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Y! MyWebRestaurant review
House of Thai
Friday, June 06, 2008
Extras
Photos
An exterior view of the House of Thai Restaurant, 3230 Seajay Drive, Beavercreek.
An interior view of the House of Thai Restaurant, 3230 Seajay Drive, Beavercreek.
The Panang Fish entree, at the House of Thai Restaurant, 3230 Seajay Drive, Beavercreek.House of Thai
- WHERE: 3230 Seajay Drive, Beavercreek (in the Beaver Valley shopping center at U.S. 35 and North Fairfield Road) [Map]
- HOURS: Lunch hours: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and from noon on Saturday and Sunday. Dinner hours: 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 5 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Friday. Open from noon to 9:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Closed Monday.
- COST: Lunches $6.95-$7.95; dinners $8.95 to $15.95.
- DISHES TO TRY: Curry Puffs ($3.95), Thai Noodle Soup Chicken ($8.95), Nham Sod ($8.99), Green Curry ($9.95), Panang Fish ($12.99), Super Hero Duck ($15.99).
- MORE INFO: (937) 429-2236 or www.house-of-thai.com
- MORE: Reader ratings, complete profile
BEAVERCREEK — When the Chinese restaurant that called itself Asia Palace opened in the Beaver Valley shopping center a few decades back — on a plot of land on which I used to play kickball as a kid — my parents rejoiced.
Back then, Beavercreek had about two restaurants — now, I think it has, what, two-hundred and two? — and a restaurant opening in the "New Lofino's" shopping center was a big deal, because it meant Dad no longer had to drive several miles into east Kettering just to bring home Asian food.
Asia Palace later moved from the strip shopping center to one of the "out lots," changed hands a time or two, and evolved a few years ago into Ban Thai. Then earlier this year it changed hands again and became House of Thai.
The most recent rendition is well worth checking out for those who love Thai food.
House of Thai is now owned by Chuthamat Phornpiriyanon, who oversees the kitchen, and her husband Hemant Wiratsorn, who handles the front of the house.
The focus here is on the food, and the menu offers plenty of opportunities for exploration, starting with the "Curry Puff" appetizer ($3.95), a fried mixture of chicken, sweet potato and curry powder.
Several meal-sized salads are offered, including Nham Sod ($8.99), minced chicken tossed with red onions, roasted whole peanuts, julienned fresh ginger, lime juice, fish sauce and cilantro, flecked with enough dried red peppers to give it a signature Thai heat. It's perfect for summer.
The Pad Thai Chicken ($8.95) is a generous portion, a tad sweet with tamarind sauce. The curries are well worth trying, starting with an excellent and intensely flavored Green Curry ($9.95) and the Panang Fish ($12.99), a fried filet of grouper topped with stir-fried bell peppers and other vegetables in a sweet-spicy Panang curry sauce.
The intriguingly named "Super Hero Duck" ($15.99) is another winner, with boneless duck breast (with fat and thus maximum flavor left intact) fried crisp and sliced into a mixture of bell peppers, onions, tomatoes and other vegetables.
For the less adventurous, the Thai Noodle Soup Chicken ($8.95) blends rice noodles, bean sprouts, green onions, chicken and cilantro in a rich, heady broth. Seven vegetarian entrees using tofu are also available.
For the traditional Thai dishes, diners can choose from five heat levels: tiny spicy, medium, hot, very hot, and Thai Hot. The dishes ordered three-star hot arrived robustly spiced, so think long and hard before ordering the highest heat levels.
If I have to give up my old kickball field, it may as well be for a restaurant as enjoyable as House of Thai.
