chicken and potato in pastry puff. It is small, and you get only one, but it is pretty good and comforting. The pastry puff is not extremely flaky, since it is containing a juicy filling, but still light and airy. The curry fillings are pretty good, and it is not spicy, rather a bit sweet from the soft potatoes.
Steamed Thai dumplings is made with minced chicken, preserved radish, and peanut. You get two of these, and the shape of the dumplings are nothing I have ever seen before anywhere else. It is so interesting… And it is very flavorful, loved the subtle taste of peanut. The wrapping is really soft, thin, cuddling the juicy filling. I really like their dumplings!
For entrée, we chose Green Curry and Sen Mee Neau Peuy. The green curry for the lunch special is chicken green curry, but we requested it to be changed to tofu, which they did with no issue.
The green curry is made with eggplant, bamboo shoot, long hot chili, basil, pepper, and coconut milk. The portion was a bit small, but it has lots of ingredients to keep you satisfied. It comes with rice too, which is always great to mix with the curry. Since it is made with coconut milk, it is rather sweet, not spicy. The tofu chunks were nice and big, and overall, it was a good curry.
But then I wanted to have something that is not-so-typical. I ordered something that I had no idea what it would look like. Sen Mee Neau Peuy comes with rice vermicelli, braised beef soup, Thai meatball, bean sprout, scallion, and spicy bird’s eye chili dipping sauce. When it came to the table, I was so happy with what I saw. It came in a large pot, filled with all kinds of goodies! The soup had good kick to it, spicy but not crazy spicy. It had light-colored meatball, and lots of it, which was great. They also had some chunks of beef, which were tender and juicy. Lots and lots of vermicelli, with spicy soup with deep flavors, a perfect dish for a cold day. The dipping sauce was really, seriously spicy, so I didn’t really use that. The soup was spicy enough without it. My husband also loved this dish, we are now fan of this dish for sure!
After the comforting meal, we decided to share a dessert. We chose Lychee Creme Brulé ($7.50), since I love lychee, and we have never heard of Lychee Creme Brulé. It was beautiful golden color. The ramekin was not large, and was not very deep.
It was pretty tasty, with some chunks of lychee in it. I thought it was very creative to add lychee into creme brulé. It was unique, to me at least. It was very creamy and velvety, we enjoyed every bite of it.
The service is not very friendly, but more efficient than anything. As the restaurant was mostly packed, speed might be more important than friendliness. With a very affordable, super yummy lunch special, it is understandable that they are one of the most popular lunch spot around this area. I am sure we will be going back again in a near future for more tasty Thai food.
Thai Market – 960 Amsterdam Ave, New York, NY 10025