veggieburgh

It may be its lofty location above Norka Futon, or the slightly higher-than-average prices, but it wasn’t until the fourth friend’s recommendation that we finally got up to Bangkok Balcony. The trip proved worthwhile; it has excellent ambience, extensive vegetarian options, and quality food.

We visited Bangkok Balcony on the early side of a Saturday night. We were seated right away, but the large, open dining room filled close to capacity by about 7:00. The decor is both warm and modern, pleasingly lit, and, like the dress of the clientele, a step up from casual. Only the loudness of the room detracted from atmosphere. The large front windows overlook Forbes Ave in Squirrel Hill. Tables near the window can be chilly in cold weather, but afford a view of the street life below.

Hoping to warm up from the cold weather, we started our meal with a house tea (lemongrass) and a green tea. The lemongrass was delicate and not outstanding. The green tea was a grassy bagged variety and a little disappointing. Their Thai iced teas are overly sweet, as well, but certainly tasty. (How can that much fat and sugar not be satisfying?) The iced tea martini with regular vodka is delightful.
The menu has a vegetarian section, though many of the curries and stir-fries in other sections can be made with tofu. The dishes are traditional Thai, including the familiar, like red and green curry (pictured), and plenty of less familiar fare.

Looking for something other than the typical spring roll or fresh roll, we appetized ourselves with the Steam Noodle Roll. It is a large steamed rice noodle sheet rolled around a tofu and cabbage filling (similar to the Chinese dim sum dish “cheong fun”). It was nicely presented, topped with bean sprouts and cilantro and a thin, tangy sauce. The noodle texture was just right, and the flavor was light and clean, but held no surprises.

The vegetable Lemongrass Soup, on the other hand, was full of surprises. The exotic-tasting broth, at once sweet, tangy, and spicy, had multiple layers of flavor. The soup was chunky with vegetables and crisp mushrooms.

With entrees, we had mixed success. The Pumpkin Curry with tofu was simply an outstanding dish. The thick, rich sauce had good depth of flavor, including plenty of basil, and just the right amount of chili spice (we always order spiciness at a “5″ on a 1-10 scale). The tofu and vegetables were good, but the real treat was the “pumpkin”, which was probably kabocha squash (”Japanese pumpkin”), more like sweet potato than a regular pumpkin. The tender pieces were slightly sweet with a dense, velvety texture.

And then there was Praram Tofu, which our server recommended as a popular vegetarian choice. This is a big slab, perhaps a whole pound, of fried tofu strips topped with a sweet peanut sauce on a bed of spinach leaves. The sauce was too thick, too sweet, and had no depth. The tofu had no flavor on its own, and the spinach was more of a garnish than part of the dish. It wasn’t bad tasting, but it’s basically something we could easily make at home with a recipe from the back of the peanut butter jar. It was fairly disappointing.

Overall, we find the ambience — including cool dishes and fabulous flatware — is the restaurant’s strongest point. But nice presentation of the food (especially good use of color contrast), and flavor in the two outstanding dishes were close runners-up. In addition, other than the errant Praram Tofu recommendation, the service was prompt and friendly. Partly in the expectation that we can find more exceptional dishes on the hefty menu, we give Bangkok Balcony 4.5 veggies.

Update: Your intrepid reviewers are not ones to leave menu items at a good restaurant unsampled for long, so we’ve since returned and can recommend additional dishes. The yellow curry with Asian sweet potato is nearly as good as the pumpkin curry, and while Moira enjoyed the Rad Na, we would have liked to see the vegetables-to-noodles ratio increased a little before recommending it. But who doesn’t love those wide rice noodles? The lemongrass noodles (lunch portion pictured) are also wide. Oh, and ask for brown rice–theirs is a flavorful mix of brown and purple varieties.

Also, as intrepid reader Jody mentions below, their green curry paste does have shrimp in it.  But the red curries (including the pumpkin) are fish-free now.

[4.5 veggies]
Recommended dishes:

• Pumpkin curry
• Lemongrass soup
• Eggplant with Thai basil
• Yellow curry (we added vegetables for $1 extra)
• Thai iced tea martini