Siamese Cat

Visited on Aug. 29, 2012.

Catching up on some that I did not have a chance to write  before. This place is consistent and was the first restaurant serving any ethnic food that I found when I arrived in Tempe (now more than 20 years ago).

The food is consistently good and a couple of dishes are outstanding. I always must have the yum neau (beef salad) and it must be ordered hot. This dish is a wonderful blend of  coriander, soy sauce, beef, and onions marinated in a slightly salty very tasty marinade. Served with fresh cabbage, it is unbeatable. That was the starter.

For the main dish, I cannot recall my recollection on that night. The gaeng massaman is among my favorites and I like the version done here the best of any outside of Thailand that I have had. Other top choices that are very good are beef panang, gaeng kari, and pad sieu (I prefer it with no meat). The drawback on the curries is the addition, in recent years, of potatoes to all of them. Since their prices have not gone up very much, I assume this is a cost cutting move; pity, I would pay more as the sauces are very good.

Another outstanding dish, that I cannot find anywhere else, is my favorite dessert. Sweet sticky rice with coconut custard. I do not usually like custard but this one is an exception. The baked custard is a dry custard which is then put atop a mound of the sweet sticky rice and then topped with some more sweet coconut cram. Fantastic!