Tom Yum Soup – Wong Eats

Thai Orchid Kitchen

Thai restaurants abound in the DMV area in which such establishments can be found in most neighborhoods, particularly dotting affluent or ethnically-populated ones. As much as they make their presence in these parts of town, they are not as visible in the eastern sections like Prince George’s County, MD and Southeast DC, for which I have griped about in previous blogs. Since last summer, I have been noticing Thai Orchid Kitchen located in an improbable spot, at one of the busiest intersection in Anacostia, DC. Since a friend, with whom I would meet up once in a while, lived fairly close by, we paid it a visit during lunch one afternoon, and I was quite impressed by the meal. Subsequent meals there enticed me to drop in a number of times, hence enough dishes were sampled for this most tardy blog.

From the outside, the windows bars can be a bit unnerving to the uninitiated, and walking in, the dining area appears rather spacious despite the building’s shotgun-like appearance. After perusing the rather large menu, I decided to open my meal with a couple of classic soups. The first was Tom Ka. The bowl arrived filled with a whitish coconut cream-based liquid stained by some chili oil covering bits of chicken and mushrooms, and made aromatic by pieces of the obligatory lemongrass and galangal root. After giving the soup a stir since the cream tends to rise to the top, I took a good sip. Creamy and aromatic it was, but I was taken aback by a good hit of sourness and saltiness coming from both fish sauce and lime juice. Alternating sips with bites of my main dish only confirmed the overwhelming seasoning which begged for some taming. The other soup was the recognizable Tom Yum Shrimp. The hot liquid was perfumed by lemongrass, galangal root, and thin slivers of Kaffir lime leaf. Pieces of shrimp were both sweet and plump and the bowl was chockfull with straw mushroom and tomatoes. However, the disappointment lied in the seasoning, which, like the above, was replete with too much fish sauce and lime juice, this further exacerbated by too much sugar in this case. Although both soups require bold flavor ingredients, finesse in the balancing act of their elements is the secret to their success – the owner noted that his customers love fish sauce, but this was an overkill. In this kitchen, all the elements are there but the soups need some tweaking. However, these openers did not damper my curiosity of discovering the rest of the kitchen’s menu.

A favorite appetizer of mine from this Southeast Asian cuisine is Steamed Dumplings. One bite into them was revelatory. They tasted freshly made with the skins supple from the steaming, and the stuffing enticing with a savory mix of ground pork and shrimp, exuding an a la minute quality in each mouthful. The side of dark soy sauce was the perfect accompaniment with its slightly sweet dark molasses alongside its soy umami saltiness. The owner exclaimed that this was a big seller hence their freshly-made quality and flavor, which my dining companions raved about. Admittedly, this is one of the best versions I have eaten in the area. Another meat appetizer that equally impressed me was Chicken Satay. The skewers of meat were not the plainly seasoned ones found in most establishments. Here, the meat was properly grilled but still moist with hints of root herbs of galangal and lemongrass, colored by a hit of yellow turmeric. But it was the peanut sauce that sealed the deal with its nutty sweet and creamy mix echoing the use of the root herbs in the bites. Two good appetizers indeed.

Thai cuisine is known for their salads, and I had to taste a couple of them here. The first was Pla Goong or Grilled Shrimp Salad. The butterflied seafood came grilled and paired with carrots, lettuce, cilantro, and lemongrass, all brought together by a rather spicy, sweet and sour dressing. The salad was fairly tasty and each bite was made interesting by the bits of lemongrass that exuded a root citrus flavor. However, the dish was marred by the unseasoned and dried out shrimp that was crying out for some marinade that would have added flavor and moisture to the protein. Larb Kai was the other order. This traditional salad consists of minced chicken seasoned with dried chili flakes, lime juice, and toasted rice powder. The dish was still warm from the freshly cooked chicken but it tasted slightly under seasoned upon the first spoonful. Perhaps my tastebuds were slightly numb by the heavily seasoned grilled shrimp salad, but after a while, I was beginning to appreciate the subtleties of the chicken salad. With a bit more chili flakes and toasted rice powder, the dish would have scored highly in my books.

