Mint’s Thai Kitchen

I recently had the opportunity to offload – I mean, share my wealth of goodies with a friend, AWL – who semi-recently moved into my neighborhood.  Actually, a brief moment here to mention that more and more people I know are moving into the Forest Hills area… mostly because it is freakin’ awesome, and more people should!  The young Asian professionals are taking over from the previous demographic.  Heh, weird.  In any case, there’s always food options to explore in our area, so when AWL suggested Mint’s Thai Kitchen (like my terrible photo of the sign? hehe), I was totally game. 

There was a sign outside lauding the lunch menu – $8 for two courses – but also mentioning that if you paid cash, (check discount amount?) you would receive an extra 20% off your bill.  Um, yes please?!  The lunch menu wasn’t entirely abbreviated, either; plenty to choose from. 

Despite that, we both chose to start with the Mint’s Thai salad, which came with fresh Romaine, topped with beets, cubes of tofu, a small portion of hard boiled egg, and a small grape tomato or two, then lightly dressed with a lime peanut dressing.  We both liked this very much, remarking how sometimes simplicity just really works. 

AWL, who confessed to me that she adores Thai cuisine and could, would eat it any day of the week, any time, ordered the pad see ew, which looked and smelled great.  I think she liked it sufficiently – and hope she’ll speak up because I always forget what other people say about their food!   

My standard at any Thai restaurant I visit for the first time: shrimp pad thai.  I don’t even like shrimp that much, but it always works better than chicken or beef in my humblest of opinions.  In any case, it looked promising and I quickly dug in for a bite alone. 

Unfortunately, the pad thai was ever so slightly on the sweet side for my tastes.  However, once I’d squirted the lime all over the noodles liberally and mixed everything together – bean sprouts, peanuts – the lime juice cut through the sweetness greatly and turned it into pad thai I’d like to eat frequently; a perfect balance of flavors, with none dominating, just balanced savory, sweet, and sour/tart all at the same time.  Yum! 

Yvo says: With a ridiculous lunch special price of $8 for two courses – and $6.40 if you pay cash (plus tax/tip) – there is absolutely no reason a sane person shouldn’t try Mint’s Thai Kitchen at least once.  We both remained very full and satisfied (it was even too much food for AWL), and I would certainly like to go back and try more of the lunch menu.  Thai food is rarely inexpensive, but this is just a short walk from my apartment and really cheap and tasty enough to warrant return visits.  I’ll definitely be back and report further on the other dishes (I’m not sure what dinner time prices are like, sorry!).  Thanks for the suggestion, AWL, and welcome to the neighborhood, Mint’s Thai Kitchen! 
recommended when you’re in the neighborhood