Chiang Mai Thai #2

This weekend I was thrilled to go to Chiang Mai Thai where I knew I'd get a great meal. On this particular visit, I truly struggled with the menu. I love all Thai food and it felt like it had been ages since I'd had curry...and pad thai...and soup....and laab essan...in the end, I decided to get a Sriracha Stir Fry with chicken. Sriracha sauce ALWAYS hits the spot and Chiang Mai Thai did a fabulous job!

My dining companions ordered pad thai, fire noodles and pad see eiw....all delicious. Thank you, Chiang Mai Thai for consistently delivering a delicious meal.

Now I just need to try their bicycle delivery service!!

Rating- :) :) :) :) 4 out of 5 Smiles from Sukie

Chino Latino

After quite a hiatus from my spicy food addiction, I enjoyed some tantalizing Thai dishes at Chino Latino. Our group ordered two Thai items- Black Laab and Coconut Shrimp Curry. We also dined on some other delicious food, but obviously the Thai food was the highlight of the meal for me (and for a few of my other dining companions too!)

We ordered Black Laab (Thai lettuce wraps with spicy ground beef, mint, cilantro, sprouts and nuoc cham dipping sauce), as a small plate to share and it was absolutely delicious. We struggled a little bit assembling our lettuce wraps (so many things to combine!), but the end result was a great mix of flavors. The cilantro truly complimented the nuoc cham dipping sauce. We were hooked!

For one of our larger dishes, we chose Coconut Shrimp Curry (with pineapple and red bell peppers in a sweet Thai coconut red curry sauce over jasmine rice), which my visiting dining companions order every time they go to Chino Latino. Although it wasn't spicy enough for my liking (when we share dishes- I forgo my usual spice level!), the flavor was right on. For a restaurant that has so many different types of cuisine, they truly nail Thai food. The only thing I'd do differently is keep the rice separate from the curry instead of all mixed together....the rice just takes up space in my stomach and I just want the curry!

This was a delicious first official Thai experience at Chino Latino and I'm hungry for more!

Decor: awesome

Price: above average ($13-$18)

Spice level: good

For more information:

Chino Latino
2916 Hennepin Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55408

www.chinolatino.com

Thanh Do #2

Thanh Do, mmm good! After a second experience at Thanh Do filled with Spring Rolls, Cranberry Curry and Vietnamese Curry Coconut, I am totally sold on Thanh Do!

The Cranberry Curry (Chicken white meat, fresh mushrooms, onions, scallions, Thai curry, coconut milk and cranberries) literally blew my mind it was so delicious. The flavor combination of sweet and spicy....it's making me salivate to think about it. It was thick and rich and really coated the vegetables and chicken to a T.

My dining companion enjoted Vietnamese Curry Coconut (Chicken white meat marinated with vietnamese spices, curry, coconut milk, onions and topped with crushed peanuts and served over a bed of lettuce and bean sprouts), which she also devoured like there was no tomorrow.

I can't wait to return....I'm craving it!!

Rating- :) :) :) :) :) 5 out of 5 Smiles from Sukie

Tum Rup Thai #2

Recently I returned to Tum Rup Thai, which can always make my food spicy enough (love that), but I have to say that I think the food is just a touch blah. There is nothing wrong with it and I can't really describe why it's blah (weak, I know), but my dining companion and I agreed that it's just really forgettable.

The place is quite cute with great happy hour specials....so they have that going for them!

Rating- :) :) :) 3 out of 5 Smiles from Sukie

Mango Thai #2

And that's how its done! I had a second amazing meal at Mango Thai.

After taking my sister to quite a few less-than-great restaurants (so sorry!) I was excited to take her somewhere that I enjoyed a lot. We ordered Laab Essan with Chicken to start and it was absolutely delicious. The waitress offered up the spice scale as medium-hot, hot-hot and Thai-hot. We went with hot-hot to start, which was definitely the right choice.

My sister ordered Pad Kee Mow cooked hot-hot and she absolutely loved it. They do such a good job with this meal! I ordered the Green Curry with chicken (her usual treat) and decided to go with Thai-hot. It was amazing and about as hot as I can tolerate...any hotter and my lips might have fallen off.

Overall, Mango Thai is a GREAT choice for lunch and dinner. Additionally, it is super cute with leather chairs, cozy corners, and hip decor. I would highly recommend it!!

Rating- :) :) :) 5 out of 5 Smiles from Sukie

Rice Paper

I had been anxious to try Rice Paper in the super cute Linden Hills area of South Minneapolis. The decor was great and the walls were covered with a picture mural of a forest (see below), but the service and food were disappointing.

First of all, they were out of SEVERAL items! We tried to order an appetizer, out! I tried to order an entree, out! I was like...c'mon, you can't be running out of everything?! I ended up settling on the Curry Plate with Ruby/Jade Salad (wide rice noodles in a rich, deep peanut-curry sauce. Served with a red and green cabbage salad with coriander tossed in peanut-curry dressing) because the waitress said it was the spiciest thing on the menu. She described it as crazy-hot. Well, listen here, little lady, you obviously have either a) never tasted the food here or b) never had a spicy meal! It was barely spicy and this "rich, deep peanut-curry sauce" was pretty much flavor-less. Boring with a capital B!!

My dining companion enjoyed the Rice Paper Rice Plate, which he said was just fine. The decor was so cute that I had such high hopes...

As we finished our meal at the Asian Fusion restaurant, I asked the hostess/water girl if they had any fortune cookies and she snottily replied that "fortune cookies are for Chinese restaurants and this was Asian Fusion." I was so annoyed with her attitude (BTW pretty much every Asian restaurant has some type of fortune cookie!!!) that I almost said "yeah and usually when you order spicy food at an Asian Fusion restaurant...it's actually spicy!"

Decor: sooo cute

Price: above average ($13-$18)

Spice level: Boring

For more information:

Rice Paper
2726 W 43rd St
Minneapolis, MN 55410

www.ricepaperrestaurant.com

Roat Osha #2

After months of ignoring the siren's call, I was able to have my second experience at Roat Osha. I have to say, the feedback is pretty similar. I had the Green Papaya Salad and flavor-wise they do an awesome job, but spice is another story. Why can't they make their food spicy enough?

Has anyone else struggled here? Let me know...

Rating- :) :) :) 3 out of 5 Smiles from Sukie