A Joyous Introduction to Thai Cuisine at Pongsri
Written: Mar 18 '02
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Pros: Offers a full range of the complex, multi-layered flavors that characterize Thai cuisine.
Cons: Can be a little difficult to find for first-timers.
The Bottom Line: Without a doubt, one of the best Thai restaurants in Manhattan. What the place lacks in ambiance, it more than makes up for in the affordable, tasty food.
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| Epicure's Full Review: Thailand Restaurant |
Nothing pleases an epicure more than to dine with fellow epicures - people whose eyes dance when they begin to talk about food, people who inhale the aroma of food with blissful expressions of utter contentment, people for whom food is first the ultimate silencer and later the only relevant topic of conversation at the table. I had the pleasure of such an experience last month when my cousin, Sebastian came to visit New York from Spain.
We met up on a Friday - he and his friends Lorenzo and Gustavo, me and Mr. Epicure. They had already been in town a few days, so of course we were curious as to their impressions of Manhattan. Given that it was Sebastian’s first vacation in New York, I was not surprised to hear that they had been to the Empire State Building, Times Square and Greenwich Village. But then the conversation shifted to subject nearest and dearest to my heart -food. Sebastian gleefully recounted the types of ethnic cuisine that they had managed to sample in the short time that they had been in New York - Chinese, Korean, Indian, Vietnamese, Japanese (both a soba restaurant and a sushi restaurant). You just can’t find Asian cuisine like this in Spain, Sebastian told me with a regretful shake of his head. We were talking about possibilities for dinner. What about Thai? I asked him. It turns out that none of them had ever had Thai food before. And so it was settled - we would dine at Thailand Restaurant Pongsri that night.
We secured a table for the five of us with little trouble. It’s nice to go somewhere in the city where reservations aren’t required, and the wait isn’t an hour. The host welcomed us warmly and guided us to our table. As we made our way from the front room to the main dining room, I noticed the wood-carved walls and the colorful painted masks with pointed gold hats featured in the lighted display windows. They seemed almost incongruous with the black rubbery floors and low plaster ceilings. I wondered what use to occupy this little corner of Chinatown prior to Pongsri, which by the way, claims to be the first Thai restaurant in Chinatown.
Our server came over promptly to take our order. I asked him for his recommendation between two dishes, and he immediately gave me one. Decisiveness is definitely a virtue in my book. Shortly thereafter, he arrived with our water glasses and a pitcher of water. Very small glasses, I noted, particularly at a Thai restaurant where water can be considered as essential as life preservers on a sinking ship.
We shared a few appetizers to start - the Tao Hou Todd ($4.95), the Chicken Satae ($7.50) and the Thai Egg Rolls ($4.95). The Tao Hou Todd consisted of a heaping plate of bite-size fried bean curd squares served with a dish of spicy peanut sauce. Though fried, the bean curd tasted light, not oily, and the texture of the bean curd soaked up the peanut sauce perfectly. The peanut sauce was laced with tamarind, which kept it from becoming too heavy. While Sebastian was not a huge fan of the bean curd, Lorenzo and Gustavo could not get enough. I guess bean curd is a love-it-or-hate-it food, and if you don’t like it when you first try it, it is unlikely that your opinion will change over time. Gustavo mentioned that there is a special bean that grows in his hometown of Valencia that reminds him of soybean, so perhaps the taste of bean curd was not so new to him after all. The similarities and differences of food across cultures are a endless source of fascination for me.
The slithery, transparent glass noodles in the Thai Egg Rolls were the special touch that set the rolls apart from ordinary spring rolls. Each roll was about a finger’s length and stuffed with thin slivers of carrots, cabbage and other vegetables. They were accompanied by a tangy translucent, melon-colored sweet sauce.
The barbequed marinated chicken chunks that comprised the Chicken Satae were moist and delightfully charred around the edges, lending a smoky flavor that was offset by the sweet peanut sauce (slightly thicker and saltier than the peanut sauce that came with the bean curd) and the cool cucumber sauce. Thai cuisine intrigues me with the multiple sauces and pastes that are incorporated into or served with each dish. The complex contrast in flavors makes it a sometimes challenging but always exciting cuisine to sample.
By the time we finished with the appetizers, there was not a single shred of food left on the plates. I watched with amusement as the guys negotiated the last remains of the food. Their polite manners belied their greedy eyes.
As with the appetizers, we decided to dine family-style on the main courses, which is absolutely the way to do it here. Among the five of us, we shared two noodle dishes and three curries, which provided the perfect assortment of dishes ranging from mild to spicy, sweet to savory, smooth to piquant and everything in between.
