Tag: pad thai

San Leandro Bites: Farmhouse Kitchen Express

Good but expensive Thai food to go.

Some weeks ago, my husband and I decided to go on a lunch date and thought we’d give Farmhouse Kitchen a try. We had been there before, during the pandemic, and had had a lovely lunch on the patio – except for the noise from the construction next door. The restaurant had closed and reopened since, and we were hoping to have better luck – though as the weather was turning, we figured we’d have to eat inside this time. As it happens, Farmhouse Kitchen in San Leandro – part of a small chain – has turned into Farmhouse Kitchen Express and they no longer have indoor dining – the whole of the restaurant has turned into a kitchen. Indeed, they don’t even have waiters or even checkers to take your order: you have to order and pay online (better have a credit card). They do have a terminal in the restaurant you can use to order, however, though it’s a little bit clunky.

We did hang out in the patio while we waited for our order, and it’s nice-enough, though it seems in need of care. Of course, this has been a very rainy spring, so they might be waiting for the weather to turn nice before they work on their patio (I know that’s what I’ve been waiting for myself). Weather you eat there or not, the food comes in to-go containers.

I got the yellow curry with rice ($16) with beef ($4). It was good, but a bit on the spicy side. The curry that depth and it was well developed, but it wasn’t anything extraordinary. I think for the price, it should have been better. I also got a couple of crispy roti ($3) to go with it, and these were pretty good but they were swimming in oil. They were crispier and denser than others I’ve had, but they were still very nice with the curry. The oil, however, made limited how much of them you could eat.

Mike had the roti mataba ($15), a “crispy roti stuffed with curried potato and ground chicken,” which came with yellow curry, ajad (Thati cucumber salad) and a samosa. He enjoyed all of them very much. They were too spicy for my taste, but I’m a lightweight.

He also had the pad thai ($15), which comes with shrimp. He thought it was quite good for a pad thai, though nothing mind blowing.

In all, we felt the quality of the food was pretty high, but also that the prices were on the high-side and not really justifiable for take-out food. We probably wouldn’t go back, given other alternatives in town. But if we did go, we’d order from home first.

Farmhouse Kitchen
16695 E 14th St, San Leandro
(510) 363-8309
Order

Dining in DC: Charm Thai

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

Update on Dinnerly Meal Kits

I go through periods of not cooking and I’ve noticed that doing meal kits is a good way to get myself started again. But of course, I only do meal kits when I have a discount code and this time, I got one for Dinnerly ($15 off per week for 2 weeks), which brought the price of each meal kit to $8 – probably close to the actual cost of the ingredients. BTW, I have 3 FREE Dinnerly boxes to give away, so if you want one, e-mail me.

All in all, I have been pleasantly surprised by the dinners we’ve gotten. They’ve been simple to prepare, with few ingredients, totally basic fare, but very tasty. They beat getting cheap takeout, both in matter of taste, quality of ingredients and value.

I still have one meal left to cook, but this is what I’ve made so far:

Greek Meatballs with Tomatoes & Orzo

This was such a simple dish, and yet so tasty! The meatballs were delicious and didn’t include any filling. And they went great with orzo. I might have to make this again on my own. I would use just diced tomato instead of cutting whole ones with scissors, though. And a little Parmesan cheese would be nice, but not needed.

Stuffed Cheeseburger with Tomatoes & Garlic Potato Wedges

To be honest, I didn’t actually make this. My daughter was in a hurry, so I took the ground beef and added a little garlic powder and Worcestershire sauce for extra flavor, and then made the stuffed patties with the Fontina cheese from the box. My daughter ate it with lots of ketchup and was very happy with the burger. She had another one later on.

Chinese Take-Out Pepper Steak with Steamed Jasmine Rice

This was another perfectly tasty dish. Nothing extra about it (here I am, speaking like one of my teens), but perfectly fine for a weekday dinner.

Vegetarian Pad Thai with Carrots & Snow Peas

A vegan dinner from Dinnerly! How cool is that? Well, it had eggs, but I just left them out. This wasn’t really pad thai, however. It came with teriyaki sauce, to which was added 1 Tbsp fresh lime juice, 2 Tbsp sugar and 1/2 Tbsp vinegar. My daughter who usually dislikes teriyaki sauce was quite happy with the end product. I’ll try this hack again for stir fries.

Onion & Feta Burger with Oven Fries & Garlic Ketchup

You might wonder why I even order burger from Dinnerly if I then cannibalize them into something else, and the truth is I don’t know – maybe because it’s convenient to simply have the buns and ground beef at the same time. In this case, I didn’t make the onions or garlic ketchup, and I skipped the feta and instead added a slice of whatever cheese I had at home. I also seasoned the potatoes with some oregano to give it some extra flavor.

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