Jaclyn’s Pick:

Sea Thai
3157 Farnam St.
Fare: Thai
Cost: $50 for two appetizers and two meals
Reservations: Not needed for our Thursday night visit, but seating is limited

Greetings, Eaters and Readers!

Picking Sea Thai was a matter of convenience. Knowing I’d be across the street at Smokin’ Oak beforehand, I needed to pick a restaurant within close proximity to meet Martha on time. Luckily for me, Sea Thai has been on my list for a while.

Located on the south side of Farnam in Midtown Crossing, this cutely decorated joint has just a handful of tables – about 10. But rather than seeing tables fill up, we saw order after order get picked up for delivery. I often see many businesses come and go from Midtown Crossing, so here’s hoping they continue to do well because we’re about to tell you how great our meal was.

Mango Crab Rangoon ($5) — Cream cheese, mango, crab

This was both our first time seeing mango crab rangoons on a menu. Anticipating they’d have a hint of sweet, we were surprised to find no such thing. In fact, if there was mango … we didn’t taste any. But honestly, it didn’t matter. They were excellent. Coming to the table piping hot, the rangoons had that familiar creamy, crabby inside and freshly crisp outside. 10/10 would order again.

Chicken Gyoza Fried Dumpling ($9)

A fan of dumplings in all shapes and sizes, Martha had to try Sea Thai’s fried chicken gyoza. If she has the choice, she almost always picks steamed dumplings, but these were scrumptious from start to finish. Piping hot and fresh when they came out, we were happy to see just how many dumplings were on the plate. Sometimes fried dumplings can come out a bit dry and overcooked – but that wasn’t the case with Sea Thai’s chicken gyoza. With a fried version this delightful, we offer a humble request to the chef that they offer a steamed version!

Chicken Pad Thai ($16.99) — Rice noodle, egg, beansprout, green onion

When I get Thai food, I pretty much always get the Pad Thai. And it’s all because of Salween Thai. I’m obsessed with their version – and forever on a quest to see if anyone else comes close in comparison. I’ve never found one, until now.

You get almost double the portion at Sea Thai – for $1 more than Salween (at the time of this writing). Points scored. The sauce was full of sweet and salty umami flavor. I typically order beef, but that wasn’t an option (sad), so I got chicken. It was just fine, but by now you know my general ‘meh’ feelings about chicken, right? So I’d love to see a beef option. I got level 0 spice with no peanuts – and I’m sure you’d love however you style yours, too. I’m so happy to have finally found a new Pad Thai dish to order.

Don’t worry Salween, you’re still my number one. But you’ll have to share custody with my tastebuds.

Saigon Pork Chop ($20.50) — Marinated pork with lemongrass and honey served over rice, topped with fried egg

Fresh off of a personal culinary journey that involved one of her all-time favorite pork dishes (you should ask her about Thit Kho), Martha’s eye quickly spied the Saigon pork chop and hardly wandered. There were other dishes she felt were things she’d usually order (peanut butter chicken, basil chicken, or even Pad Thai), but she wanted to branch out and see if there were other pork dishes she could love.

The only thing that threw her off was the bone in the pork chop: she admits she was raised on and usually encounters the boneless variety. Finding where the bone was and working to get the meat off the bone *did* create a bit of extra work – and it was a bit comical to watch from my side of the table. But without a doubt, she can tell you – it was worth it. The meat was warm and deliciously flavored. The soft, slightly runny egg on top adds the right level of umami and texture to bring a bite together. Since she knows she’d like to devour this dish again, she noted she would like two eggs – so there’s enough to last a bit longer or through the last bite. She had thoughts of adding soy sauce to the plain, white rice – as there was no extra sauce falling from the pork chop, and no honey that she could see or pick up on. But with the egg and the flavor of the meat, it didn’t much matter. Martha was very happy to have ventured from her normal chicken-based orders – and found a winner.

Final Bites

So, when you Google Sea Thai and check out the pre-populated menu images, you’ll see a ton of mouth-watering appetizers. Curry puffs. Golden fritters. Pad Thai spring rolls. Noon buns. Steamed Dumplings. We learned this menu was for their previous location, which is a bummer. Because don’t all of those sound fun and delicious? We’re curious why they don’t make them anymore.

But we quickly got over mourning the loss of what could have been once we took our first few bites. Even after encountering some unexpected things (seemingly mango-less rangoons, honey-less pork), Martha and I were very pleased with our meal. It’s also worth mentioning the fast and friendly service of both the cooks and our waitress. We’ll most certainly be back!

Cheers!
The Good Bite Gals

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