S&I Thai - Quick Report (and bubble tea questions)

[Dave MP]

Thanks to yumyum and gourmaniac, I checked out S&I Thai today for lunch. Man oh man, I am so happy to be back in Boston! I had the chicken larb (which comes with sticky rice). Really great, nice and spicy (but not overly so, since I didn't request it to be *very* spicy). I am excited to go back and try the other types of larb, and the dozens of other things that look good.

Thanks for pointing this place out!

Dave MP

P.S. After my meal, I went to Infusions Tea Spa for bubble tea. Still good, and not too different than when I was last there. Their boba was a bit on the soft side though, as is the boba at Lollicup. Anyone tried the place across the street from Infusions that also has bubble tea? I can't remember the name...

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Infusions Tea Spa
110 Brighton Ave, Allston, MA 02134

S&I To Go
168A Brighton Ave, Allston, MA 02134

Lollicup
1095 Commonwealth Ave, Boston, MA 02215

[Klunco]

Just have to say thank you to all the hounds who recommended this place. Finally checked it out last night, WOW! The flavors were so fresh, clean, and distinct. Often Som Tom just tastes like sugar and fish sauce, but here it was bright and vibrant and I could taste chili, dried shrimp, lime, and sweetness all in clear harmony. Also tried the red curry with chicken. Once again, most of the time Thai curries in the states are too sweet, but this was perfect. Fresh rolls with interesting sauces were also a hit and were large and well, fresh. I spent two weeks in Thailand once but in no way does that mean I have a clue as to what authentic or "real" Thai food is, but I will say this: S&I's food showcased a clear, distinct, and harmonious layering of flavors I haven't experienced at any other Thai places in Boston.

Duck larb and the chili basil fish are definitely for next time! Thanks for the rec.

[teezeetoo]

now try Thai North. You'll be glad you did.

[opinionatedchef]

in brighton:

http://thainorthbrighton.com/

[StriperGuy]

I agree, even better than S&I.

[Klunco]

You guys are going to make my head explode. What dishes should I try at ThaiNorth? We're not big Pork eaters but love everything else.

Edit: This thread looks recent:

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/799386

[StriperGuy]

Heck, Dok Bua in Brookline doesn't suck either...

[Klunco]

Dok Bua has been my go-to Thai restaurant, which is why it took me so long to try S&I. Dok Bua has never really bowled me over though. It's close and relatively inexpensive which is a plus and the whole deep fried chili-basil fish is fantastic. But then I've had too sweet curries there and last time I had Tom Yum Goong I was brought over a large bowl of basically what ended up tasting like tepid water with mushrooms floating in it and a squeeze of fish sauce. It didn't have the dynamic, clear and discernable individual flavors that I associate with Thai cuisine. I think for now I'll investigate S&I more and check out Thai North.

[StriperGuy]

I will confess to not having eaten with any frequency at Dok Bua in 5 years or so. I always like their fried stuff so...

My winner by far at present is Thai North.

[Dave MP]

Yes, that thread is the most recent on Thai North. I'm not convinced it's better than S&I (maybe just different?), but my first meal there was indeed excellent.

[StriperGuy]

I think the flavor profile is broader, and more subtle. I love S&I but many of the dishes there taste similar. Not the case at Thai North.

[Luther]

S&I basically does these classes of dishes:
1. yum (tangy salad)
2. laab (meaty salad)
3. stir-fried (basil-based, peppercorn based, etc)
4. "typical" green/yellow/red curries
5. grilled meats
6. crispy breaded meat (crispy khao mun gai with the chickeny rice is fantastic)
7. soup noodles

It does seem that within any of these categories the dishes don't tend to vary a whole lot

I don't particularly like their stir-fried noodle dishes compared to Dok Bua, which I think is really the only thing they do well.

[Trumpetguy]

Has anyone tried the "Drunken Squid" here? It sounds up my alley and it has more red peppers on the menu than almost anything :)

[Luther]

As a general rule, anything with a "fun" English name is a Thaimerican style dish that won't be as strongly flavored as the traditional stuff. But I'd be curious to know for sure.

[Trumpetguy]

Thanks for the response Luther. I will probably try some of the above recs(OakTown Hound & your affirmation), but not sure they are on the menu...

