Saturday, June 6, 2015

Lotus of Siam

When planning the eats for my Vegas trip, I needed to balance out all the indulgent heaviness from Public House and Yardbird.  A solid Asian meal was my answer.  A cheap meal to boot!  Lotus of Siam is pretty famous as far as Thai food in Vegas goes.  I enjoyed my meal here on my last visit, but I wanted to see if my matured Thai palate would change my opinion of the place.  Can't Hang is Thai, but he was no help here.  Not an ounce of free booze or food crossed our lips.  You can't have it all I guess.  At least we didn't have to wait in this ugly line.  High five to me for being an anal retentive type A planner who made a reservation.  Booyeah!


Fried Fish Cakes
BigHead TalksAlot loves fried fish cakes so he threw this into the order.  Not bad, but the sauce definitely amped things up.


Larb
Your standard larb with chicken.  I love larb!
Nam Kao Tod
This is only my second time having this dish, so it's not something I have the strongest point of reference for.  However, I will say that Lotus of Siam's offering just didn't have the same POW that Night + Market delivered.  The dish itself was still great and Decidedly Undecided and Rock Dweller were singing some delightful "mmm's."
Yum Nuah
This beef salad was a bit too "saucy" for my tastes.  It was still good.
Red Snapper with Panang Curry
The fish could have been meatier and moister.  The panang curry was just sweet and not that memorable otherwise.

Crispy Duck on Drunken Noodle
The portions at Lotus leave much to be desired.  Or maybe I was just frickin' hungry that night.  A couple hours at the spa can do that to a girl.  Anyways, the noodles were tasty and duck was crispy, but I just wished there was a whole lot more of it.
Kha Nom Jean Nam Ngyow
I've only had this one other time when I visited Chiang Mai.  It's a pork and tomato based rice noodle soup.  It reminded me and DeeDee of bun rieu, which is a Vietnamese crab and tomato based rice noodle soup.  You have the option to add pork blood, but we passed on it.  The noodles seemed a bit soggy, but the broth was delightful.  My nod still goes to bun rieu though.
Garlic Prawns
LOVE this dish.  Loved it last time, and still love it again.  I can't say its particularly Thai, since its just fried giant shrimps with lots of garlicky goodness.
Kana Moo Krob
I wanted vegetables so I kind of threw these in at the last second.  The pork was too fried and hard.  Beyond that, it was just vegetables so I guess I got what I wanted.
Khao Soi
I've had enough khao soi to know this was not a good khao soi.  It really didn't taste any different than your average yellow curry.  Replace potatoes with noodles and boom, Lotus of Siam's khao soi.  It really lacked the fragrant depth and richness of Pok Pok's khao soi.
Mango Sticky Rice
Fried Banana Egg Rolls
Yippy skippy me!  I love mango sticky rice!  I would have liked more salty sweet coconutty goodness with the rice.  The rice was a tad dry for me.  Fried bananas are not usually my thing but I enjoyed the crispy egg roll versions here.
I think I'm being pretty nitpicky about Lotus of Siam.  Don't get me wrong, the food here is good.  Everyone in our party, including myself, was very pleased with the meal.  However, I just know that really great Thai food should deliver on explosive flavor and heat and some of the dishes just didn't bring it.  At least, not to my standards anyways.  Is this the BEST Thai food I've tasted?  Absolutely not.  Is it better than your average neighborhood Thai restaurant?  For sure.  Would I go out of my way to try this place when I'm in Vegas?  Probably not since Thai food is pretty accessible where I live.  If you live near Hollywood, the stuff in Thai town is great.  Also, this place is a bit overpriced and the portions run a bit small.  Would I wait in a long ass line to eat here?  No way.  Would I come here again?  Sure, if other people wanted to eat Thai in Vegas.  It's a nice change from eating on the The Strip.


10 - You NEED to eat here 
9 - Awesome! 
8 - Very good
7 - Good 
6 - OK
5 - Average
4 - Not bad
3 - Not good
2 - Terrible
1 - Do NOT go here

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