A couple of fried seafood dishes were also sampled. The first was the Fried Calamari appetizer. Rings of battered squid rings arrived with a florescent red sweet sauce. The pieces of seafood were a bit heavily battered despite it description of “lightly battered” in the menu. Despite this issue, the squid was quite tender, this being quite a tall feet for most kitchens. The main order of Crispy Seafood Basil suffered the same treatment as the calamari. The pieces of shrimp and fish were also heavy from both the batter and frying which made the dish a bit overwhelming and quickly filling. But I appreciated the pieces of battered green beans and carrots paired with a decent spicy garlic basil sauce, albeit a bit over thickened.

The dish that impressed me about this kitchen during my first visit was Drunken Noodles. The version here is a good mix of fresh wide rice noodles, sweet white onion, green onion, ripe tomato, and a choice protein. The slices of pork I chose each time were fresh and devoid of the “porky” scent usually found in that meat. But what pulls the elements together is the sauce that moistens the dish as well as the high-heat wok searing imparting a slightly char flavor. The sides of chili pickles and paste are the obligatory accoutrements to add more acid and spicy interest, as if the dish were not flavorful enough. This dish is definitely a lunch favorite of mine, including the well-made version here.

Another lunch dish I tried that caught my attention was the classic Kaprow Basil. However, during a dinner visit with a friend, his order was not quite what I had eaten for lunch. The dinner version was made with slices of chicken breast, sweet pepper, sweet onion, and green onion, sitting on a pool of brown sauce, devoid of basil leaves, reminding one of Chinese food. On another visit, I spoke to the cook’s sister and I asked for the traditional version. This time, minced chicken and shrimp were paired with long beans, sweet onions, and a handful of fragrant basil, sitting on a bare pool of proper sauce made with fish sauce and some soy. This version was more delectable although it yearned for a bit more chili heat and saltiness, which would have made the dish soar.

A trio of other seafood dishes caught the attention of me and my dinner companions during our visits. Salmon Curry with Pumpkin arrived with the bowl filled with large chunks of salmon and pieces of Kabocha pumpkin, covered in a slightly sweet yellow curry that was spiced by its usual suspects of cinnamon and cloves, all made velvety by some rich coconut cream. The pieces of fish were amazingly moist and fresh-tasting and the pumpkin being the kind that didn’t overwhelm the palate with its sweetness, which complemented the whole dish. The various elements in the dish came together beautifully and my friend seemed very pleased with his order. Another order placed by him was a similar fish dish – Crispy Salmon. When the dish arrived, it took him by surprise. The fillet was quite heavily battered and it was fried crispy, which was unexpected and to his dismay since he has an aversion for anything deep fried. After much griping, he managed to scrape the top off and started to appreciate the moist salmon and the flavors of the sauce despite its over-thickened consistency. My order one night was Seafood Prik Prao which was listed as a special on a hand-written menu. Wow! Everything on this dish impressed me starting with the freshness of the seafood (shrimp, tender squid, perfectly cooked sweet scallops, and mussels (not frozen)), to the red chili paste that made each bite tantalizing with its spice heat and well-balanced seasoning. The pieces of cashew nuts added another layer of taste and textural interest along with the fresh oyster mushrooms that exuded some silky lusciousness. It was assuring for me to know that the kitchen will cook any of the specials even if the special menu was not on display, for which I will be ordering in the future based on this offering.

After our meal one night and feeling very sated, we were recommended by our waitress to try Mango and Sticky Rice. Reluctantly, I probed her about the ripeness of the mango, and she reassured me that they were the smaller ones that were at their prime. Taking her word, we placed the order and the dish indeed echoed her thoughts. One bite reminded my senses what a good ripe mango tastes like, especially after a winter of unripen tropical fruits. But it was its accompanying sticky rice that was doing its darnest to wrestle my attention with its perfectly steamed grains (a tall feet for most kitchens), perfectly seasoned with salty coconut cream that made it the perfect foil to the sweet fruit. The obligatory yellow lentils added the crunch to the pairing of soft elements, making each bite more irresistible. This dessert was a definite hit and perfect sweet ending for all those present at my table, and I’m looking forward to more of its order in the upcoming summer months.

There were many highlights at Thai Orchid Restaurant, from the Chicken Satay and Steamed Dumplings appetizers, to the Larb Kai Salad, the Drunken Noodles, the traditional style of Kaprow Basil, the Salmon Pumpkin Curry and Seafood Prik Prao, and the quintessential and perfectly-made Thai ending – Mango and Sticky Rice. There were some dishes that left us nonplussed due to either their over seasoning or a lack of traditional approach in order to cater to the locals in the area. But once one can overlook some of these dishes, the diner can appreciate the well-seasoned and properly cooked aforementioned dishes that make this place worth recommending, especially in this part of town that has made this establishment very popular with delivery orders. Time to head back there soon and end the next meal with that scrumptious mango dessert!