[Luther]

It's all on the picture menu. You can pretty much ignore the text menu, it's got almost all of the phony stuff on it.

[Taralli]

4 of us went last Saturday for lunch. Among the things we had were the Tom Yum soup, papaya salad, spicy eggplant, the spicy pork belly krob... Galangatron came in last & ordered a preserved duck egg & ground pork dish from the Thai menu. G's dish was ferocious in it's heat at 1st mouthful, but once the initial burn wore off a bit, I went back for more - not for the faint of mouth. My 1st time at S&I, and I loved everything. Afterwards, we went around the corner to the Portuguese bakery to pick up pastries. Bid farewell to fellow hounds, who were off to Bazaar for Russian treats, and walked down to Garlic & Lemons, that we'd been to a couple of weeks before, & ordered a soujuk shwarma, to go, for later feasting.

[OakTownHound]

Just went to S&I for the first time last night. My wife and I are long-time students of Kasma Loha-Unchit, the Thai cooking teacher who runs www.thaifoodandtravel.com and without a doubt, this was the most authentic Thai meal we've had in the U.S. outside of her kitchen.

We ordered from younger woman (not the older woman who seems to run the place) who spoke great English; when we told her we had spent time in Thailand, wanted authentic, Thai-style food, and could handle it Thai-spicy, she steered us towards some great dishes:

pad ped pla duk - crispy catfish & thai eggplants stir-fried in thick red curry paste. This dish is tossed at the end of cooking with basil, kaffir lime leaf, and shredded krachai (also known as "fingerroot"), and pickled green peppercorns. Some of these herbal flavors are rarely found in U.S. thai restaurants, and we were totally thrilled with this dish. And the heat level seemed on par with what we get in Thailand or Kasma's kitchen, which is to say fiery as hell.

pad ka na moo krob - stir-fried chinese broccoli w/ crispy pork. A simple but well-executed vegetable dish to balance the heat. I belive this was cooked with fish sauce, fermented soya bean sauce, and not much else.

gaeng som - this is not a dish I've seen mentioned on this board thus far, and it was spectacular. Gaeng som is a southern-style sour fish curry. It's a brothy curry, made without coconut milk: the base is seafood broth flavored with a fresh curry paste curry paste heavily redolent of shrimp paste, along with other typical curry paste ingredients (dried chiles, galangal, shallots, garlic, etc). The sour flavor comes from plenty of tamarind pulp. This is usually made w/ crispy catfish, but since we already had another crispy catfish dish, they cooked it with shrimp and cha-om, a green Thai vegetable cooked into an omelet and cut into squares, as pictured here: http://en.petitchef.com/recipes/sour-...

This is the first time we've seen gaeng som on a Thai menu in the U.S., and I'd highly recommend trying it next time you're at S&I. It's pungent, sour, salty, complex, herbal, aromatic, and fiery - everything Thai food should be.

We also tried some cookies - the flat, deep fried ones. They're sweet AND salty with a strong aroma of ground white pepper and perhaps onions. Interesting, but probably not my ideal dessert...

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S&I To Go
168A Brighton Ave, Allston, MA 02134

[teezeetoo]

thank you for the post. I love this place but have no experience with authentic thai so it's interesting to hear that it is close to the source of the food. I love it because it is so good and so not "cookie cutter."

[Luther]

I've had both the pad ped pla duk and gaeng som there, and really enjoyed both of them. The really remarkable thing about the gaeng som (in addition to being great for a cold) was the textures. The catfish was fried very heavily so it was almost dry, in a contrast to the soupy sauce; and there was some very unexpected nearly-raw cauliflower in there as well. I don't know if this is traditional Thai or just the way it was prepared, but you can really get some unique tastes at S&I. Maybe even better is that someone like me, who doesn't know any Thai and can't tell the waitress that I'm super knowledgeable and to make food special for me, can still get really delicious (and very spicy) food just by ordering right off the menu or the photos on the wall.

