thai: VERY THAI

VERY THAI
at Neo 19
22 SongRen Rd, 2F
(02) 8789-6200

MRT: Taipei City Hall

website: verythai.com.tw

hours: 11AM- 3pm; 5PM to 11PM/ Fri-Sat til 12AM midnight

$$

Kid friendliness: high chairs and kids dinnerware available

Visit reviewed: 11/5/2010



I'd always pass by Very Thai on the way to Momo Paradise or Chili's in the Neo 19 building, but never felt the urge to try it until one day I wanted pad thai for lunch. I could have went to the nearby Thai Town, but I thought I'd give Very Thai.



The English and Chinese menu has an assortment of appetizers, rice/noodle dishes, curries and seafood dishes, desserts and drinks.



Despite the decor and setting of Very Thai being very pop/modern/American- with magazine cut outs of American movie stars along one wall and the MTV's the Hills playing above the bar on another, the food is not Americanized Thai food.




After living in Taipei, some people miss Americanized Chinese food- orange chicken, beef and broccoli or mu shu pork. Sometimes I miss Americanized Thai food- the pad thai in LA comes on the sweet side, tinged pink or orange and that's how I like it. I don't mind the more natural tasting pad thai here, but it just seems to be missing something.



In this case, the Thai fried rice noodles was missing noodles! There seemed to be more bean sprouts than noodles and the taste was all savory with no hints of sweetness. For the price NT$250, the portion was on the small size. At that point, I missed the heaping portions of delivery Thai food in LA for the same prices.





Luckily, the chicken satay was a lot better- fat juicy tender pieces that were nicely grilled with the cucumber and peanut sauce.



Is it fair to judge a place on two dishes? Usually I get to eat at places with relatives or friends, so we get to order more and I get to taste a little bit of everything. But what if I'm dining alone- there's no way I'm going to be able to order a tableful of food and there was no lunch special option for lone diners like they do in the states. Not busy at all on a weekday lunch, Very Thai could be a fun spot for dinner and drinks and ordering other dishes to share in a larger group. There were other things on the menu that looked tempting, like the Deep Fried Soft Shell Crab with Thai Sauce, but it was a little disappointing that pad thai wasn't good.

OTHER LOCATIONS

Sogo Tianmu
77, ZhongShan N Rd, Sec 6, 8F
(02) 2831-0188

319 Fuxing N. Rd
(02) 2546-6745

CLOSED thai/foodcourt: i recommend BLUE SPICE at BREEZE CENTER

CLOSED!

BLUE SPICE
at Breeze Center, B2
No.39, FuXing S. Road, Sec 1

MRT: ZhongXiao/FuXing

hours: 11 AM - 9:30 PM / THURS-SAT 10PM

$

Kid friendliness: seating is in food court; some items might be too spicy/sour for kids

Visit reviewed: 5/31/2010



One of the things I miss in Taipei is Thai food delivery. In LA, if I feel like some pad thai, tom kha gai soup or green curry, I just make a quick phone call and half an hour later, I'm eating my steaming hot food and I didn't have to fight traffic, find parking, or find other people to eat with. In Taipei, if I want Thai food, I usually end up at Thai Town or Mei Kung, both great, but more sit down and suitable for a meal for a larger group so you could have more variety. In Taipei, I have yet to find a Thai restaurant that delivers, or maybe I'm just missing some special code or place that you guys need to clue me into.

So the next best thing to delivery is to-go. So I decided on pad thai(NT$150) to-go after musing over Blue Spice's English and Chinese menu of curries, noodles, fried chicken and appetizers after catching a movie at Breeze.



The prices range from NT$55-$180 and I was pleasantly surprised to find out that with my to-go order I could choose either soup or thai ice tea. I chose thai ice tea and it was sweet and not watered down.

Another thing that surprised me was the complimentary mini appetizers on the side that were included- glass noodle salad, pork and egg which had strong sour and spicy flavors that complimented the pad thai. The portion was filling, but not quite enough to share.

I look forward to going back and trying some of the other things on their menu- the green or red curry with chicken or the fried chicken with chili sauce, which the friendly cashier said was a best seller.

