Sala Thai Cuisine

Sawatdee Krap!!!

When I was young, my family used to eat at several Thai restaurants here in Manila. This is where me and my brothers got introduced to the Thai cuisine. I love Thai cuisine because, of all the cuisines that I have tried, I think Thai food provides me with a multitude and wide selection of flavours to tickle my taste buds.
They have sweet, sour, spicy and salty flavours from which you can choose from. But sadly, after sometime, all those Thai restaurants that we used to visit when we were young closed down one by one. It's been sometime that we had Thai food since we had difficulty looking for restaurants that serve Thai cuisine.

Until one day, I managed to pass-by J Nakpil St. in Malate, Manila and saw Sala Thai.

It then gave me hope after that first spoonful of Tom Yum Kung was lifted to my maw, a light bulb popped-up in my head and I thought, "This is it!!! Thai food is back in town!!!”

Sala Thai Restaurant is a casual dining restaurant that serves authentic Thai dishes at affordable prices. Its authenticity is demonstrated in the spices that the dishes use. As shared by the staff and the owner, the spices that are used are imported from Thailand. The chefs are Thai that is why it also helped maintain the traditions of the Thai cuisine.

We often visit Sala Thai restaurant. Let me share to you some of our top picks here.

For the soups, their Tom Yum Kung (hot sour prawn soup) is excellent since they are well-balanced in the flavours between spicy and sour.
The soup's color is not pale unlike in other Thai restaurants.
It's the closest Tom Yum that I tasted at par with the ones that I had in Bangkok. The ingredients, especially the shrimps and mushrooms are served generously. They're not 'bitin' nor 'tipid'. We always go for a serving of Tom Yum Kung when we are dining here. You can also try the Tom Yum Gai (chicken) or Tom Yum Talai (seafood) version.

Another soup, the Tom Kha Gai is also great.

Tom Kha Gai is a chicken soup cooked in coconut milk and galangal. They serve the soup with plenty of chicken chunks, together with galangal and mushrooms. What's great here is that, their version of Tom Kha Gai is not watery. This is great since you can fully savor the soup's body and flavour.

For the salad, Yam Pla Duk Fu, the catfish-mango salad is truly a winner. Before I've tried the Sala Thai's version, I was not a fan of the catfish salad, but after I tasted it there, I already became a fan of it! Out of all the dishes here, this is my personal favorite. Yam Pla Duk Fu is a Thai sour salad made from deep-fried shredded catfish meat, topped with a Thai dressing made from sliced green mangoes, onions, fish sauce, a hint of sugar, roasted peanuts, chopped 'siling-labuyo', sun-dried Thai chillies and garnished with chopped green onions. Now, you might be cringing from the thought of the chillies? No, this dish is not uber spicy. The different flavours present here blends together harmoniously. This is an example of what I was saying in terms of the multitude of flavours that Thai Cuisine have. It is good to be eaten as a plain salad or it's also good to be eaten as a viand with rice.

Som Tam is also another type of Thai salad which can be tried by folks who are into spicy salad. This is a salad made from grated papaya which are pounded on mortar and pestle. The salad's dressing is made from fish sauce, chillies, onions, tomatoes, peanuts, dried shrimp and palm sugar. This is a bit spicier compared to the catfish salad.
I had this for the first time in Bangkok but when I tasted Sala Thai's version it's comparable to the one that I had in Bangkok.

For viands, we love their Pandan Chicken, Beef in Holy Basil, Beef in Red Curry, Pork in Red Chilli Paste and Stir-fried Chicken in Ginger.

Pandan Chicken is a favorite viand here. This is somehow common as some Pinoys might think, since they're only deep-fried marinated chicken wrapped in pandan leaves with sweet-chilli as the dipping sauce, as simple as that. But, what's good about them are their sizes, the chicken here are not puny, they are served chunkier and bigger compared to the other pandan chickens that I had.