[Nab]

OakTownHound and Luther sniffing out the goods - daannnnng ! Gaeng som summed up beautifully by OTH above, just a totally spectacular dish, amazingly complex like a mole, layers upon layers coming together. It was a deep mahogany colour, unlike the yellow-er and more lime-y versions I've had elsewhere. I ordered it with cha-om thawt - acacia leaf omelette - nice hard-fried cubes of herby omelettes. Highly nuanced curry, I always marvel at this cuisine's ability to harmonize so many ends of the flava spectrum. Pad ped pla duuk is a fine rendition, blessedly low on bell pepper. Sai ua snausages, coarse, juicy, redolent of chiles. Didn't escape without a box of roti sai mai (cotton candy roll-ups) and those damn almond cookies.

[Dave MP]

Went to S&I Thai again yesterday with a friend and had another great meal. I get the feeling that this place is somewhere where you can order pretty much anything and feel confident that it will be good.

Curry puffs were re-heated, but still slightly cold in the middle - so this wasn't ideal, but the great taste and flaky texture of the crust made up for this. Slightly sweet, slightly spicy potato filling and a large serving of 5 pieces.

Sukiyaki was really good - the spiciness wasn't too evident, but crept in and left my tummy with a warm buzzing feeling. Lots of seafood, including a few large shrimp, fish cakes, squid, and lots of crisp green vegetable. I haven't had this dish at too many other places, so I have little to compare it to, but it was really great.

Also had the prik kning curry with chicken - this was the more brothy version made with coconut milk. Strong lemon grass flavor, not so different from a typical red curry I guess. String beans were perfectly cooked, chicken was tender. Really solid and comforting.

I really like this place.
Dave MP

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S&I To Go
168A Brighton Ave, Allston, MA 02134

[Jenny Ondioline]

Blue Asia is the place you're thinking of. Excellent bubble tea, but that's actually among the least of their attractions. One of the best places to open along Brighton Ave in a while!

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Blue Asia Cafe
113 Brighton Ave, Boston, MA 02134

[Prav]

I'm going there tonight, what are some standouts?

[Jenny Ondioline]

The sliced Chinese red wine pork belly is great -- get the app instead of the dinner, which may actually be too much pork belly if such a thing is possible. The fried chicken cutlet over rice is justifiably legendary. Surprisingly, they have better bibimbaps than any of the many Korean restaurants in the neighborhood!

[Prav]

I noticed the Korean slant to the menu. Are the owners Korean?

I just may try the red wine belly - sounds delicious!

[galangatron]

the owners are taiwanese. they used to own taste of taiwan in quincy

[galangatron]

red wine pork belly
taiwanese beef noodle soup
crispy chicken rice roll
braised pork belly over rice
8 treasures shaved ice
taiwanese style dofu hua (ask for all the toppings)

[opinionatedchef]

galanga, could you tell more about the soup and the braised pk. belly and the dofu? thanks much.

[galangatron]

next time try the duck larb

[StriperGuy]

Crispy pork with green peppercorns...

[opinionatedchef]

man, that Pad Ped Moo Krob is WICKED wicked hot.Fried Pork belly on bed of peppers. The first time i had it it was delicious, crispy outside, rich and fatty inside, and the heat was tolerable. But the two times since then, even though i've asked for it to be not so spicy, it has been inedibly spicy, for us, and the pork not wonderful- once dry and tough, once too soft.One hit and 2 strikes; i'm not likely to try it again.But it was soooo terrific that first time..... To be fair, she kept telling me that it could not be made less spicy/ it was already done, but that just didn't make sense to me and I figured I just didn't uderstand her. Maybe they pre-cook the heat into the pork and then re cook it to order? Has anyone tried the Pad Ka Na Moo Krob ? I wondered if it were the same pork belly but, since it has no spicy stars next to it on the menu ,not hot.

[davis_sq_pro]

I tried the Pad Ped Moo Krob a few weeks ago it was not spicy AT ALL. I asked and was told that the chef saw my daughter (who is 4) with me and toned it down. She wasn't eating that dish anyway so it was an extreme disappointment to say the least; I was looking forward to a bit of pain. The pork was perfectly crispy and the dish was delicious -- so apparently they can drop the heat a bit and still deliver quality. Bring a kid along next time :-)

[jgg13]

So you're the guy that keeps asking these places to tone down the heat and ruining it for the rest of us, eh? :)

[Luther]

which oddly doesn't come with sticky rice