featuring food of the Thai persuasion...
Across the street from Tuktan Thai is one of our favorite "go-to" Vietnamese places, but that's another post in itself.
This particular visit was sometime last summer with TC...the gregarious lady we saw the last time was here again today. She is very friendly, makes everyone feel welcome and treats her customers well. Salads with a slightly spicy peanut dressing were brought to us...
We were noticing the plethora of random decor here...
Yes, that is Bert from Sesame Street. You know, Ernie's "partner"...
Not crowded during our visit, which was a far cry from a more recent visit.
More menu photos...
TC's Thai tea...
Our lunch items - spring rolls, Pad Thai with tofu for TC and spicy noodles with chicken for me. I think I asked for it to be a "1" but it was still pretty spicy. It seemed like a 4 or 5 to me.
TC always liked these. We've made our own before but we have to be in some sort of mood to make them.
TC liked her pad thai, which she deemed pretty good. There weren't a lot of vegetables in there which can be good or bad. Sometimes I think some places put in shredded carrots or cabbage as "frou frou" fluff to disguise the dish. I liked that this had a lot of chopped peanuts. I like the texture and taste that it brings.
As for my noodles, I liked them as well but as I said, they were spicier than I expected them to be...
Part of the lunch special comes with this dessert, tapioca balls with coconut milk which was refreshing. Some Thai places give a fried egg roll and/or soup with their lunch specials but at Tuktan, it's not even part of it. It's salad, your entree of choice and this dessert.
Looks like fish eggs but tastes much better!
And more recently, Mr. TJ and I were here yesterday. We had gone to a work related training in the area and I suggested Tuktan thinking no one else would be there. Well, I was dead wrong. The restaurant was paced. The nice lady who holds court there was out sick that day and there was but one dude frantically taking orders, ringing people up, busing tables, etc. Another guy was there helping serve the food but he wasn't taking orders. It was so hectic that our friends at the next table ordered and out of three people, two got their food right away. It took more than fifteen minutes for us to flag the guy down to take our order. The sad part was that Mr. TJ's food never came and he ended up canceling his order because our HOUR was nearly up and we had to get back to that training.
Interesting stuff on their windows. Hey, an "A" rating at least!
Their menu cover changed to blue (it was green last time).
Prices went up by for their specials as well...
Gone were the Sesame Street figures dangling from the ceiing. They had a cute welcome sign. The cold case admonishing folks who never picked up their orders got moved near the cash register (their phone numbers were actually posted!). Christmas decor was also up in other parts of the restaurant. It was so crazy in here. The table next to us wasn't cleaned up and the folks sitting there decided to write out their own order and give it to the guy. I felt sorry for him but they should have had a back up. The place was slammed.
My spicy noodles with shrimp, spice level "1" again (I didn't learn apparently) which felt like a 5!
I didn't finish all of the noodles and I didn't stay for dessert. To be honest, I think the guy would have forgotten about it and we needed to get back. This was not a relaxing lunch experience since it was mega crowded and they was only one main waiter.
Near us is another Thai stand by, Bamboo Garden in the Otay Lakes neighborhood. As you can tell from the decor, it was around the holidays.
This visit was with co-workers. They always get yellow or green curry and another gets Pad Thai, which is what I ordered today, with shrimp. The lunch special comes with a hot and sour soup (I just eat the vegetables since I'm not a fan of the broth, a fried roll and the main dish. The shrimp are big and the sauce is just right here.
One of my coworkers said the only time she gets Thai is when we go out as a group to get Thai.
Previous visit to Tuktan Thai:
February 2016
Previous visit to Bamboo Garden:
June 2016
One of these days I'll have to do a Thai roundup of the South Bay which to me is everything south of the 54. We've been to each and every Thai place here Chula Vista and Imperial Beach so that will be a future post for sure.
2 comments:
Hey there! Tried this place and got the exact same thing today! Level 1 had my mouth on fire after a few bites! But I liked it. The lady there is a hoot! I'd go back just to gab with her.
Hello Lora,
Oh wow! Hope it wasn't too crowded. I missed the lady when we went a few days ago. She runs the show! Yeah, I won't get a '1' again. More like a zero!
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