3E Taste of Thai

If you like your Thai food with a side of smooth R&B music, then 3E Taste of Thai is the place to be. Where the popular music of choice in Astoria is Euro-club beats, Taste of Thai offers a more soulful approach to your dining experience.

Located on Broadway between 35^th and 36^th Street, the restaurant consists of a dimly lit bar area and dining room. The ambience caters more to the young, and seems like a popular group date spot, with many tables set up to accommodate groups. Having visited Taste of Thai on a Friday night, what started as two filled tables later turned into the whole dining room filling up, with a wait forming in the foyer of the restaurant.

3E Taste of Thai Bar + Dining Area

My companions and I started our meal with the Crab Rangoon and Shrimp Co-Nut. Our entrees were the Chicken Pad Thai, Delicious Beef Cashew Nut, and Chicken Healthy Ginger. Although the authenticity of Crab Rangoon in true Asian cooking lends itself to be disputed, the Crab Rangoon at Taste of Thai was excellent, with a perfectly crispy wonton wrapper surrounding warm cream cheese, imitation crab meat, and scallions. The sweet dipping sauce served with it only accented the flavor of the cheese. The Shrimp Co-Nut consisted of butterflied shrimp in a coconut and almond crust served also with sweet dipping sauce. The shrimp was juicy and fresh, and the coconut and almond breading added a sweet and deep flavor. A round of Thai Iced Teas provided a sweet and milky refreshment to our taste buds.

Crab Rangoon

Shrimp Co-Nut

Thai Iced Teas

The Chicken Delicious Cashew Nut was the favorite dish of the night. Served with a blend of carrots, onion, bell peppers, celery, and cashew nuts in a dry chili paste, this dish was full of rich flavors from all the vegetables and chili paste. The cashew nuts added some base to the seasoned dish. All in all, it was a solid entrée that I would come back for.

Chicken Cashew Nut

The Chicken Pad Thai left more to be desired. Having eaten my fair share of Thai food lately (Thai Pavilion, Leng), the Pad Thai at Taste of Thai missed the mark. The mix of rice noodles, bean curd, egg, peanuts, and bean sprouts had a bitter after taste and lacked the flavor pad Thai is known for.

Chicken Pad Thai

The Chicken Healthy Ginger came with stir-fried pineapple, mushrooms, onion, celery, cell peppers, and onion, with fresh ginger. The dish was tasty, and the fresh ginger gave the chicken and vegetables a refreshing kick.

Chicken Healthy Ginger

For dessert, we shared the Fried Banana Ice Cream. The banana came served as four pieces, each covered in a rice sheet, spring roll style. The deep-friend pieces came with vanilla ice cream topped with coconut shavings and honey. The cold ice cream accented with coconut mixed with the warm banana was nothing short of delicious. My one comment was the rice sheet was so thickly and tightly wrapped around the banana that I had to bit through many layers of this sheet until I tasted the fruit. I would have preferred a looser and thinner layer so that I could taste the fruit more.

Fried Banana Ice Cream

While Taste of Thai lacks the ambiance I normally prefer, it features some great dishes that I looked forward to ordering and trying again. It is not the best Thai restaurant I have been to, but it has dishes I enjoy. And at prices barely reaching $10 an entrée, this makes a great low-cost option for Thai food in Astoria.

Thai Pavilion

Entering Thai Pavilion evokes bygone sentiments with a feel straight out of the 90s: plastic flowers in vases on each table, black chairs tucked into pink clothed tables, with white floors and white walls adorned with nondescript framed paintings. A faded photograph of a young Brad Pitt and Harrison Ford decked out in sunglasses and enjoying some beers on their off time from the 1997 thriller The Devil’s Own hanging on the doorway completes the picture.

interior of Thai Pavilion

interior 

interior

Past era décor aside, Thai Pavilion offers fresh, delicious food at very affordable prices, with a speed that cannot be matched. Located on the bustling 30^th Avenue, sandwiched between the newly re-opened hotspot Flo, and newcomer Butcher Bar (each garnering their unique clientele), Thai Pavilion stands its ground. The real estate at Thai Pavilion is huge for Astoria restaurant standards, with ample seating and a deep interior. Thai Pavilion also recently opened another Astoria location near Astoria Park on 21^st Street. 

On a recent visit, my friend and I ordered the Beef Pad Khow-Pow On and the Chicken Pad Ka Na, each served with a pyramid of rice. The Beef Pad Khow-Pow On is served with baby corn, mushrooms, onions, and scallions (amoungst other vegetables), and tender, juicy beef.  The Chicken Pad Ka NA consists of chicken sautéed with Chinese broccoli, garlic, and oyster sauce. The Chinese broccoli was perfectly firm and fresh, and the oyster sauce gave the meat and vegetables a rich flavor.  While nice and savory at first, the sauce ended up tasting excessively salty as I ate the dish. The portions are sized as portions should be, unlike Leng, whose dishes can be made into two meals. A steady stream of patrons came and ate at Thai Pavilion, and many others came in for takeout. 