Beef in Holy Basil is also good. A savoury, stir-fried dish made from beef with Thai holy basil. A very aromatic dish. The Thai holy basil provided its very distinct flavour.

Beef in Red Curry is a beef dish cooked in red curry. This dish is a bit spicy since it is cooked in red curry and peppercorns. The dish also comes with vegetables. It's good to be eaten with rice.

Another good viand is the Pork in Red Chilli Paste. It's a pork dish made with generous amounts of red chilli paste. This dish is a bit saucy or 'masarsa' compared to the beef in basil and beef on red curry. It’s appearance resembles the Filipino Kare-kare, though, it's a bit spicier!

Stir-fry Chicken with Ginger is recommended for ginger lovers. This tasty dish is made from chicken meat stir-fried in slices of ginger, young corn and sitaw. I love the fragrant, gingery smell of this dish. It’s very savoury since the aroma of the ginger will tickle your palate. The spice level of this dish is different to the curry dishes that are available.

What's the common good point of their viand is that, they don't drown the viand with extenders.
When you order a dish, it's sure that it has a lot chicken, beef, pork or seafood.

Let's go to the rice and noodles.

Khao Phad Gai is a good choice from the fried rice varieties. It's fried rice with diced chicken meat, chopped onions and tomatoes and garnished with spring onions. From its taste, I can taste that somehow it is also seasoned with a hint of thai fish sauce. A great tasting fried rice. I am a certified 'rice monster' that is why I love this dish and would prefer this to accompany my meal in Sala Thai.

You can also opt to have their Phad Thai as a replacement for rice.
Phad Thai is a noodle dish made from rice noodles pan-fried with egg, bean sprouts, tofu, chicken or seafood. It is then seasoned with fish sauce, sugar, lime juice and peanuts to add its distinct flavour.
I am not a fan of Phad Thai since I would prefer a serving of rice to accompany my meal but I must say that their Phad Thai is a great substitute for rice. It is very flavourful and the noodles are cooked just right, not too soggy.

For the drinks and refreshment, Cha Yen or Thai Iced Tea is the perfect refreshment for a meal in Sala Thai. The blend of the tea, condensed milk and ice is a great way to cool down the palate after a spoonful of a flavourful meal.
I 'm still waiting for them to serve Thai beers like Singha, Chang, or Leo beers.

For dessert, Thai Tako is available here. Tako is a traditional Thai dessert which is made from tapioca balls topped with coconut milk paste. It is then wrapped in pandan leaves and presented like mini-cupcakes.

Traditional Thai condiments are almost complete here. They have, chopped dried red chillies, vinegar and chopped green chillies, chopped peanuts and sugar to quench the maw if a spicy food is consumed. I love this since in Bangkok, every table in an eatery have these condiments. The place is very Thai!!!

The place's ambience is clean and casual. It's decorated with some Thai ornaments like a
mini-statue in Wai pose and a portrait of HM King Bhumibol and HM Queen Sirikit of Thailand.
The service is fast, clean and the attendants are very attentive.

Price of the meal is not expensive. It is very affordable.
You can get more from what you have paid for.

Since the place is situated beside Philippine Womens University, Sala Thai also serve rice meals.
These are the usual Thai stir-fried beef, pork or chicken in holy basil leaves.
A good, quick chow for someone with a tummy-on-a-run.

Well, these are the reason why we keep on coming back for a meal in Sala Thai.
Hehe! I cannot help but say, 'Im Mak Mak' ('Im very full' in Thai) to Mr. Boon Ma, the chefs and the staff when we met them.

That's all folks!

Cheers! Kap Kun Krap! ('Thanks' in Thai).

*With the Thai chefs

Contact:

SALA THAI Cuisine

866 J. Nakpil St.
Malate, Manila
Tel. 522-4694, 521-6683

Arya Persian Dinner

We tried Arya Persian Restaurant and I want to share you our dinner experience.

