Thai Taste

 When I first started dating Tim, he introduced me to one of his favorite restaurants in town--Thai Taste.  He and his co-workers used to get the lunch specials there on a regular basis (he now works further away, or he'd still be going there all the time).  And I'd have to agree with his assessment that it's one of the best Thai restaurants in Indy.  It had been a few months since we'd been there, so this past Saturday we headed there for lunch with the kids.

We usually start with the fried spring rolls.  I love these things--rice noodles and veggies, with that thin, crispy wrapping.   They're especially good dipped into the Thai sweet and sour dipping sauce (not the same as the neon red Chinese sauce, this is vinegary and sweet with a hint of heat from chilies).  Even our 5-year-old will eat them.

Tim and I decided to get soup to start (well, to start after the spring roll starter).  I got good old Tom Yum, and he got Silver Noodle.  I like the Tom Yum at Thai Taste quite a bit--it's got the perfect amount of heat but isn't overwhelming, so you can actually eat it at a decent pace rather than sipping it because your mouth's on fire.  The broth itself is sour and salty and spicy, with pieces of chicken, tomato, and straw mushrooms floating in it.  As you can see, it also comes with cilantro but I scooped all of mine out (as I've mentioned, cilantro is my nemesis).  It is, indeed, "Yum."  (See what I did there?  Right?!)  The Silver Noodle soup is the antithesis of Tom Yum--it's a very mild chicken broth based soup, filled with ground pork, the aforementioned 'silver noodles' (very thin rice noodles), scallion, and cilantro.  It's also a very tasty soup, if not quite as bold as Tom Yum. 

Tim and I both got Pud Thai--I got just chicken, and Tim got "combo" (which includes chicken, pork, and beef).  I'd been awhile since I'd had their Pud Thai, and it was pretty good.  Theirs tends to be more on the sour side than many I've had (my personal favorite local Pud Thai is actually from Thai Spice in Greenwood), but in most other ways is just a solid, fairly traditional version of the dish.  On this trip, I forgot to specify my spice level and it came back mild--I'm talking VERY mild, no spice at all--and I think I would have preferred medium.  A touch of heat helps to balance the sweet and sour flavors that were predominant.  Tim did get medium, and his was well-balanced.

My favorite dish at Thai Taste is actually the Basil Fried Rice--it has little pieces of green and red bell peppers, scallions, and your choice of meat, and it is super delish.  I also love the red and yellow curries there, so I'll have to do another review (or two, or three) the next time I get each of those dishes. 

The kids, as I've mentioned, LOVE rice, so we get them an order of rice and an order of chicken satay to split.  That's two chicken skewers a child; depending on their hunger level on a given day and what apps they've munched on, we might order a second plate of satay (as we did on this outing).  The chicken itself is pretty good--a bit on the drier side at times, and could use a touch of salt, but they have a nice subtle curryish flavor to them--enough to make them interesting without making them un-kid-friendly.  The boys gobble them right up.  They're served with a standard slightly-spicy peanut sauce and a little cucumber relish.  The kids don't touch either, but I usually eat all of the cucumber relish myself.  It's just diced cucumber and onion in a sweet vinegar based dressing--reminds me of when my grandpa used to make cucumbers and onions marinated in vinegar and sugar (what, it's good!).  It's a nice palate cleanser if you're eating something spicy. 

Website:  Thai Taste (sorry, not much info on the site, but the fact that they even have a domain now is a step in the right direction)