I've had some pretty bad experiences with Southeast Asian food in Taipei food courts for some reason- the Singaporean/Malay stall near Jasons in 101 or Pho in Eslite and Breeze Main Station- but Blue Spice is definitely worth a try for Thai food lovers.

OTHER LOCATIONS

CLOSED
QSquare
B2 Food court
No. 209, Civic Blvd, Sec. 1
MRT: Taipei Main Station

Tienmu Mitsukoshi
3rd floor food court
No. 68 TienMu East Rd
MRT: Zhishan

Mitsukoshi Nanjing West Rd
B1
No. 12, Nanjing W. Road
MRT: Zhongshan station

thai/dessert: PARADISE THAI

PARADISE BIRD THAI
No. 423, Rueiguang Rd.
Neihu District
(02) 8797-1686

hours: 11:30AM-2:30PM; 5:00PM-10:00PM

$$

Kid friendliness: high chairs available

Visit reviewed: 5/31/2009



Paradise Thai is a Thai restaurant located in an office building in Dazhi/Neihu, next to a Korean BBQ restaurant. My relatives said on weekends they come here because it's less busy. But on weekdays, they go to Thai Town (in the mall) because it's less busy and easier to park. Less busy was an understatement as there was only one table at the large restaurant on a Sunday night, and after they left, it was like as if we booked the whole restaurant to ourselves.



The atmosphere was nice enough, the English and Chinese menu was extensive enough and the service was decent enough.



But unfortunately, the only reason I'd come back to Paradise Thai would be for the strawberry ice dessert. The most important part- the food- was just so-so.

The shrimp pineapple rice lacked any real flavor and was a bit on the mushy side. You had to excavate dish to find the shrimp.



The appetizers came after the main dishes. The satay was dry, but the shrimp pancake was crispy and good. I gotta give them that.




The fried chicken, on the other hand, was not crispy and made me miss the perfectly fried Thai fried chicken from Mei Hu. And their pineapple fried rice. And anything else from their menu.



The stir fried vegetables were forgettable.



And I was about to give up on the place, until my aunt declared how when she brought our cousins here they devoured the strawberry ice dessert. So we ordered a couple and it saved the meal. Condensed milk poured on large fresh strawberries soaked in syrup on crushed ice.



Crunch, crunch, crunch. It tasted as good as it looks. Perfect for a hot summer night. If you're in the area, just stop by for the dessert. Otherwise stick to your favorite neighborhood Thai place, or you'd probably be disappointed.


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revisited/thai:i strongly recommend THAI TOWN

THAI TOWN
at Shin Kong Mitsukoshi, A9, 7th FL
9 Song Shou Road
Xin Yi District
(02) 2723-9987

MRT: Taipei City Hall

website: thaitown.com.tw

$$

Kid friendliness: high chairs and children's dinnerware available.

Visit reviewed: 4/6/2009
Previously reviewed: 10/27/2006



Since my first time eating at Thai Town and writing about it's take-out almost three years ago, I've eaten there a number of times, each time being impressed by its consistently good food and ample portions. It's a great place for a lunch date or even better, a huge group lunch so that you can have more dishes to share in a stylish, modern setting.

My favorite dishes to order are usually the Moon Shrimp Pancakes, Thai style satay, Thai Fried Rice Noodle (or Pad Thai) or Seafood and Pineapple Fried Rice, Curry Chicken and Spicy Fried Greens with Shrimp Paste.

But today, we tried out some new dishes- the Spicy & Sour Shrimp Soup(Tom Yom Kum) and the Green Curry Chicken in Coconut Sauce. Both were spicy, but good.



The Green Curry Chicken was more like a sauce than a curry (as the menu states)- and you definitely need the Thai white rice to balance the spiciness. When you order your food, your server will ask if you want regular rice or Thai rice, you definitely have to pick the long grain Thai rice!



