veggieburgh

Pittsburgh’s not hurting for Thai restaurants, and they’re all pretty good. But Thai Cuisine in Bloomfield is one of the best for vegetarians. In taste and atmosphere, it’s on par with Bangkok Balcony and far better than La Filipiniana. First, though it fills up, you’ll likely have a table quickly and won’t have to listen to pan-flute soft rock. The music is subtle and the dining room has a sparse elegance, with black tablecloths and yellow napkins. (That combination seems to be common in Pittsburgh.) The service is excellent; our waitress had plenty of recommendations and could describe most of the dishes thoroughly. There’s a separate vegetarian menu with unusual mock meats (duck and scallops) and the standard tofu. (Our review is based on tofu, but we’d like to return to try the fake meats.) Finally, their prices can’t be beat. Our $9 entrees were as good as the $11 ones at Bangkok Balcony.

We began with two pots of tea ($2 each), one chrysanthemum and one ginger. Both are extremely sweet and the chrysanthemum is a bit cloying, but the ginger cuts through the sweetness nicely. Our fresh Thai cuisine roll ($4.25) had delightfully surprising bits of basil and pineapple, but unfortunately was a bit bland and dry. However, the Tom Kha veggie soup was warm and with a balance of spice, lime, and coconut milk. The soup contained mushrooms, cabbage, carrot, cilantro, broccoli, and tofu, and the broth was so good we continued to sip it long after the veggies were gone.

Take note that a spice level “5″ here is a step stronger than at Bangkok Balcony. The spice lingers and grows warm without a sharp bite.

The spicy basil noodles ($9) filled our noses with a sweet basil scent as soon as the platter arrived at the table. The dish consists of wide rice noodles with little basil leaves nestled underneath. Though the menu doesn’t mention it, the dish includes broccoli in addition to onion, bell peppers, and tofu. Josh and I tend to be wary of vegetable dishes with crunchy onions — usually they have a sharp, raw bite that overpowers the other flavors, but in this dish the onions were both crisp and mellow. Quite an accomplishment by the chef. Though the sauce isn’t complex, it’s smooth and balanced. I’d like to try this in the summer when basil is plentiful—my only disappointment was that it could use dozens more leaves.

The ginger roots ($9) consists of skinny strips of piquant ginger tossed with broccoli, pea pods, bell peppers, tofu, and onion, garnished with orange peel. The sauce is slightly thick, nicely matching sweet with salty. Unfortunately, the vegetables were a bit undercooked, so the dish was more a plate of raw veggies covered in a tasty sauce. Now, I like plates full of raw veggies, but it wasn’t exactly what we’d expected.

Overall, for the atmosphere, service, price, and the expectation that future dishes will be as good as the basil noodles, we give Thai Cuisine 4.5 veggies.

[4.5 veggies]

Recommended dishes:
* Ginger tea (sweet)
* Spicy basil noodles with tofu ($9)