Lunch Thai in Asiatown!

So I had a lunch meeting with my good friend Bob and he suggested we meet for Pho. Realizing that was the last place we met for lunch (Read about our experience here Cleveland’s Most Award Winning Pho), I took it as an opportunity to try something new! That in itself is a challenge because Bob is a former writer for the Plain Dealer and he knows practically every international restaurant in Cleveland. Lucky me, I had read an article literally the day before about a new restaurant in Asiatown on Cleveland Scene and figured we could try it out together. Unfortunately when we arrived it was closed! LOL.. no worries because there was a place right next door that was open! After seeing the sign when I parked, I honesty wanted to switch lunch places anyway so this totally worked out.

Let me just say there’s a lot to eat in Asiatown!  If you haven’t gone, pick a day when you’re extremely hungry and try a few new places. A cool concept would be go to one place for appetizers, a different place for a meal, and another place for dessert. Do this a few times and you may have a better chance of visiting all or most of the great restaurants in this area. After eating here, needless to say I am already planning my second trip back! As a lover of all things spicy and a special love for Thai, this place checked all the boxes off my list!

I walked in and waited to be seated. I requested a table for two and because it was a little before noon, there were still a few seats open. That’s important to know because within minutes the entire place was practically full. The dining room is one open space with no more than 20 tables, some for two but most for four. There’s one large window and thats the only light needed in the entire space. Considering it was lunch time and not walking distance to much, I took it being packed as a sign that people consciously make the decision to drive here soooo… it must be good! Not only that, but I ran into so many people that I knew while eating in, all who raved about the food. A cousin of mine honestly stated he comes at least 3/4 times a week as his office building is close by on Superior.

I immediately skimmed the menu and was ready to order appetizers. Bob and I usually share so I went with Thai Spring Rolls and Fresh Rolls with Shrimp. I like them crunchy and Bob likes them soft so this is our happy medium to have both options. You get four of each in the lunch portions so that’s an easy split when sharing. As for meals, Bob quickly decided on the Mango Curry (Double dish of chicken and shrimp sautéed with fresh mango, red peppers, baby corn, mushroom, carrot and onion in a light special yellow curry sauce) while I asked for recommendations from our server. My only requirement was something spicy and not Pad Thai. That’s what I always order from most places and I really wanted to try something new. I also wanted chicken since I had seafood in the appetizers and was not eating beef.  Our waiter (who was so friendly and warm) suggested I try the Basil Chicken which was one of his favorites. He said that can be made as hot as I’d like it. Check this out, to gage my tolerance, he asked how many jalapeños can I eat in a row. I was literally stumped! Like this is such a cool way to determine how much spice I can take BUT… I really don’t know. I’m like on nachos…. probably like 4 by themselves maybe like 3 LOL… I really had to think about it! He took what I said and said he knew how much heat I could take and went to put in our orders.

Our food returned to the table in a short amount of time, especially for the place to be so busy. The service was literally great and my food… literally greater! It was spicy for sure, I had my water refilled about 4 times without even having to ask. It was the perfect portion and just full of flavor. I was more than pleased with my selection and so was Bob. We finished our meals and stayed and talked at our table for another 30 minutes. It was a quick lunch, we were there for maybe an hour and a half max and we didn’t wait long for anything! For everything all together we spent $35 bucks! Our meals were about $8 a piece, and the appetizers were $5 each. My drinks… which I totally forgot to mention were about $3 each. I started with just a Green Tea but then decided to try something new of course! I went with the Thai Iced Tea. Which was a very sweet iced tea with milk. It was tasty! Like nothing I had tried, and I’m not a big iced tea drinker. I’d say definitely worth a try!

So if you’re craving Thai, or in Asiatown looking for something to try I suggest you go to Map of Thailand and tell them you read about them on #CourtneyCoversCleveland They are open Monday through Saturday for both Lunch and Dinner! It’s totally kid friendly and a good option for a quick lunch or a casual dinner with a few people.