The Tom Yum Kum was sour and spicy just like its name in Chinese "Thai guo suan la tang" and had hearty lemongrass, tomato, spicy flavors. I've only recently discovered a newfound love for Tom Kha Kai which is a Thai chicken coconut milk soup (but isn't on the menu here)



While Thai Town is more a casual sit down, chain-store version of Thai food (rather than the local mom and pop shops you'd find in LA) with a large English and Chinese menu of standard popular appetizers, main dishes and even desserts. It's one of my top choices for Thai food in Taipei, my first choice being the delicious Mei Kung and third choice is the fusion-esque Patio (formely Patara)

I know there are quite a few other Thai places in town I have yet to eat at, but when your favorite places are satisfying your stomach, I don't have a reason to wander.

other THAI TOWN locations in Taipei

Zhong Shan Shin Kong Mitsukoshi
No. 15, Nanjing W Road, 7 FL
(02) 2542-7277
MRT: Zhongshan station

49 Ren Ai Road, Sec 2
(02) 2351-0960

133 Anhe Road, Sec 2
(02) 2735-9638

116 Tien Mu West Road
Tien Mu District
(02) 2826-4852

68 Tien Mu East Road
Shin Kong Mitsukoshi, Building A, 7th FL
(02) 2873-6680

Miramar Shopping Center branch
22 Jingye 3rd Road, 2nd FL
(02) 2175-3355

165 Chen Gong Road, Sec 3
(02) 2791-9608

CLOSED/revisited/thai: i strongly recommend PATIO (formerly PATARA)

PATIO
(formerly PATARA)
No. 12, Alley 247, Dun Hua S. Rd., Sec.1
(02)2731 5288
CLOSED
website: patarathailand.com (in English, but incomplete menu online)

lunch: 11:30 AM - 2:30 PM
dinner: 5:30 PM - 9:30 PM

$$

Visit reviewed: 11/24/2008
previously reviewed: 3/9/2007


mini Thai tacos with prawns and tofu

Visiting Patio again made me wonder why I don't eat there more often. The space is tranquil, the service is great and the Thai-fusion food is delicious. From the mini Thai tacos with prawns and tofu, made with deep fried crispy won ton skin wrappers to the yellow chicken curry worth finishing your bowl of rice for, the flavors and presentation of the dishes made all of us clear our plates.

I'm not sure the reason for the name change since my last review (from Patara to Patio) and I'm still not sure if the other Patios around Taipei have the same menu or not.


apple salad with bbq chicken

Get the apple salad or the deep fried soft shell crab salad. Get the satay. Get the curry.



I'm just not so sure what these puff things on the Pad Thai are...



Patio does fusion well without messing up the traditional elements and flavors of what I like about Thai food and introduces some new dishes that I've never seen before in other restaurants. A great spot for a business lunch or romantic date night, tucked in the alley behind Dun Hua Eslite Bookstore.

For more details, check out the last review.

thai/buffet: LACUZ THAI FUSION CUISINE

LACUZ THAI FUSION CUISINE
No. 29, Lane 236, DunHua South Rd, Sec. 1
(02) 2771-2033

website: lacuz.com.tw Chinese only

hours: 12-3 pm, 6 pm-1 am

$$

Kid friendliness: lots of non-adjustable spicy things on the menu, but also some finger foods.

Visit reviewed: 7/16/2008



I've passed by Lacuz Thai quite a few times while sitting in a taxi around this area. Every time I passed it, I wondered what the food was like and I finally got a chance to try it out.

Even though it's all you can eat, the food is made fresh to order. This has its pros (it's served hot and adjusted to the number of people in your group) and cons (the food takes a little longer than if you could just grab it from the buffet). The menu is slightly confusing as there is more than 1 option (NT$390 for 38 dishes, NT$450 for 65 dishes and an extra NT$100 gives you another 15 Japanese barbecue dish choices.), but splurge for the 65 dishes if you want to try everything on the Thai menu.



The menu had little chili peppers denoting spiciness, lemons denoting sourness and higher number next to the chili grading the spiciness- 5 being spiciest.

I'd skip the pad thai and order the pineapple fried rice as well as the fried chicken (both of which we had second orders). Actually everything they fried (the seafood pancake, shrimp cakes) was pretty tasty and served with various dipping sauces.