Beef Pad Khow-Pow On

Chicken Pad Ka Na

I believe Thai Pavilion deserves its location on 30^th Avenue. Amongst many trendy, new, and ever evolving restaurants, Thai Pavilion has stayed rooted in its slot, offering inexpensive, tasty Thai cuisine. 

It's good to have somebody around here who can pee standing up

Leng

Hidden behind the scaffolding that seems to permanently occupy Broadway and 34th Street sits Leng. From the outside, Leng looks like any typical restaurant, with a front waiting section, bar, and seating area. However once inside, you discover this is not the case. The waiting area consists of a bench and a side table piled with the latest magazines, and a full bar lined with stools. As you walk further into the restaurant, tables line one of the walls, facing a semi open kitchen. My friend and I were ready to sit down on one of these tables until we realized there was a back room full of more tables. Walking deeper inside, we came to this beautifully decorated back room, which had an entire glass wall facing a large courtyard and impressively tall bamboo garden, which is open and alive during the warmer months.

Courtyard + bamboo garden

The story of Leng started when the owner’s father, named Leng, opened his own restaurant in Bangkok in 1942. Years and miles have bought the recipes from Thailand to the heart of Astoria, as the Siricharoen family operates this Thai and Asian restaurant.

Leng’s décor has a trendy, modern look with a folksy, Asian twist. Dark wood panels of various widths diffuse purple, blue, and red lights that filter through the rooms, while diverse tiffin carriers and Asian beer and sake bottles sit on shelves in the back room.  Paintings of flowers line the kitchen area, while ornamented wood panels decorate the rustic washed walls of the back room, next to a picture depicting Thai monks. The lighting is dim, and aided by candlelight, each table displaying a different color and style candle holder.

Seating alongside the open kitchen

Interior of Leng

Interior back room

For our visit, my friend and I started with the Chicken Thai Satay, and moved on to the Gai Pad Med Mamuang and Bul Go Gui, with the Fried Banana for dessert. Shortly after ordering, a complimentary dish of sweet fried noodles arrived on our table in a bamboo steamer. The dish was tasty, sweet, and sticky with a subtle spicy kick. It reminded my friend of kettle corn, and reminded me of a Rice Krispies treat; regardless of the comparisons, it was a fun and light way to start our meals.

Sweet fried noodles

 The Chicken Satay was served with peanut sauce and pickled vegetables, both of which were excellent paired with the marinated and grilled chicken. The peanut sauce was so full of deep flavor, and the vegetables were crunchy and tangy.

Chicken Satay + sweet fried noodles + Thai ice tea

Service is speedy at Leng – we were still finishing up our Satay when our entrees came out. The menu said the Gai Pad Med consists of chicken sautéed with cashews, onions, scallions, and dried chili, however upon receiving my dish, I found it overflowing with many more vegetables, including mushrooms, green peppers, and celery. The portions are quite generous, and each entrée comes with a side of Jasmine rice. The Gai Pad Med was full of favor, the meat was tender, and the vegetables all very fresh and abundant.

Gai Pad Med

The Bul Go Gui is Korean-style beef with sesame, soy, ginger, carrots, scallions, and kimchi. The flavors of the sesame, soy, and ginger all gave the beef a rich taste, with the spicy kimchi adding texture. In addition to the Thai dishes, Leng pulls in influences in its menu from Korea and other Southeast countries like Vietnam and Indonesia.  

Bul Go Gui

Many items on Leng’s dessert menu appealed to me, such as the Coconut Cakes, Sweet Sticky Rice with Mango, and Taro Custard. I don’t like chocolate, so it is nice to go to a restaurant and discover a dessert menu that is not chocolate heavy but instead features some of my favorite tropical fruits, like mango, coconut, and banana. We ended up going with the Fried Banana with Ice Cream, choosing Green Tea as our ice cream of choice.  The Fried Banana came out perfectly fried and warm, with a crisp, sweet coating drizzled in honey. The Green Tea ice cream was overwhelmingly concentrated, and would have tasted better if the flavor was a bit more subtle. All in all, it was a great dessert.

Fried Banana with Green Tea ice cream

Leng offers fresh, delicious, and largely portioned Thai food in a beautifully decorated space that is sure to impress anyone. I am curious to see how the courtyard is when used; looking at the towering bamboo from the back room was impressive enough. Prices for main dishes range from $10 - $14. Although Leng is somewhat hidden on Broadway, it does get crowded, and at times, the small backroom can seem a little too crowded. However, service is fast, for the most part, and turnaround is high. It is a great local restaurant that Father Leng would surely be proud of.