Sri Pra Phai

This place has been on my radar for nearly a year or two and I was a bit worried all the hype would cause my expectations to be so high that there would be no way it could live up to them. The fact I lived in Thailand for a summer and got to sample the real local stuff on a daily basis doesn’t really help out at all either because. I wasn’t nearly as an adventuresome eater when I was living there, but I did try some interesting dishes when I was living there.

Anyhow, enough with the back story and back to the review…

To start with we each got an order of the coconut juice, which is actually from a can and served with the soft flesh of a young coconut. It is surprisingly really good even if isn’t fresh. My friend supposedly knows the exact brand of juice that they use so I am waiting for him to hook me up with the name and where to buy it. It will be mighty refreshing at the office during the summertime.

For food we started with two appetizers:
- Fried taro root: A fried root vegetable with peanuts served with two kinds of sauce. This is definitely a must try. I haven’t actually had anything like this before, but it was really good. When I go again I might not order it just to try other dishes, but I would definitely have to order it the next time after.
- Papaya salad (som tum) with fried catfish: The catfish is fried to bits and has a texture similar to the crunchy tempura they sprinkle on some kinds of sushi rolls. It was definitely well balanced, but it could have used more heat. Not everyone at the table were pepper-heads like me so we went with a mild order rather than spicy. I’ll have to try it again and ask for it Thai-style spicy.

For our mains we got two curries:
- Green curry with duck: Great curry flavor and the duck was fantastic. Nice and tender, but not too greasy. Thailand was where I started enjoying duck (although in a different form) and this was definitely a reason for me to start enjoying it again. Typically when I have it ends up being too greasy.
- Massaman curry with chicken: The chicken was super tender and just fell apart with my fork. The curry had great flavor as well. I think the potatoes were cut a bit too large for my preference because smaller pieces would have allowed them to pick up more flavor from the curry, but I do remember feeling the same way about most massaman curries I had in Thailand so it might be the more authentic way to prepare it.

We also got a few other dishes:
- Shrimp w/ garlic and pepper: When I had this in Thailand the garlic was actually fried until crispy and then the shrimp was added and quickly cooked in the same hot oil. In this variation, there was plenty of good garlic & pepper flavor, but the garlic was not as crispy as what I had before. It was still very tasty though and went extremely well with the coconut rice.
- Steamed whole striped bass with lime, garlic & chili sauce: This was as tender as I would have expected and properly cooked. The fish itself seemed a bit on the fishy side though. Not too much, but definitely more than I was hoping for given it was layered in spices and other flavors that helped to mask it. Additionally, the dish could have been a bit more intense. More lime, more garlic, more chili, more everything… It was like a watered down version of what I really wanted. The only place I have found to do this dish properly outside of Thailand so far is Rhong-Tiam in the NYU area of West Village. If anyone has any suggestions for other places I should check out, let me know.
- Drunken noodles w/ beef: The flavor of the dish was great and balanced. In terms of texture, there were more noodles that were stuck together than I would have liked though and they felt a bit on the mushy side. I did like how the beef itself was chopped up into smaller bits though.

I tried two types of rices as well:
- Coconut rice
- Chicken stock rice

They are pretty self explanatory. My friend who had been here before recommended to use the chicken rice with the coconut curry dishes and the coconut rice with the others and I have to agree with him. As I mentioned above, the shrimp with garlic & pepper when perfectly with the sweet coconut rice. And the rich curries seemed to be balanced out with the more round flavors of the chicken stock rice.

We also picked up a few desserts which I don’t usually do. Usually when I think of Thai desserts I think of super saturated sweet dishes and I quickly decide to just settle on some water to cleanse my palate. The only exception being a good plate of sticky rice with mango. We tried an interesting dessert of taro root that had some sort of slightly sweet syrup on it. It was very well balanced and helped to clean up your palate after all the spices without being an sugar bomb. We also got the sticky rice and mango which was as I expected and enjoyable.

The highlights for me were the curries and the rice that came with them. Closely following would be the appetizers. Overall it was a pretty good deal because we feasted on appetizers, main dishes, a couple desserts, and a drink each for $25 with a 20% tip. In terms of transportation it was pretty easy to get to because the E, F, V, R, G, & 7 trains are all within about a 5 minute or so walk away from the restaurant.

Will I come back? Hell yeah!
I’ll just be sure to order it spicy instead of mild next time.

Sri Pra Phai
64-13 39th Avenue (between 64th & 65th Street)
Queens, NY 11377
(718) 899-9599