Aroy Thai

Food, Restaurants

With quite a few blogs on Thai cuisine on my site, it is hard to justify writing another one on this Southeast Asian cuisine. However, when I heard that there was a new restaurant not far from my neighborhood serving this Asian cuisine, I knew I had to check it out after getting over my initial surprise (“What? In Prince George’s county?”) Reading my previous blog on another Thai establishment (see blog), you sense my frustration that my county is not as “blessed” as the neighboring ones when it comes to international cuisine, especially Thai. Furthermore, it is located in the heart of College Park, MD (aka Party Town) which is known for mediocre cheap eats, drinking holes, and rambunctious fraternities – I graduated from there more than 20 years ago, so I know. With these thoughts in mind, I knew I had to check this new place out and see whether the positive online reviews (100% on one site) were written by reviewers in a sober state.

Located just off the main drag Route 1, Aroy is squeezed into a narrow building in a short block lined with metered parking on both sides of the street. The window is displayed with plastic rendition of their dishes that brings to mind Japanese sushi models popular in the 90’s. Walking into the narrow building, you notice that it is a small 7-table establishment with a counter separating the dining room from the kitchen. The bright orange walls and the long wood banquette makes the place welcoming and warm. Having a lifetime experience with this cuisine since I was a child, I recognized many dishes on the menu and I decided to check-out their offerings by ordering some standard dishes.

As part of their lunch menu, the main dishes come with Thai Spring Rolls or Tom Yum Chicken Soup. I must say I did not expect much from these appetizers since they were part of the lunch deal, but I was proven wrong. The spring rolls were crispy and nearly greaseless, light from the thin wrapper, and delicious from a filling made with bean thread noodle, fine cabbage, and a surprisingly flavorful ingredient, oaky shiitake mushrooms, which elevated these bites to another level beyond its pedestrian flavor. The soup was unexpected for me also. Instead of an insipid sip, it was flavor packed with aromatics like lemongrass, and balanced with enough chili heat, lime tartness, fish sauce saltiness, and sweet from a pinch of sugar. The bowl had a fair amount of mushrooms, tomatoes, and slivers of chicken breast to make it quite satisfying. A good start to the meal, indeed.

On a couple of occasions, I decided to try out their traditional salads. The first was Larb Gai. Pieces of minced chicken are paired with sweet onions, roasted chili powder, toasted rice powder, and moistened with lime juice, fish sauce, and a hint of sugar. This was a delicious spicy salad with the chili powder and rice powder adding a level of smokiness and heat to the sour, salty and sweet flavors of this warm bite. If it weren’t for a couple of sinewy pieces of chicken, this would have been flawless. The other salad was Som Tum, or Green Papaya Salad. Thin julienned strands of the young fruit are paired with carrot, tomato, and green beans, flavored by a sauce made of fish sauce, lime juice, and fresh chilies. What I enjoyed about the dish is the freshness of the ingredients and the balance of the bold flavors as well as the assertive spice heat – the kitchen is not holding back here. The whole peanuts in the dish added a rich nuttiness that balanced out some of the acidity in the dish. This was refreshing for me despite the fieriness of the chili heat – definitely, very close to Ped (Thai chili hot).

Another appetizer that is a good litmus test of a Thai kitchen is its rendition of Sate Chicken. This restaurant’s version was out of the ordinary and it definitely wowed me. Unlike many versions that I have eaten before, here the pieces of chicken were well marinated in turmeric and root aromatics like galangal making each moist piece full of flavor and aromatic, enough to stand by itself. The accompanying sauce was also revelatory. Most restaurants serve a bland version made with peanut butter but here, I tasted a version made with crushed peanuts, root aromatics, palm sugar as the sweetener, and tamarind juice as the sour element, an authentic sauce that I have tasted on the other side of the world. The toasted pieces of bread were the perfect vehicle to mop up the sauce to its last drop. The bowl of sweet pickles was probably a bit too fresh and they could have done with a longer pickling. But that was very minor compared to the main players of this opening dish. Yummm!

