Rak Thai Downtown

A couple of months ago Mel and I were visiting the Downtown Market and were getting pretty hungry. There were a number of places to eat in there but we settled on going to Rak Thai, mainly because the line was the shortest at the time. I am glad we ordered when we did because apparently the 30 people who showed up behind us all had the same idea.

I ordered the curry noodles. It comes with thick rice noodles, egg, peas, carrots, cilantro, green onion and bean sprouts, all in a red curry sauce. I chose chicken as my protein. Generally I am underwhelmed by curry noodles in restaurants. They seem to lack the depth in flavor I can get at home. I don't know if this is to make it more for the "American pallet" or because they just don't take the time to make a good curry. This was not the case here. The curry had a nice depth of flavor with a little bit of heat. I definitely could have used it hotter, but then again I don't experience heat like most people. The veggies all seemed fresh and the bean sprouts added a nice crunch. The noodles were perfectly cooked as well. Over all it was very good and I would order it again without hesitation.

Mel ordered the fried rice because she really likes fried rice. The rice came with egg, peas and carrots, onion, and served with cucumbers on the side. Mel left the cucumbers on the side. She also opted for chicken in her rice. It is stir fried with a garlic soy sauce. It was pretty good. Really the only difference between fried rice, in my experience, is the sauce and the cook of the rice. Everything else seems to be exactly the same. With that said, the rice was cooked very nicely. It was cooked through yet had a bit to texture that occurs when it is stir fried. The sauce was also good. You can taste when a quality soy sauce is used in fried rice, as inferior products have an almost artificial taste to them. This was a good soy sauce as it had depth and that umami characteristic. This fried rice was good, better than most. The sauce, veggies, and egg all combined really well. There were not any giant chunks of egg. It was incorporated very nicely.

I would heartily recommend Rak Thai in the Downtown Market if you are there and need a quick bite. After experiencing this location, I look forward to going to one of their other restaurants with larger menus.