Coming back from the Path station, I’ve passed by T Thai countless times without realizing that it is actually a reputable and popular restaurant. I never recognized that the little circle in front of the words “Thai Restaurant” was supposed to be a fancy “T,” not to mention the stark and bare outside doesn’t necessarily appear inviting. However, having heard good things about T Thai after doing my review on Sri Thai last semester, I decided to give it a try.
As it was snowy and cold outside, I decided to turn to delivery yet another week, and my order relied primarily on their most popular items. The food arrived 20 minutes after my requested delivery time, but with the snow falling and the streets not in prime condition, I can’t fault them.
Pro tip: through all of my newly acquired online ordering experiences, I have discovered that if you live in lower campus, restaurants that are not familiar with the locations of Stevens’s dorms are better off being told to deliver to 600 River Terrace. In my opinion this is closer and easier than trekking up to Howe after the delivery person calls to tell you he can’t figure out where your dorm is located.
Needing to create some sort of baseline comparison to Sri Thai, the first item I chose was red curry with chicken, as this was mine and my partner’s favorite dish from Sri Thai. At first glance, the portion and price are nearly identical. I was optimistic because the container seemed to have more actual ingredients than sauce as compared to Sri Thai (a good thing), but it turned out that most of the volume was filler, aka bamboo shoots, and there were fewer pieces of chicken than Sri Thai’s version. In terms of flavor, the taste of coconut was there, but I missed the hint of spice that Sri Thai brought to the table. T Thai’s red curry is tasty, just not as tasty as Sri Thai.
My next choice was beef with chili basil sauce and a side of brown rice. I really enjoyed this dish. The beef was tender, and the sweet spiciness of the chili combined well with the fresh and bright taste of the basil. All in all, the dish was a pleasing combination with a decent hint of spice.
As a sort of wild card, I decided to try green papaya salad. Not something I’ve ever had before, but apparently the dish is quite common in Thailand, and I strive never to be afraid to try new things. I don’t know what I was expecting, but what I got was certainly not it. My partner and I agreed that the salad smelled like dirty feet and didn’t have a whole lot of anything else other than the papaya, save for the one or two morsels of string beans. As for the taste, well four bites between the two of us was enough to convince us that this was a never again.
To finish off the meal, I chose sweet sticky rice with strawberry. By far my favorite part of the meal, the creamy, sweet coconut sauce complimented the sticky rice which had a hint of strawberry further complimented by slices of fresh strawberry. The texture was reminiscent of a thick tapioca pudding. I would come back just for dessert.
Even though this time I did delivery, I have verified that what T Thai offers over Sri Thai is a cozy atmosphere and actual seating that’s perfect for a casual and relatively inexpensive date.
