What Lucy Thinks About…

By Lucy Shannon, Restaurant Critic

When my best friend Dana told me that Joe brought her and the family to this restaurant to celebrate the release of Dana Cooks Healthy Food for Kids, I knew it was past time that I checked it out for myself.

I know I’ll be bugging Dana and the family to go there next time I’m in town so I can try some dishes I didn’t get to this time. For example, Gai-Gra-Buang, described as a deep fried ground chicken and shrimp pancake from the appetizer menu. Sour cabbage soup, made with crisp sour cabbage, garlic cloves, black pepper, and your choice of chicken, pork, beef, or vegetarian, also sounds too interesting to pass up on our next visit.

If I wasn’t stuffed from the wonderfully prepared, traditional, me-krob appetizer (sweet crunchy noodles and shrimp, accompanied by bean sprouts and scallions), I would most definitely have ordered the mushroom salad (abalone mushrooms prepared with special Thai herbs, ginger, spices, and lime juice). That’s just the start of what I would like to try.
So what did I try, and what did I think of it? I tried the yellow, red, and green curry. You get to choose from spice level 1-4, or 5 which the chef does not recommend. I chose level 2. Joe was happy with level 4. Apparently he has asbestos in his mouth. He thought level 3 was only starting to be flavorful. I liked all of the curries. They were tasty, the vegetables were fresh and balanced well with the proportion of meat.

Thai iced tea is another star on the menu. Their blend of the traditional sweet drink was really flavorful. Joshua Tree Noodle (stir fried rice flat noodle with bean sprouts, carrots, and your choice of meat or vegetarian) had to be good, right? They couldn’t let them keep it on their menu if it wasn’t. Royal pork is a slight misnomer, because you can get it made with any meat you like. I got it with the pork, stir fried onions, celery, bamboo shoots, and water chestnuts. I thought it was very good with the vegetables and delicious sauce.

One big plus for Royal Siam Thai Restaurant is that they are extremely vegetarian friendly. Dana and I like our vegetables, you know?

Now it’s time for the prices. Appetizers and soups range between $3.95 and $10.95. The daily lunch special has lots of great choices on it and ranges between $7.25 and $8.95 per person. You get a vegetable spring roll, soup, vegetarian fried wonton, entrée, and steamed or fried rice. All were enjoyable. The most expensive entrées on the menu are seafood, naturally, topping out at $15.95.

Thai restaurants aren’t known for their desserts, but this one served two the day we visited.  The tapioca, coconut milk, corn dessert was one of the most unique I’ve tasted.  I would love to have it again.

Deep Fried Banana Coconut Dessert

It was a great end to the meal. We rolled out of there, happy, satisfied, and looking forward to our next visit.

If you haven’t read

yet, you haven’t met the characters of Lucy, Dana, and Joe.  The restaurant and the review are real.