nd lifestyle blog. Per such definition I would like to include restaurant reviews and guides so a vegetarian would know what restaurants will accommodate stricter dietary parameters. This being said, I recently went to Siam Cafe, a Thai restaurant in Albuquerque, NM.Located way out North San Mateo, it is not close to much unless you count Cliff's Amusement Park, the dollar theater, Hooters, Goodwill and places to get your car serviced. If you make the trek and are vegetarian you can enjoy a wide array of spicy tasty Thai food because vegetarian dishes comprise about half their menu. In fact there are so many choices, all averaging around $7.50, you should probably drag along a friend or two so you can try multiple things.
It's awfully hard to try something new especially after you know you love something specific on a menu, but I decided to be brazenly bold and do just that. My friend claimed they had the best drunken
noodles outside of New York City and really let's face it, with a positive review it's hard to resist lightly friend noodles with tofu, chile paste, bell peppers, onions, basil and lots of Thai chilies. We also shared a hot and sour soup. Normally I find the coconut milk based soups irresistible but this soup did not disappoint--the tofu was delicately melty completely absorbing the flavors of the spicy lemongrass broth and the mushrooms tender and meaty. Don't miss the curries! They truly are fantastic.
Thai food is known and researched for it's health benefits. Most attribute these to the spices used to flavor the food: including everything from the exotic galangal, Thai chilies, coriander (cilantro), fresh basil, coconut milk, lemongrass, turmeric and more. The lesser known galangal, native to Southeast Asia, relative to ginger, was lovingly dubbed by the renown herbalist St. Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) as the "spice of life". True to name it is known as an anti-inflammatory, aiding circulation and digestion, and it has been used as a treatment of everything from deafness to hiccups.
The Thai chile also deserves a shout out. Skinny, long, red chiles that are exceptionally spicy, it like all peppers belongs to the capsicum family indicating a healthful dose of capsaicin (what makes peppers so hot and makes your body release endorphins...your happy hormones). Peppers are fraught with health benefits so take a deep breath and read on... Peppers can help stabilize your blood sugar, increase metabolism, stop the spread of prostate, breast and skin cancers, benefit circulation and the cardio-vascular system, decrease inflammation of the joints, clear congestion, can be used for pain relief and externally for skin disorders like psoriasis. They are high in Vitamin C and A, fiber, potassium and iron. Eat with care as too many will cause gastrointestinal complaints and if your mouth is on fire drink a swill of your Thai Iced Tea (milk products are known to decrease the hot taste of chilies).
I have been going to the Siam Cafe now for over ten years and the food quality and service have always been exceptional. If you're in Albuquerque and you think you like Thai food I highly suggest you check them out. On a scale from spicy to boring I give them a "five chile pepper" spicy rating (obviously the spiciest).
*Again I borrowed some photos. Thank you nmgastronome.com and fotosa.ru for bringing your camera. Next time I won't forget. Promise.
Bullseye on the restaurant and double bullseye (?) on the coconut soup. (Featured lovingly, I might add, in sweet photographic representations here and there around the joint.) This is my favorite place for veg/$/taste can't-beat-it-ness.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the cool research, too. Good stuff.
Since we're Thai-food talking, I wanna bring up my experience visiting Thailand and Laos last year. The peppers I ate there on a 3-meals-a-day basis were small green berries (wicked hot), much the same you would see on a Mexican jungle-chili plant. They were often ground into a paste along with other delicious spices to make the curry. However at restaurants and the billions of food stands and carts in every city and town, fresh green chilies were always available... usually chopped and marinated in soy sauce.
ReplyDeleteRegarding vegetarianismo: One main difference I observed was that Korean monk societies are strict vegan-veggies, while in Southeast Asia, the monks regularly consume flesh, which is traditional Thai food. I do know of a vegan English teacher that was able to get special food prepared for her diet on a regular basis. And the tourist places always offer veggie alternatives, unlike Korea, where you really have to make an effort to exclude meat from the restaurant food.
I was only in Laos for a few weeks, but the main local food seemed to feature alot of sticky rice and meat that you eat with your fingers.
I would love to check out the Siam someday. Do they offer the spicy green papaya salad known as, SOM-DUM?
They do have Som-Dum, I had it once when I was on a raw kick, fantastic! We should all make a date and go out there sometime, definitely worth the journey.
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