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Tag: curry

L.A. Chow: Amazing Siam Thai Restaurant

December 2, 2025 / / 0 Comments

Disappointing fare at this once SF Valley favorite

A Thai restaurant has been operating in the strip mall on Topanga Canyon and Lassen, in Chatsworth, for over a quarter of a century. I’ve never noticed the change of names and ownership of said restaurants, but I’ve frequented them all as they are very close to my parents’ home. Alas, it’s the end of an era. Not only because life and death means we won’t be visiting the area for much longer, but because our last visit to the restaurant in the space, now named Amazing Siam Thai Restaurant, was less than amazing to say the least. Given the quality of Thai restaurants in the San Fernando Valley, I can’t imagine Amazing Siam has long for this world.

The restaurant itself looks as it’s always looked: it’s a rectangular space with booths on one side, some next to the window, and a wall bench on the other with tables and chairs facing it. It’s decore is muted, which has been the trend for Thai restaurants for at least a decade or two now. It’s a nice, casual place to stop by. The menu is pretty standard and prices are on the affordable side, with most dishes in the high teens – low for 2025.

We started with the beef satay ($14), five little skewers of pounded and marinated beef served with toast, peanut sauce and salad. I love beef satay, but it’s practically impossible to find it in the Bay Area – it’s a staple of LA Thai restaurants, however. This one was just competent. The meat wasn’t particularly tender and while it was nicely flavored, it needed a bit more salt. Indeed, that was my complaint about all the dishes at Amazing Siam. I liked the peanut sauce, though it was very sweet. Diabetics might want to stay away. The toasted bread was just that: toasted sliced white bread, but it worked for soaking up the leftover peanut sauce.

As my entree, I had the Golden Curry with beef ($19), and here is where things went completely awry. The curry consisted of slices of beef and large chunks of potatoes and carrots. It tasted as if each ingredient was cooked independently, unseasoned, and then just added to the curry. That meant that none of the food was able to actually soak up the flavor of the curry, and instead every bite was insipid. The curry itself wasn’t great either. It neither looked or tasted like a yellow curry, rather it resembled a watered down panang curry. There was no depth of flavor and while it was somewhat spicy, it was very underseasoned. There was no salt at the table to help it out either.

Mike ordered the Pra Ram chicken ($16). Here again, the chicken and spinach had been cooked on their own, unseasoned, and served with the peanut sauce. Once again, the peanut sauce was tasty, if very sweet, while the chicken was insipid – though as the sauce was thicker, it was a better conduit for it than the beef in the yellow curry had been.

The one highlight of the meal was the Pad Thai ($15), which my daughter ordered with tofu. The noodles were well cooked and the sauce was as delicious as one could expect, hinting also toward sweetness (which is not a bad thing unless you are avoiding sugars). If I went back to the restaurant, this is what I’d order.

Service was unremarkable, though the kitchen sent dishes when they were ready, which means the appetizer came after the curries (I’m guessing because the beef satay had to be cooked rather than just plated). 

Amazing Siam Thai Restaurant
9839 Topanga Canyon Blvd.
Chatsworth, CA 
818.718.8548
M-Th 11AM - 3PM, 4PM - 10PM
F-Sa 11AM - 11:30PM
Su   11AM - 10PM

Dining in DC: Charm Thai

February 14, 2025 / / 0 Comments 
Dining in DC: Notes from a Week in the Capital

Good and affordable Thai food in Foggy Bottom

Foggy Bottom is the home of not only the State Department and K street, where the biggest lobby operations have set up tents, but of George Mason university. As we were staying only a few blocks away from campus, I would have expected there would be a plethora of cheap restaurants catering to students. Alas, that was not the case and Charm Thai was close to the only choice of this kind. Fortunately for us, it turns out that Charm Thai offers very solid Thai cuisine at affordable prices (though perhaps still too high for students) and was only a couple of blocks from our hotel. During our week-long stay, we ordered from there twice.

