Once when asked what my favorite type of food was, I responded that it was a tie between Indian food and Thai … pun intended. So this past week, a few friends and I ventured into the vibrant and lively downtown South Bend on the prowl for the best Thai food in the area.
Looking into many of the standard restaurant review sites, we had it narrowed down to Siam Thai or Cambodian Thai, only two blocks away from each other. We had nine people, and looking through the window into Cambodian Thai, it was clear they did not have the space to seat us and we were not too keen on eating our meals on a bench in the city, sharing what we had with the pigeons.
So because of this slight hiccup, we walked over to Siam Thai and were immediately seated at the beautifully decorated and classy restaurant. The menu was leather bound and the room smelled of rich mahogany. It was one of those restaurants thinking it to be so classy indeed that the price for each dish was not listed as a number in a column on one side of the page, but instead written out in words at the end of the dish's description.
Beyond the leather bound book handed to each of us, there were pages of fancy wine lists and an entire menu of teas. Our table opted for a pot of kiwi plum green tea to sip on before and after our meal. The subtle yet distinct flavors made for incredible tea, but unfortunately that subtlety carried over to the dishes as well.
The menu lists those supposedly spicy items with one or two asterisks, and being a fan of strong flavor and spices, I ordered the classic Thai green curry, or "Keow Wan," anticipating a "two star" kick. Yet I was left wanting more, and the dish, though tasty, did not deliver. Those of my friends less exposed to the foods of the world were very pleased with the dishes and thoroughly enjoyed the trip, but the overall consensus was that the food could have had stronger flavor.
Some of the other dishes we went for included the "Masaman" peanut curry, which ironically was strong on the peanut but again light on spice, the "Khao Pad" fried rice, and "GoongKraTium"sautéed shrimp with vegetables.
The dishes were beautiful, both in their looks and descriptions as you can see, but as a whole our impression was that the restaurant was more focused on the aesthetic, and could do a bit more work on their food itself.
