Review: Thai Elephant

Mia was home this weekend, so the four of us decided to try out Thai Elephant.

This is a new Thai spot, located where my beloved and sorely-missed Saigon was:

  • Folks new to the area:  At the western end of the shopping center that contains Dirt Cheap on Madison Boulevard.
    Natives:  In the Food World shopping center on 20, where China King was.

Thai Elephant is a full-service restaurant that looks as if it might seat 80-100. We went for lunch.

The lunch menu is considerably smaller than the dinner menu, but we still found things to make us happy. All lunch specials are served with a cup of coconut soup to start, and with fried rolls and salad accompanying your entree. A longtime favorite of mine, curry drunken noodle chicken, was available, so I ordered it Thai hot.

Thai Elephant’s curry drunken noodle chicken. Click for a closer look.

It was fresh, generously portioned, and delicious, and though it was pleasingly warm, I suspect they held back on me a bit for the heat. I will emphasize “Thai hot” next time and see if I notice any difference.

Aaron’s panang curry chicken is on my short list too:

Panang curry. Click for larger.

He was complimentary and made a happy bowl. This is one of my favorite Thai dishes to heat up beyond all reason, so I’ll do that soon.

Lea went with the orange chicken:

Orange chicken pleasantly surprises. (Click for larger.)

This was really excellent, and one of the surprise stars of the trip. There is an assertive tartness to this orange chicken and though it is also sweetish, it pulls up well short of cloying, which is my primary complaint with this entree most of the time.

Mia’s cashew chicken also vanished satisfyingly, and both she and Aaron were pleased to have Thai tea available to them. Teriyaki boxes and entree soups are also available on the lunch menu.

We enjoyed good service throughout.

The fresh look for the dining room at Thai Elephant.

The owners of Thai Elephant have done a good job establishing a new visual identity for the place. It reminds me quite a bit of Big Bowl Thai, as do many of the details (the shot glasses for the dressing and roll sauce, the straw wrapper flowers, and so forth). Additionally, best I can tell, my curry drunken noodle chicken was virtually identical to the same dish at Big Bowl Thai. I suspect common ownership. That’s a great spot, so this is not a bad thing.

Excellent first time out. We’ll be back.

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1 thought on “Review: Thai Elephant”

  1. We went last night, and L tried the Rama Chicken. We loved it. Savory, but slight sweetness, but not at all a sweet / sour type of thing. We will go again. Now looking forward to a bento box for lunch there, hint hint.

    Reply

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