Oh Sripraphai. You have eluded me for so long. Yes, every restaurant review begins with a story. This one’ll be quick, I hope.
I have heard about Sripraphai for years and years. Everyone’s been talking about it for as long as I can remember, as best Thai everrr. I was eager to try it but never had the opportunity with people who would go eat with me there. Don’t ask — I guess many of my friends, despite being from Queens, are snobs about where to eat. So I never got a chance to go.
Until finally, one day, Cookie dragged me there. Dragged? Against my will? To find out why, click here. The reason a review was not forthcoming after that visit is also explained in that link, so it’ll do you some good to click over and read about that debacle.
But anyway, this time, you may have noticed that in recent weeks, I’ve been eating a LOT of Thai. (And, amazingly, there’s one more Thai review to be posted.) It started with a friend telling me, once again, that Boon Chu was better than Sripraphai. So my brother and I went to check it out. Then, shortly after that, my curiosity about Thai Pot, near my apartment, got the best of me, so I went to check that out. Honestly, I don’t eat Asian cuisine that much anymore, so for me to eat Thai twice in a week was a lot. But we aimed for a third time for Thai, as Snorlax and I discussed Boon Chu, what we thought, and how so many people said Sripraphai was the best, most authentic Thai to be had in all of NYC. That’s a pretty big claim to be made, but it’s been made, insisted upon, made again, and defended by so many people… Hard to ignore that. Plus, Cookie, who is, I have to say here, not just Thai but returns to Thailand a few times a year to visit family and such, agrees that it’s the most authentic Thai you’ll get in NYC. I kind of have to take notice at that, no?
This time, instead of ordering completely blindly, though, I opted to drag Cookie (poor Cookie! the vegetarian! we ordered all meat dishes) into the mix to help “guide” us in the right direction. To help us eat, Snorlax invited a (very skinny) lady friend who probably barely ate one plate! that we’ll call YueJau for simplicity’s sake, and I invited Orzo (who is back from overseas! but about to move to China, boo) and his girlfriend. Are you counting? We’ve got SIX eaters. (Two others were invited but due to extenuating circumstances, were unable to attend.) I requested each person pick two dishes, as we were going to be eating family style. Yes, they could have picked more, or less, but this made it about fair, with people giving up choices to other people, and helping each other… it was a fun exercise, considering mostly, the only person everyone knew there was… me. *pats self on back* Good ice breaker, Yvo!
Though we did order some appetizer-y dishes, I’m just going to talk about each item in the order they came – which is a common practice in most Asian restaurants, to just bring dishes as they’re ready.
Please note, the paper menu that I took with me to remember dishes’ names does not have the Angalicization of the Thai names, just the Thai words so I can’t help you there. I can give you letters and prices though!
This dish is A-5 Crispy Chinese watercress salad, $9.50. I recall liking this dish, though for some reason, not eating that much of it. Well, I remember the reason, but am not going to go into it, sorry 🙂 But don’t let that deter you from ordering this dish. It came with shrimp, squid and chicken, all of which lent their textures to the dish to give it an overall surprising taste. I liked it, and would like to order it again so I could eat more of it next time… And while the dish is listed as spicy, this wasn’t that spicy (or I just happened to not get a spicy bite). Cookie had recommended this dish, and it was a good call on her part!
A-23 BBQ beef served with chili, mint & lemon juice $8.50. Snorlax and I had sampled a similar dish at Boon Chu, where we found the meat a bit tough, and the whole thing to be not spicy at all. Here, the meat was overwhelmingly tender, easy to chew, and with a nice flavor to it, though again, I don’t recall this being too spicy for me. I didn’t eat much of it, however, looking forward to other dishes.
See the evil looking chiles atop this dish? Grrr… Well, this is A-8 Crispy Thai catfish meat salad $13.50. This was really, really, really good, although later I had to question Cookie (who also recommended this dish) if we’d accidentally received the papaya salad instead, since I didn’t taste any catfish. But the genius is in the crispy nest looking things on the bottom – that’s the catfish! I found this especially delicious if you took some of the top papaya salad with a scoop of the catfish nest, layered the items together and ate it in one bite (with some of the “sauce” drizzled on it as well). Somehow, the nests didn’t get soggy unless you really soaked it, they just remained super crispy. I really enjoyed this dish and foresee ordering it again.