Noodle dishes seem to be calling my name every time I visit a Thai restaurant and I had to sample their offerings. A friend’s order of Pad See Euw was his lunch on one occasion. The wide pieces of rice noodles were slightly bouncy fresh and adequately sauced without being drowned by it, tasting savory from Thai soy and quite sweet that made each bite irresistible. The crunchy broccoli, moist chicken slices, and wispy clouds of egg added the necessary tasty elements to the dish, which made this version pleasurable for my friend. My order of Pad Kee Mao, or Drunken Noodle, was totally up my alley. The wide noodles were fresh and not oily, adequately covered by a savory sauce (which remains a secret enigma to me to this day), mixed with slightly crunchy sweet peppers and onion strips, fragrant fresh purple basil, biting fresh bird chilies, moist meat, and pieces of sweet tomato. This was an damn good version of my favorite Thai noodle dish, and it hit the right spots for me.

Very few fried rice dishes impress me these days but my friend’s order here was something else. The fresh tasting rice was cooked with bits of slightly crunchy carrot bits, sweet white onions, juicy tomato, topped with perfectly cooked shrimp, pungent green onions, bits of scrambled eggs, and served with fresh cucumber slices. But what ties these disparate elements together is the flavoring added to the mixture, made from Thai soy sauce, containing a je-ne-sai-quoi added to regular soy, and a hint of fish sauce. Despite being engrossed in my delicious noodle dish I couldn’t help but spoon from his rice place and enjoy the flavor profile of this dish. When it is done right, this dish sings in the mouth, and it did in this case.

No meal in a Thai restaurant would be complete without ordering a curry dish, or a couple of them. On one visit, I ordered the Green Curry. My bowl arrived with lean pork, Thai eggplant, bamboo shoots, sweet peppers, and purple basil. Being a curry dish, the main player is the curry sauce, and this version was outstanding for me. It had a slight peppery quality with a vegetal green chili fragrance, made more aromatic with root herbs and the basil. But the cooking of the curry paste with fresh tasting coconut milk resulted in a well amalgamated mixture that stands out from other versions. It was slightly sweet which points to the Thai sensibility for this seasoning as integral to the authentic palate. Another visit’s order of the Red Curry was equally superb with the same ingredients as the above dish with exception of the curry paste. The sauce was a bit more fiery with the use of red chilies in the paste with a darker leaf aroma from the use of Kaffir lime leaf – the evidence of a soften leaf points to adequate cooking to render all its flavor into the sauce. I was again impressed by the skillful cooking that gave the curry a magical quality that I have not experienced often with this dish.

Although the sweet offerings here are sparse, I had to give them a try since they were some of my favorites. The Fried Bananas came as mini spring rolls stuffed with pieces of banana, and topped with some honey and toasted sesame seeds. The dough was fried crispy and nearly greaseless, encasing a filling of soft sweet banana, made even sweeter by the honey and fragrant from the sesame seeds. An order of Mango and Sticky Rice was a special on another visit. After getting a confirmation from the cook that the mangoes were prime and sweet, I received a plate with pieces in such heavenly state. The side of sticky glutinous rice topped with coconut cream was an equal partner to the ripe fruit. It had enough saltiness to match the sweet fruit and rich from some quality coconut crème made nutty from a topping of fried mung beans, an addition that wavers from the usual sesame seeds. What impressed me the most of this dish was the rice, which was perfectly cooked and matched in seasoning and creaminess. I know how tricky it is to cook this grain well, and that is why most restaurants can’t get it right. However, this is the best rendition (yes!) of this dessert I have ever tasted, and its delicious ghost aftertaste still haunts my taste buds.

Something good is going on here, especially in that small kitchen: woodsy shiitake mushrooms in perfectly wrapped spring rolls, well-seasoned Tom Yum soup, fiery and smoky chicken salad, spicy and nutty papaya salad, the well-marinated Sate chicken and irresistible sauce, perfectly seasoned noodles with barely a trace of oil, savory fried rice that puts all others to shame, curries with an aromatic sauce perfectly balanced with quality coconut milk and paired with fragrant jasmine rice, the best sticky rice ever tasted along with sweet ripe mangoes, and sweet soft bananas encased in sticky crispy dough. Looking at the photos that I took, you see an undivided attention given to each dish even in the simple garnishes on the plate. In Korean, this is called “hand flavor” which is indescribable but only can be felt or tasted. Well, this place sure has it, and when I am this inspired, I want to get a glimpse of Mrs. Chef in the kitchen. One day I hope to personally thank her for such skillful cooking. This place is most definitely Aroy! (Tasty!)