Monday, June 06, 2005

There is not much choice in dining establishments for a Sunday night in Belfast. We aimlessly drove to town while considering our options last night....pizza hut? naw.....Darby's?...probably closed and the fries are limp.....ok, lets see whats up at Seng Thai. We've eaten at Seng Thai a number of times and it was always good, but never "wow!" so we were kind of lacklustre about the whole thing. I do have to say that we left feeling "Wow, that was an excellent meal." Hooray for our team, we cheered ourselves up on a Sunday night with food out!

So, we get to the Thai shack on Rte 1 in East Belfast and the place is packed with cars. Nowhere even to park....I finally squeezed in next to a few cars and we went in expecting to wait a while because the place is small.....it appeared that everyone came in separate cars and ate together, because there were empty tables to spare...another good sign.

So Greg looks at me and squinches up his face and says "I'm SO hungry...I'm starving!!!....Lets get lots of food!" We ordered the crispy potatos and the chive dumplings to start....the potatos came out first and they were slices of sweet potatos dipped in tempura batter and deep fried and came with a nice peanut sauce. The presentation was divine, even down to the radish cut into a rose blossom. The potatos were fresh and excellent and I highly recommend them. Next to come out was the plate of four chive dumplings. The flavor was good, but I was expecting something different and couldn't get passed the texture, which was a bit slimy. Greg loved them and raved about them. We ended up leaving one of the dumplings behind.
I was in the mood for spicy, so I had the chicken in hot basil leaves extra hot....my mouth was on fire for the rest of the night....loved every bite! I need to figure out how to make that at home...damn! Greg had the garlic chicken which was very fresh...even down to the fresh garlic...an A+ in my book. We cleaned out plates and shared a bowl of ginger ice cream....a perfect evening.
One piece of advice though...stick with the American red wines...the Thai one that they advertise is not as good as the other wines they serve.
A new coat of paint would serve this place well.

Food A for excellent
Service A-
Atmosphere: Kind of a dive on the inside. Could do with spruceing up. But we loved the sparkles on a lot of the pictures! B for the sparkles!

Enjoy,
Seth

3 comments:

Kate said...

Just wanted to tell you that I am enjoying your blog .... a fan and Belfast resident for a very short time and close friend of Geordie and Penny. Keep Belfast on their toes!

MaineCliffDweller said...

Thanks Kate...finally, a comment on the blog!! Whoo hoooo....most folks just email me, but I really like seeing comments on the blog...hint hint readers, whoever you may be.

Seth

Anonymous said...

Another new Belfast resident. Found when someone on the Chowhound board suggested checking you out. Now my husband and I must try Seng Thai!