Kookoo for coconut
Some people believe Thai food consists of one dish: pad thai.
Michael and I went on a mission to change all that right here in little ol’ Reno at Bangkok Cuisine. We decided to try one of everything on the menu.
To start things off, Michael drank a Singha ($3.25), and I ordered a Bangkok Sling ($5.50), all rum and fruit juice with a cherry on top.
We started with vegan golden baskets ($5.95) and peanut sauce. Contrary to conservative schools of thought, casual exposure to vegan food does not turn one into a vegan. The tiny fried cubes of tofu might as well have been beef/pork/chicken to us. The little deep-fried baskets and the tofu, straw mushrooms, baby corn, peas and carrots with a bit of basil sent our taste buds soaring.
Our next appetizer, thai dumplings ($5.95), made us long for dim sum. The ground pork, shrimp, water chestnuts, dried mushrooms and onions wrapped in a dumpling skin and served with a plum sauce had a licorice and peppery assertiveness. Is there a dim sum place in Reno that is run like an underground rave party? Is the location spread by word of mouth? Are those privileged participants required to present an egg (or some secret item) to gain entry? If so, please discreetly let me know.
All conversation stopped when the spicy interlude began: the papaya salad ($7.95) might as well have been served with flames dancing on it. My lips and mouth were numb after each bite, and I was a fire-eater in a previous life.
This salad was served in three parts on individual cabbage leaves: one leaf contained sticky, sweet rice; a second held beef strips, so seared and chewy that we thought they were pork; the last leaf contained shredded papaya, tomatoes, green beans, hot chili peppers, garlic, ground peanuts and cooked shrimp.
After a while, the noodle course arrived. We didn’t order stir-fried thai noodles with shrimp, chicken, deep fried tofu, egg, ground peanuts, bean sprouts and scallions, i.e., the pad thai ($8.50), though I’ve had it several times at Bangkok Cuisine and it is good.
Instead, we ventured to the spicy basil noodles ($9.95). The distinct basil flavor engulfed the wide rice noodles, bell peppers, onions and chicken. Look beyond the pad thai to this one!
Our entrées included shrimp with abalone mushrooms ($10.95). The taste of this big, flat-topped mushroom was crunchy and weird to Michael. It reminded me of the firm, yummy canned mushrooms I grew up eating in Michigan.
We also tried the curry duck special ($10.95). Sadly, the roasted duck cooked with Thai eggplant, pineapple, tomatoes, bell peppers and basil leaves got lost in the powerful coconut.
Our conclusion: pad thai is the Wonderbread of Thai food, and coconut confuses one’s taste buds. Even the sweet rice with fresh mangoes ($4.95) we had for dessert tasted like coconut.
So we didn’t hit our goal of eating everything on the menu, but we can certainly keep going back and ordering more and more till we do.