Restaurant review: Thai Thai

Published 12:00 am Thursday, July 14, 2016

If you like your Thai food to be incinerate-your-sinuses spicy, you might be a little disappointed in the Thai Thai restaurant, which serves Bend’s west-side neighborhoods from an outpost in NorthWest Crossing.

If, however, you’re satisfied with creamy curries and sweet sauces that complement a variety of textures, this Asian treasure on Mount Washington Drive might be just what you’re looking for.

After six years in the same location, host Corey Bock and his wife and co-owner, chef Vivah Vachiraseneekul, know what their patrons like. And what they like, apparently, is nicely blended flavors that don’t make their tongues sweat.

There’s plenty of that at Thai Thai, a family restaurant so nice, they named it twice.

The restaurant has two nearly identical seating areas, on either side of a central kitchen. Without exception, on recent visits, my dining companion and I have been seated on the west side of the room, facing the sunset and the Cascade peaks.

Service is prompt and friendly, though it is more informed when Bock, who also works in The Bulletin’s information technology department, attends tables. He will advise diners on the relative spice level of dishes, something another server failed to do. It’s almost a moot point, however — I found that even the few “3 star” plates would not have rated more than a “2” in other Thai restaurants in Central Oregon.

Fine selection

Diners who enjoy Thai iced tea, served with a pour of sweetened, condensed milk, might enjoy the Thai Thai version: A shot of Stolichnaya vanilla vodka gives it extra kick. It’s a good way to start any meal that begins between the daily 4 and 6 p.m. happy hour.

In three recent visits, these were some of the plates we shared at Thai Thai:

A veggie wrap roll with shrimp ($6.50). Other restaurants may call this a “fresh roll.” Here, the rice noodles with shredded carrots, lettuce and Thai basil — wrapped in a thin rice-flour pancake — were cut in 10 pieces like sushi rolls. They were served with thick peanut sauce and a thin honey-chili sauce.

Tom kah soup with tofu (large bowl $9.95). This coconut-milk broth was delicious, served in a hot pot with mushrooms, onions and wedges of tomato, along with cilantro and chilies. Chunks of lemongrass and galangal (ginger), added for flavoring but not intended for eating, were irritatingly large, however.

Papaya salad ($9.95). Made by shredding the meat of the still-green papaya fruit, this often-vegetarian dish incorporated a few shrimp with carrots, tomatoes and raw green beans in a chili-lime sauce. I thought it was served with far too many raw peanuts, and I would have preferred smaller leaves of lettuce for ease of eating.

Larb gai ($9.95). Typical of northeastern Thailand’s border area with Laos, this minced chicken salad included cilantro and diced onions with lettuce in a chili-lime sauce. It was excellent — after I added a decent amount of hot sauce!

Pad Thai ($9.95). The restaurant’s version of the most popular Thai stir-fry dish in America seemed to me to be short on rice noodles and long on bean sprouts. But it was very good, with eggs, green onions and crushed peanuts adding to the mix.

Green curry with chicken ($11.95). Green beans, bell peppers, basil and especially kefir lime leaves gave the color and flavor to this traditional curry, which featured bamboo shoots simmered with the poultry.

Mussaman curry ($11.95). A heartier, northern Thai coconut-milk curry, this plate highlights potatoes, carrots, onions and peanuts. We also chose this with chicken.

Shrimp asparagus ($13.95). Perhaps my least favorite of the entrées we sampled, this stir-fry coupled the green spears of asparagus with small prawns, carrots and onions in a garlicky broth. I thought the veggies were overcooked, but my companion liked them.

Panang curry with wild-caught Pacific cod ($14.95). This delicious dish is one I’d make a special trip for. The white fish was simmered in sweet-and-salty red Panang curry with cabbage, kefir lime leaves and bell peppers.

Every entrée dish comes with white jasmine rice, but other options are available for only $1 more. My companion is partial to the delicious brown rice; sticky rice, egg-fried rice and rice noodles are other choices.

The prices are very reasonable, especially for ample portions. And although I prefer my Thai food spicier, that won’t stop me from visiting Thai Thai. After all, I can always add my own hot sauce.

— John Gottberg Anderson can be reached at janderson@bendbulletin.com.