Weekend Restaurant Love: Simply Thai

Food Warrior Eating Challenge training day 2 (training day 1 was held at Sambo Kojin)

I needed to train my stomach to eat more these days for an eating contest I will be participating in this coming Saturday.  Since I hardly go out during the weekdays (as I lead a life of home-office-home from Monday to Friday), I try to maximize my weekends by checking out restaurants I have never been to or haven’t had the chance to blog about. This time, I have my eyes on Simply Thai and I decided to visit it last Sunday with a friend.

We went there around 1pm and there were only a few diners. I guess it was because it was already past lunch time.

I tried to recall what Executive Chef Cecille Chang Ysmael made us try during the intimate dinner she held a few months ago. The dish I remembered was the Crispy Catfish (PHP320) and the Caramelized Squid (PHP295). Since the two were pretty similar, we decided to stick to the Crispy Catfish.  

We thoroughly read the menu and looked for non-spicy dishes and we finally ordered Mieng Kham (PHP220), Silom Shrimps (PHP325), Phad Thai (PHP320) and an order of Thai Green Milk Tea and Thai Milk Tea (PHP120 each). My friend and I agreed not to order desserts as we plan to check its neighbor Max Brenner that same afternoon but we came across Simply Thai’s Nest (PHP240) and the description said that it is a MUST TRY sooooo (you already know what we did). Yes, we are easy to convince as long as it is food-related.

The drinks arrived fast and we were excited to try it.

The Thai Green Milk Tea was too sweet for me. It had a subtle avocado taste (was that the reason why it was green?) mixed with condense milk and jasmine. I wasn’t able to (or should I say couldn’t?) finish it. Tsk.

I prefer the Thai Milk Tea as it had a stronger tea flavor (yet was still undeniably “milk” tea). Also, it wasn’t as sweet as the other one. I didn’t order it because of the color as it looked like curry to me. But I hoped that I ordered that instead. (To be honest, I was waiting for my friend to swap drinks with me but it didn’t happen.)

Finally, the dishes arrived.

The first one to arrive was the Mieng Kham. We were quite clueless as to how to eat it. Since there were leaves, we assumed that we had to wrap the prawns, lemongrass, coconut, chili and peanuts in Thai betel leaves.

I removed the chili before eating it as I saw my friend cry because the chili was too spicy.

It was zesty. It was definitely different from those I have tried before. I checked betel leaves out and I found out that it is often used as palate cleanser. I’d say it truly is a must order as a starter.

The next dish served was the Phad Thai.

It was cutely wrapped in an egg net (which made me think if it really has a purpose or if it was just for aesthetic purposes only). What I loved about it was that it was not the salty, oily type. It was just right. The noodles were cooked well and the small side dishes (peanuts, bean sprouts, and lime) brought out the rich flavor of it. It was love.

The Silom Shrimps on the other hand was a bit of a disappointment if you’re after authentic Thai food.

It was your typical pan seared prawns. The lemongrass and tamarind taste as very very subtle.

Now for the Crispy Catfish…

It was the crispy catfish that I remember. It was neither oily nor salty. It was well-seasoned. However, it seemed to be a bit dry this time. It needed to be eaten with the green mango-apple salad to make it easier to swallow (well, water or any beverage works too). Nonetheless, I still love it and will definitely order it again when I visit Simply Thai.

We were still enjoying the four dishes when our dessert arrived. We felt that the servers were in a hurry. I was not really sure why. The server approached us and asked if there was something else that we would like to order as they were about to close their kitchen. (Ehhhh?) One server also started to sweep the floor. (Uhm, can’t you wait till we’re done?)

Anyway, back to the dessert…

The dessert was adorable. The ice cream really looked like an egg. My friend and I just had to have our photos taken with it. As for the taste, it was truly coconut ice cream resting on shredded sweet potato and taro. The sweet potato taste was stronger though (but you could see the bits of taro if you look closely). The coconut ice cream was rich in flavor and the “nest” and caramel (yes, the brown liquid on the plate was caramel) went well together. It was a bit heavy though (probably because of the “nest”).

Nice ambiance, good food, fairly priced items…  I just hope that the servers will let me take my time to enjoy my meal on my next visit.

Simply Thai is located at the Ground floor of Greenbelt 5, Makati City.