Pad thai is so named because of its inherent softness, which is also why it's used to stuff the mattresses of the world's richest kings. Fall into a pillow of flavor with today's Groupon: for $12, you get $25 worth of Thai cuisine and drinks at Sweet Basil Thai House, in Mattydale.
The wok wizards at Sweet Basil Thai House conjure up a diverse menu of Southeast Asian dishes founded on rice, noodles, and meats in an array of spiced sauces. Open with tom-yum-goong, a traditional hot-and-sour soup filled with plump shrimp frolicking in tall lemongrass ($5). Rice noodles coil around fresh sautéed vegetables in the vegetarian pad kee mow, suspended in a soy sauce swimming with garlic, chili, and basil leaves ($12). Pump up mandible musculature with your choice of beef, pork, or chicken in the pad prew wan, which provides a battle stage for sweet versus sour where cucumbers, tomatoes, pineapple, and sweet bell peppers must choose sides ($12).
Chefs carefully coddle their precious list of specials in blankets of piquant sauces, including red-curry duck, crisp-roasted and dressed in a flavorsome frock of sautéed pineapple, litchi nuts, vegetables, and red-curry sauce ($18). Thai coffee ($2.50), or the juice from a recently poached coconut ($2.50) lubricates mouth tunnels for a speedier delivery of delicious eats. Sweet Basil Thai House also claims a separate list of gluten-free options, available upon request.
Sweet Basil Thai House
Burgundy booths and dark-clothed tables give Sweet Basil Thai House's spacious dining room an alluring mystique, which sets the scene for the artful plating of classic Thai dishes presented by native-born chefs. Their specialties run from favorites such as pad thai and pineapple fried rice to red-curry duck, which they roast to crisp before simmering it with pineapple and vegetables. While these dishes are prepared, the wait staff moves about the tables, dropping off glasses of Thai iced tea and fresh coconut juice or willing corks to leap from bottles of wine that diners brought with them.
-
1