The first time we ordered, my daughter got the Pad Thai with tofu ($18) and my husband had the panang curry with chicken ($17). I wasn’t hungry enough to order anything. They were both so happy with their dishes that they ordered them again a couple of nights later. That time we also got the curry puffs ($9) and I got the pad thai with beef ($20) and the strawberry smoothie ($6). The first time they gave us complimentary rice, though they skipped it the second time. That was OK, as my husband tries to avoid it anyway.

The food was great, though the portions weren’t as generous as one might have hoped for the price. Both my daughter and I liked really liked the pad thai. It was a tad sweeter than usual but just wonderfully seasoned. The beef, unfortunately, had no flavor whatsoever. I don’t even think they had salted it. I would totally avoid it the next time. The noodles, however, were amazing.

My husband absolutely loved the curry puffs. He couldn’t quite describe why, but he mentioned they were just satisfying. He felt the same about the panang chicken which he described as “absolutely delicious”. It was spicier than in most other places, which he thought was a good thing.

The strawberry smoothie, on the other hand, was also disappointing. There was too much ice and this diluted the flavor of the strawberry, so it was too mild to enjoy. I wouldn’t buy it again.

We didn’t bother to take pictures, so you only have these descriptions to go by, but if you’re in the mood for Thai in Foggy Bottom, this is definitely the place to go or order from.

Charm Thai
2514 L St NW
Washington, DC
(202) 333-2460

Trader Joe’s Thai Style Yellow Curry Sauce Review

September 22, 2024 / / 0 Comments

A disappointment for any yellow curry lover

I love yellow curry, and I particularly love getting yellow curry and roti at Thai restaurants. The appetizer is expensive, and not very filling, but oh, so delicious. A couple of weeks ago, I discovered that Trader Joe’s Taiwanese Green Onion Pancakes made a reasonable substitute for roti, but I needed some yellow curry to complete my at-home hack. Enter Trader Joe’s Thai Style Yellow Curry Sauce ($3.50).

Alas, this yellow curry is just not very good. Indeed, it only vaguely tastes like yellow curry – I’d say the taste is closer to American or Japanese curry powder. It lacks the vibrancy and perfume of Thai yellow curry, and substitutes it for an unpleasant bitter undertone. The curry is also very thick and heavy – not surprising given that its main ingredient, after water, is oil.

Now, it might be that this sauce is better with actual meats after being heated u, and perhaps somewhat diluted – but I don’t think I’ll try to find out.

I am afraid that I’ll just throw away the whole bottle.

Munching Around the Bay: Khao Hom in Hayward

August 24, 2024 / / 1 Comment

Updated Thai food and a killer roti

Khao Hom is a newish Thai restaurant in Hayward which has been getting great reviews. I found it when looking for “date” restaurants nearby and was excited to give it a try on a Saturday evening in August. It was good, but ultimately disappointing and I don’t think we’ll hurry back – though I wouldn’t say “no” if someone else suggested it.

The dining room we were NOT seated at

My first disappointment was with the seating. Khao Hom has two dining rooms, a pretty nice one that would make a good setting for a date, and a more casual one that screamed “weekday lunch”. Even though this was a Saturday evening, that’s where we, and the rest of the patrons, were seated. We did go relatively early – the place got full by the time we left, but the other dining room was no opened.

I was particularly bummed because from my seat all I got was a view of the kitchen door – not what I’d say “romantic”.

Khao Hom’s menu includes classic as well as modernized versions of typical Thai dishes. We weren’t super hungry so we forewent appetizers and went directly into our entrees.

We started with Roti Gai Tod ($22). This consisted of fried chicken, a roti, a mound of rice, yellow curry sauce and a sweet and sour sauce. The fried chicken was good, though nothing extraordinary. The meat was fairly moist but the breading was too thick. I preferred it with the sweet and sour sauce than with the yellow curry.