Even though they size each order to portion with the number in your group, some things like the fried chicken were gone in just a few bites and you should grab the waiter to put in the order of whatever you like, so you can get it sooner than later. I don't know if it was because we were in the back room, but it was sometimes hard to wave down a waiter.

Also, ordering this way, sometimes you'd eat out of sync- for example, they wouldn't necessarily deliver the appetizers/salads first. In fact, our appetizers came after we were done eating a lot of our main dishes. If this bothers you, then you probably wouldn't be able to eat here. It seemed to be whatever the kitchen was able to make was whatever came to your table.





It was actually sort of overwhelming to figure out what to order from their extensive menu, so we stuck with our favorites. Some of the stir fried dishes were quite spicy and some were surprisingly bland.



My mom got the vegetarian set since she couldn't enjoy most of the options in the buffet, but it ended taking longer than our food. Most of the vegetables were also stir fried with little chunks of lemongrass, which ended up being quite sharp and tough to chew, so she'd laboriously pick them out of each dish. For flavor, it was good, but too tough to actually chew.



I liked also the eggplant, long green bean and curry dishes, but the seafood in the tofu dish seemed frozen/not fresh which was a turn off.

Don't forget to order dessert. The tapioca soup was sweet and a good way to mellow out the spices lingering in my mouth.



It was funny to see the long receipt at the end, since I guess they take your "order" even though you pay the flat price. All in all, NT$390 isn't a bad price for an all you can eat lunch- definitely cheaper than Spice Market. It's a modern space with private couch seating rooms in the back and good for groups.



Would I go back? If I was craving Thai, I'd probably still end up at Mei Kung first and then Thai Town, but it was fun to try it. I don't think it's an option for a quick lunch though.

Any leads on more places for good Thai food in Taipei?

CLOSED! thai: CRYSTAL SPOON

CLOSED a/o 2011. I think there is still a branch in QSquare.

CRYSTAL SPOON
at 101 Mall, 4 FL
45, Shi Fu Rd.
(02) 8101-8123

11 AM - 11 PM

$$-$$$

visit reviewed: 12/28/2006




A safe bet for a nice ambience and trendy Thai food, though the service is often spotty and unattentive (which I also found to be true for their now defunct Spoon, formerly at Neo 19). We found it hard to get service and you're lucky if you get your water refilled. It was a bit better at the Sogo location, maybe because it was lunch instead of dinner, maybe they weren't as busy, or maybe they are just trained better at the new location. Even so, the restaurant can get quite busy evenings and weekends, often with groups of stylish business set.



Nothing too bad to say about the food, which is pretty standard and a good place to eat if you are wandering 101 Mall craving Thai. The tender chicken and pork Satay (NT$280) has a hint of coconut or lime and the peanut sauce is equally tasty. If you like the peanut sauce, there is toast for your dipping pleasure.



The seafood salad (NT$320/460) is spicy and sour with a strong dose of lime - a good extreme rollercoaster of flavors for those wanting some heat with fresh squid, shrimp, crab and clams.



The Fried Rice with Pineapple (NT350) is served in foil in a half pineapple shell- which a lot of the other Thai restaurants in Taipei have stopped doing. Nothing spectacular about it, but nothing bad. I actually don't mind the pork floss in the pineapple rice, but I know quite a few people shudder at the thought of it.




I quite enjoyed this vegetable (San Su) that my friend ordered- I thought I wouldn't like it by the sight of it, with a slightly purple tinge- but it tasted like a crunchier cousin of Chinese broccoli with a slighly seaweed texture to the leaves.






The braised vermicelli (NT$480/680) was forgettable. I prefer it at Mei-Kung as well as the service. The menu is in English and Chinese, with lots of pictures. Their thai ice tea is more sugar than tea- too sweet and the Tom Yum Gung soup we tried to chase down was forgotten and brought at the very end after reminded, with no comp or apology offered.

also at
at Sogo (new green building)
45, ZhongXiao E. Rd., Sec. 4, 11F
@ MRT Zhongxiao Fuxing Station - on Zhongxiao E. Rd. Sec. 3, facing north