YueJau chose C-25 Panang curry with choice of meat and chose duck, $8.50. I did try a teeny bite of this, but two things put me off: umm, first, my allergy to coconut/coconut milk, which immediately inflamed my tongue slightly (which, in a few moments, made no difference, as you’ll see), and the texture of the sauce over the duck. I’m not sure what’s in it, but it has the slightly dry and stringy texture of say, shreds of lemongrass might have, I imagine. (I don’t know if it’s lemongrass in it, though.) I just know that I’ve encountered this texture in certain other sauces/dishes and have not enjoyed it one bit. So even aside from the coconut, this dish was a pass for me; sad, because I LOVE duck. (By the way, Snorlax agreed with me that the texture of the sauce threw him, so it isn’t limited to just me.)
Ahhh, N-1 Pad Thai Sautee rice noodles with bean sprouts and shrimp $7.50. I like how more and more places I go to now leave the peanuts on the side and let you stir them in. I’m not sure if this was started at Sripraphai, if they’ve always done this or it’s a new thing, but it’s something that used to not be so common at the places I would go. Unfortunately, since we were eating family style, Snorlax told me I should stir what I took, on my own plate, and only squeeze lime on my own plate as well. I don’t really eat shrimp, so I didn’t try any of the big shrimp, but my brother seemed fine with it. However, of note is that when I took a few bites, I was surprised to find whole dried shrimp scattered liberally throughout the dish. I’ve never eaten this dish with dried shrimp (ha mai, for the Cantonese amongst us) in it! though Cookie told me that it’s an essential part of the dish. I’ve since decided that perhaps they’ve featured in other pad Thais I’ve enjoyed, but they were undoubtedly chopped up small and integrated, because for sure I never had them whole like that in pad Thai. And oddly enough, though the first bite was fine, the rest of the night, every time I’d take a bite of pad Thai, I would experience blinding pain in my mouth, searing scalding hotness lighting my tongue on fire, and I would be unable to taste or do much but sit there grimacing in complete pain. I refuse to blame the pad Thai because it’s one of the few dishes we ordered that isn’t listed as spicy, and there is no reason for it to have been spicy, and no one else thought it was spicy. It must have been something on my plate that got on the pad Thai that I’d scoop onto there before eating, but whatever the case, this happened consistently with the pad Thai such that I had to give up on trying to really taste it. I would like to go back to try eating it again… but I’ve found other dishes I really enjoy much more, so it’s hard to really convince myself that I’d actually do that. Plus I like the pad Thai at Boon Chu better.
(Here’s a tip: if you eat something that is too spicy for you, don’t grab your glass of water, grab your Thai iced tea and take a sip, swishing it around until the milk has coated your tongue and wherever is on fire, then swallow. Or, in my case, shriek and grab your brother’s Thai iced tea, and do the same but instead of swallowing, spit it back into his glass. Just kidding! Why would I waste perfectly good Thai iced tea?)
C-39 Saute frog legs with chili & basil leaves $10.50 was Orzo’s selection. Don’t they look like mini chicken drumsticks? Well, I tried only one, and found my piece had more cartilage than meat. I’m not sure why I didn’t try anymore. I think perhaps this was when I was crying and just swishing iced tea in my mouth a lot, I was in a lot of pain and unable to eat. Orzo really liked this dish, however, and Snorlax, even more so, declaring it the best frog he’d ever eaten – with the disclaimer that he’d eaten not so much frog in his life. But it must have been good, I don’t find that a statement he’d make too lightly.
Cookie’s order of vegetarian N-5 Saute drunken noodles with choice of meat, chili & basil leaves $7.50 (clearly they used tofu instead). She ordered hers extra spicy – Thai spicy, if you will. So I didn’t try any of hers. But both Orzo and Snorlax decided to man up and try some, both of them sweating a little but nothing as bad as my own reaction to whatever I’d eaten. Then Cookie whipped out the “sauce tray” and coated every strand with spices, and more spicy stuff, and said “NOW I can eat.” Haha, way to show them, lady! Props to YOU. Insane lady.
Orzo’s Girlfriend (OG) chose C-40 Saute eggplant with ground pork, garlic, chili & basil leaves $9.00. I’m confused why I didn’t try any of this, but it appears I didn’t. This was one of the few dishes that had leftovers, but I don’t know if that’s because everyone was full from everything else, or if this just wasn’t good. I really could not tell you. It looks pretty good, though!