The yellow curry, however, was very good – though in the sense that yellow curry is really good, this wasn’t a specially good yellow curry. The roti, on the other hand, was delicious. It was very flaky, tasty in itself and very oily. It went great with the curry. We ended up getting two more, including one to go ($3.50)

Our second dish – we shared them – was Short Rib Massaman ($27). The massive piece of meat looked more like a shank than a short rib -for one, it wasn’t short at all, but it was just as good. The beef was tender, if fatty, and very flavorful. The massaman curry was also tasty, perhaps a little different from others but not enough that I can pinpoint the reason. It must the first massaman curry in which the potatoes were not partly raw. In all I enjoyed it, though I’m not sure if I enjoyed it enough to merit the price. I did have some of he meat leftover for the next day, however.

For dessert, we had the stuffed roti ($12). This was a roti stuffed with a banana and served with grapes and berries under a chocolate sauce. It was OK. The rotti is a bit salty and I’m not sure whether I liked this or not. The fruit was fresh and the sauce was ok. I don’t think I’d order it again.

We only had a soda with dinner ($3.50).

Service was very good. When I told the waiter I wanted another roti to go, he took my leftover yellow curry and added more to it to take home. Indeed, the fact that they have rotis on the side is a big plus for me. I might go back and just order the yellow curry (albeit the one from the street food menu) and a bunch of rotis.

Khao Hom also serves breakfast, and the reviews for that are fairly good, so we might try it sometime. 

Khao Hom
Foothill Boulevard
Hayward, CA
(510) 926-428922545 
Daily 9 AM - 3 PM, 5-9 PM

HelloFresh Coconut Curry Chicken Recipe

November 5, 2022 / / 0 Comments

So fast and easy, with stuff you are likely to have around

I’m often amazed at how HelloFresh comes up with very easy, very simple recipes that are, however, super tasty – specially now, when they’ve made their recipes quicker and simpler, both to save customer’s time and their own profits. This recipe is a prime example. It’s a complete cheat curry and one I think I should be able to recreate. What makes it particularly fast is that it’s made with pre-cut chicken, but buying tenders and cutting them into pieces shouldn’t take that long. I’m planning to make it for my vegan daughter, though I will have to figure out what to use instead of peppers, as she doesn’t like them.

The recipe below is for two portions, double for four.

Thai Coconut Curry Chicken

Ingredients

  • cooking oil
  • 1 red/orange/yellow bell pepper, cored and seeded and cut into 1/2″ pieces
  • salt to taste
  • 10 oz chicken tenders, cut into 1″ strips
  • 1 Tbsp curry powder
  • 2/3 cup coconut milk
  • 2 Tbsp Thai sweet chili sauce
  • 1 tsp chicken stock concentrate
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • juice from 1/2 a lime
  • 1 Tbsp chopped cilantro

Instructions

Heat a generous drizzle of oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the bell pepper and salt to taste. Sauté, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Add the chicken and a pinch of salt and continue sautéing, stirring occasionally, for 3-4 minutes, or until the chicken browns. Add the curry powder and cook for 1 minute. Stir in the coconut milk, the chili sauce, stock concentrate, sugar and lime juice. Bring to a simmer, reduce heat to medium low and cook until the sauce thickens, about 5 minutes. Taste and adjust salt and lime juice. Sprinkle chopped cilantro and serve over rice.

Cilantro Lime Rice

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup Jazmine rice
  • 3/4 cup water
  • salt to taste
  • zest from 1 lime
  • 1 Tbsp chopped cilantro

Instructions

Place rice, water and salt in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Cover, reduce heat to low and cook for 15 minutes. Stir in lime zest and chopped cilantro.

Malabar Restaurant Review – Santa Cruz

June 8, 2022 / / 0 Comments

My first visit to a Sri Lankan restaurant.

We were in Santa Cruz visiting our college-student, and I decided to check out Malabar for the simple reason that I couldn’t ever recall having had Sri Lankan food. That turned out to not be true, I did cook Ceylonese food a couple of decades ago as part of my international food project, but I don’t think I’ve ever been to an actual Sri Lankan restaurant.