Arya came from the word 'Aryan' which represents the people from which the Persians or Iranians have descended from. It's owned by Mr. Shin Karami who hails from Shiraz, Iran.

Okay, let's go to where the 'meat and potatoes' are, the food. For starters, I love their Arya Dip Platter.It's a meze consisting of a sampler of tzatziki, motabal, mirza ghasemi and hummus.They are very good appetizers if you eat it with their breads. It's also good if you savour it on its own since it is very tasty. What caught my attention is the Mirza Ghasemi since this is something new for me. Mirza Ghasemi is a meze dish which is made of smoked eggplants, tomatoes and garlic.Very good, it's more of like a Persian version of the mousakka minus the meat and the bechamel sauce.

For the meal, we ordered the Makhus.

Makhus is a platter consists of skewers of Koobideh and Shish Kabab.

Koobideh is a Persian dish consisting of ground meat, seasoned with Persian spices then mixed with chopped onions and parsley. The meat is then molded on a skewer and then grilled. I love their version of the Koobideh. The meat is not dry but still juicy when it gets to your plate.The flavours of the persian spice and the onion/parsley mixture went well together. None of them overpowered the flavour of each other.

The Shish Kabab is also a winner. The difference of the Shish Kabab with the Koobideh is that, the Shish Kabab are made of tenderloin chunks instead of ground meat.The shish kabab of Arya looks like it is seasoned with saffron since it has a yellowish hue.This is great since the meat is not tough nor overcooked. It still retained its juiciness and chunkiness after it was grilled not unlike other shish kababs which turns out dry after grilling.

One testimony of the kababs' juiciness is that, after we finished the platter, we still took out some pita bread and wiped off the kabab's drippings in the platter. yummy!!!!

The dish also came with grilled, plump tomatoes which are also great side dishes for the kebab dish.This is a 'must try' dish. I will come back to Arya for this Persian culinary treat.

For the bread, we ordered the Pita bread and the Naan. I would not elaborate more on the Pita bread since it is somehow common to middle-eastern restaurants here in the Metro.I would like to share my experience with their Persian Bread or Naan.

Arya's Naan is different than other Naan that I have tried.It is soft and chewy unlike the others which is more dry and flaky similar already to the Pita or Chapatti flat breadArya's Naan consistency is more of like a pancake without milk. I managed to have a conversation with Mr Shin Karami, the proprietor of the Arya restaurant and he taught me that Pita is more of Arabic bread than Persian. I love it so much that I even ordered another serving for me to take home and have it for breakfast.Surprisingly, they are still soft and chewy eventhough I left it in the fridge overnight before breakfast.

Their garlic sauce is also great. It's not watery. For me, it tasted different from other garlic sauces of the other restaurants that I have tried.Arya has a unique flavour to their garlic sauce. It has a hint of a little bit of sweetness. I love it!The flavour literally bursts in your maw when you try it.It's good on everything, the meat dish, chicken, lamb or even just plain bread!Arya sells it in their Greenhills branch for Php150 on ketchup-sized bottles.I'll buy a bottle of it and I might use it as a sauce for other meat dish.I think it's also good as a salad dressing.

Staff is very nice and accomodating.Deco is perfect, very Persian ambience.Price is not that high since they have big servings.I would try to visit their Greenhills branch since it is much bigger than the Robinson's Place branch.

Kudos to Mr. Shin Karami for a very warm entertainment and for the nice chat.
I'll go back and drop Arya a visit again sometime soon to try their other offerings...

Ciao!

*for more photos, click the ff. URL*

http://gomz24.multiply.com/photos/album/84

Contact:

Arya Persian Restaurant

(Greenhills Branch)

Unit L-9Promenade Mall,Ortigas Ave,Greenhills, San Juan, Metro Manila

(Robinson's Place Ermita Branch)

2nd level Midtown Wing,Robinson's Place,Pedro Gil St.,Ermita, Manila

727-5062 or 9944879