Of the two noodle dishes, the Pad Thai ($6.00) was the clear favorite with our group. Even though Pad Thai (thin rice noodles, peanut sauce and an assortment of other varying ingredients) is probably as common in Thai restaurants as chow mein is in Chinese restaurants, I still recommend this ubiquitous dish because Pongsri makes it more artfully than any other Thai restaurant that I have encountered in New York. Its Pad Thai includes a generous portion of bean sprouts and shrimp with finely chopped peanuts, scallions, scrambled eggs and preserved bean curd mixed in. The care that was taken in preparing this dish allowed it to transcend its reputation as an unexciting stand-by dish.
The other noodle selection, the Pad Kee Mao ($6.95)was also satisfying, but the flavors did not blend together as harmoniously. A spicier dish than the Pad Thai, the Pad Kee Mao uses a hot chili paste, rather than a peanut paste, as the basis for its sauce. Pongsri incorporates basil leaves, onions and bell peppers into the dish along with shrimp and chicken. In my opinion, it was a bit of an overload of flavors, but we nonetheless found it intriguing so we finished it anyway.
Now for the curries, one of my favorite aspects of Thai cuisine. Pongsri offers eight curry dishes from which to choose. You can also select the type of meat or seafood (chicken, pork, beef, lamb, squid or shrimp) with which your curry will be made. We tried the Gang Kiew Wan with beef ($8.95), the Gang Karee with shrimp ($10.95) and the Mus-sa-mun with chicken ($8.95).
I think the Gang Karee, which is a yellow curry and coconut milk dish, made the biggest impact with its hypnotic aroma and bright color of sunrise soup. Sebastian was the first to pick up the carved tin bowl to fully inhale the curry smell. His face lit up with boyish delight as he handed it to Gustavo to do the same. This might seem like an unusual comparison, but the aroma of Gang Karee reminds me of hot buttered corn, the kind that makes you want to lick your fingers afterward. Floating in the flavorful curry soup were slivers of onions and red peppers, chunks of potatoes, pieces of shrimp and crunchy green beans. The snappy green beans added the most to the dish, providing a refreshing, clean taste that cut through the rich sauce. Too bad we couldn’t say the same for the tiny shrimp, which tasted as lifeless as they looked.
In contrast to the attention-grabbing Gang Karee, the Gang Kiew Wan, which is a green curry and coconut milk dish, can almost be considered an exercise in understatement. Though it is called green curry, the color of the curry is actually a faint lemon yellow, but the grassy, herbal undertones of the curry did make me think of greenery. The initial flavors of the Gang Kiew Wan were quite subtle, but there was a spicy kick at the end which lingered in my mouth. I think the green and red peppers, the eggplant, and especially the bamboo shoots complement this curry nicely. Unfortunately, the beef was old and overcooked. Though it was disappointing, I don’t think the poor quality shrimp or beef ruined the curry dishes because the curry flavors themselves were so wonderful and the vegetables so fresh.
The Mus-sa-mun curry differs from the yellow curry and the green curry in that it is a sauteed curry dish. The Gang Karee and the Gang Kiew Wan resemble silky curry broths, while the Mus-sa-mun looks like a robust, chunky chicken dish with a generous portion of curry sauce. Though the Mus-sa-mun appeared heartier than the other two curry dishes, in flavor it was the weakest. Made with peanuts, potatoes, onions and bell peppers, it is a good choice but not a showstopper. However, of the three meats that we ordered, the chicken definitely seemed to be the best in terms of freshness and quality.
The five of us ate our meal with much gusto, devouring the food first with our eyes and then with our utensils. I believe we went through eight brimming bowls of rice because somebody didn’t want to waste any of the precious curry sauce. Sebastian, Gustavo and Lorenzo were so pleased with our restaurant pick that we even wrangled from them an invitation to Spain. Has anyone ever had black rice (flavored with squid ink) with aioli? I hear it is a specialty of Valencia.
Address: 106 Bayard Street, New York, NY
Telephone: 212-349-3132
Hours: 11:30 a.m. to 11:00 p.m.
Attire: Casual
NOTE: Cash and American Express Only
Recommended:
Yes
Kid Friendliness: Yes
Vegetarian Friendly: Yes
Best Suited For: Friends
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Epinions.com ID:
Epicure
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 - Top 500 |
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Location: New York, NY
Reviews written: 88
Trusted by: 100 members
About Me:
I generally avoid temptation....unless I can't resist it.
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