Malabar’s menu is pretty short – though that may be as a result of the COVID pandemic and the current labor shortage (they’re hiring, btw) -, and features a few dishes from India and Malaysia/Singapore, in addition to Sri Lankan ones. Mains tend to average about $20. The restaurant seems to have a nice, if generic, dining room but also has a couple of tables on the sidewalk, and that’s where we ate.

We started by sharing an appetizer of vegetable roti ($9.50). This was similar to a stuffed dosa, with a filling made from leeks, potatoes and cabbage. It was pretty tasty, even if the curry sauce it came with was not as delicious as the yellow curries you often get with rotis at Thai restaurants. It also came with a spicy tomato sauce that carried a lot of heat.

For our mains, my daughter had the mixed vegetable curry (“Mixed vegetables in a Sri Lankan style coconut curry”, $17.50) and I had the Sri Lankan Yellow Curry ($19.50). Both dishes turned out to be the same yellow curry. While my daughter’s was served with large pieces of broccoli, carrots, peppers, cabbage and kale, mine had a snapper filet as the base (you can substitute for chicken or salmon at an extra cost). Unlike other curries I’ve had in the US, the filet was served whole, rather than in chunks. The curry itself was very thin (a feature it shared with the Ceylonese curry I made myself), with a pretty mild flavor. It was tasty but it lacked both the consistency and layers of flavor you get in a Thai curry, for example. Perhaps it’s best to see it as a curry soup. I’m not 100% sure that it worked that well with the snapper, but it was a pleasant enough dish to eat, even if not one I’d rush to order again. My daughter felt pretty much the same. Both dishes were served with rice, which seemed like a medium grain type, a little on the sticky side. I don’t know that I loved it.

My husband ordered the Devil Lanka with snapper ($21.50), a dish consisting of fish cooked with “cardamom, cinnamon, clove, Anaheim papers, cucumber, pineapple, curry leaves, carrots, tomato, red onion” and “served in a sweet sour and spicy tomato sauce”. He was quite happy with his dish. It wasn’t like anything he’d had before, and he liked the flavors.

Service was very good, our servers were very attentive and friendly. They do ask you to use your phone to scan a QR code to look at the menu (which is also posted outside), but when I mentioned that I didn’t have a smart phone, they brought us a paper menu. My daughter who did have a smart phone with her felt looking at the menu on the small phone screen was very difficult, so she used the paper one instead.

In all we had a very nice time, the street wasn’t very busy (though there was a fair amount of people coming in and out of the restaurant, it’s obviously popular for take out) and we felt safe eating there. 

I didn't take any pictures, however (that lack of smart phone and all).

Malabar Restaurant
514 Front St
Santa Cruz, CA
(831) 201 4438
T-Th 5pm - 9:00 pm, F 5pm - 9:30 pm, Sa-Su 12 pm - 2:30 pm and  5pm - 9:30 pm



Sweet Potato Coconut Curry

March 5, 2020 / / 0 Comments

I made this coconut curry for my vegan daughter and vegetarian niece for a family dinner, and they both enjoyed it. It’s very easy to make and you can use any vegetables you have around, tofu or really, anything. My daughter did like it with the sweet potato. Use as much curry as you like.

  • 1 tsp olive oil
  • 1/2 yellow onion , chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 14 oz. can coconut milk
  • 4+ tsp curry powder
  • 1 Tbsp. soy sauce
  • 1 Tbsp. maple or corn syrup
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 sweet potato , peeled and chopped
  • 2 cups vegetables, peeled and chopped

Instructions

Heat olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onions and sauté until they soften, about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic and sauté for one minute.

Add the coconut milk, curry powder, soy sauce, maple syrup and salt. Mix well. Taste and add more curry powder as needed.

Bring to a boil and add the sweet potato. Turn down heat to low, cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the rest of the vegetables and mix well. Cover the pot and cook until the vegetables are done, about 10 minutes.

Adapted from Detoxinista

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