OG also chose C-29 Green curry with roasted duck & coconut milk $9.00 – I didn’t try this for a very obvious reason. I don’t like rice, the bowl just seemed a bit too personal-order for me to feel comfortable digging into someone else’s dish, and I was pretty sure I’d had enough coconut milk for the night without necessitating an epi-pen to open my throat. Or remove my swelling tongue, anyway. This was another dish that made it to leftovers, I’m going to guess it was also because of the way it was served seeming unconducive to sharing. OG didn’t complain about any of her dishes to me, so I can’t say if she liked them or not.
Because I’d liked it last time, and because Cookie said this was one of their signature dishes, I opted to also order N-5 Saute drunken noodles with choice of meat, chili & basil leaves $7.50 (with beef). As last time, this was freaking awesome, we totally dogged this dish. The blend of sweet with savory with a light tang of spicy (I asked for it to be not too spicy) and a touch of sour – from vinegar or fish sauce, undoubtedly – was just awesome. I would definitely, definitely order this again from this place, and am keen on trying it in other restaurants as well now. Yum. I could eat some of this right now!
A last minute addition when Cookie said “Dude, they make these fresh every day,” I had to order A-27 Fried shrimp cake $8.50. Dude. Have you ever had a fish ball? The kind that are frozen or whatever, at Chinese restaurants where you get noodles in soup, they have fish balls? Or when you go for dim sum, ever ordered fried shrimp balls (that occasionally are wrapped in bacon and served with mayo to dip in, no I’m not kidding)? Or fish “cakes”, long strips of fish cakes that are tossed into congee… well, if you’ve eaten many types of Asian cuisine, you’ve surely encountered this type of food I’m talking about. They basically take the base seafood, grind it until it forms a paste, then shape it and cook it by either boiling or frying it. Well. Maybe this makes me sheltered but I don’t think I’ve had fresh ones before, where the restaurant makes their own paste and then makes their own cakes.
Sripraphai does that. And omg, you wouldn’t think something that sounds kind of gross could be so good, but … there’s just a whole textural difference between fresh and… not. The flavor is intense but not – I’m not a shrimp fan, to be honest – it’s so definitely shrimp, but the smoothness, the crispy exterior with the smooth bounciness of the interior, with the shrimp taste, is just mind bogglingly delicious. I can’t get over it. I’ve been raving about these to anyone who will listen, which is exactly no one, but holy crap! these were GOOD. I now seek fresh fish balls/cakes, anything made with this seafood paste. In fact, I’m going to try to make some of my own!!! … once I get my own food processor. 😉
Last but so not least is C-11 Fried fish topped with chili sauce $18.00. Orzo made up his mind and chose this, and wow is it ever impressive to look at! Unfortunately, as it arrived way after all of our other dishes had, it was mostly just picked at and not completely devoured might it have been otherwise. It looks so spicy, but my bite wasn’t. The fish was red snapper, and the meat was a bit too mushy to my liking; I like my fishes to have slightly firmer meat, a sweeter, more intense flavor to them, than this one boasted. I’m not one much for having an okay meat covered with a wonderful sauce (unless we’re talking wings & blue cheese… yummm), so this was a pass for me. And that makes the last of the dishes we boxed up (and gave to the unemployed Orzo to take home, yes I just love rubbing it in, hey he deserted me at work so I can make fun a little bit, right?!).
Yvo says: I’m not Thai, and have not had the pleasure of going to Thailand to EATTT… but I can say that my opinion of the place is overwhelmingly positive. Nearly everything I tried was absolutely delicious, and with such an extensive menu, I am eager to go back and try some more items. With its proximity to the train, though its distance from anywhere I hang out, I can foresee this becoming a once-every-few-months place for Thai, since I’m always looking for good food in Queens now that I’m settling in and giving in to the idea of staying in Queens more often than not for food. With places like these, who needs to leave the borough? (Well, except for work. And other cuisines. Okay, fine, I just wanted to say that, even though I don’t fully believe it.) BTW – the entire bill, split amongst 5 people, came out to $30 with a generous tip. And we closed the place down…
highly recommended
Swan says
the fish cakes are amongst my favorite dishes there. the other ones wouldn’t be good recommendations for you since they’re super spicy . glad you liked it! did your bro think the quality went down?
hungry bitch says
As a resident of Bangkok, and one Hungry Bitch!, I give a strong reco to “Cabbages and Condoms” (no joke) on Sukhumvit soi 12, Near the Asoke monorail station. Amazing thai cuisine in a lovely setting (on a surreal patio, or, as I prefer, inside with the A.C.) Last time dinner for 2 cost me 400 baht (12 bucks)
Jags says
I’m going to have to try some thai, it looks so very tasty and I really want to try it now!