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Friday Lunch Buddies: Thai

 On Friday 3/24/2006,  the Friday Lunch Buddies headed out to grab some Thai food. 

Thai Orchid 

4300 Central Avenue. SE, Albuquerque, NM 87108
(505) 265-4047

Reviews: 

  • For those who live near the university, there is but one victor in the arena: Orchid Thai. Voted over and over again the best Thai by Alibi readers, something must be going right in their kitchens.
  • The todd munpla (fried fish cakes) were the best we've had in the Duke City as was the accompanying cucumber sauce.
  • The catfish in red curry was spectacular–well seasoned and Thai hot (which means scorching), one of the best fish entrees I've had in years.  
  • he massaman curry is akin to a religious experience–brimming in flavor with just the right contrast of sweet coconut milk and Thai hot curry.

 So with those reviews, we headed out!

 

First  I ordered the todd munpla (fried fish cakes):

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They were ok (meaning they weren't as good as the reviewer said_ =P  Maybe I'm just too Asian? Tongue out 

This is what Frank and Betty ordered: 

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Kuan ordered: 

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Nazim ordered: 

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Yeah….Nazim really takes his food seriously…Furious

Drew ordered the massaman curry from the dinner menu (not on the lunch menu). 

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Drew digging in!!!!!! 

Looks GOOD!  Did you notice all the fake orchids in the dishes???? =)

The curry was mildly spicy, with a nice creamy sweet flavor.  I think it's like the Portuguese curry you get from Macao (if you know what I'm saying…you're a real HongKongese!!) Laughing

And I ordered the catfish in red curry…Thai HOT!!!! Surprised

That's right…check this out:

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Does that look right?  I didn't think so…and after consulting the table, we decided they had screwed up.  But wait…no….it turns out I misordered, cuz I was pointing to the Thai menu, thinking it was the catfish/red curry….blah. Yell I don't believe it!

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So what I ordered was the Yam Poh Taek (seafood salad): Seafood, lemon grass, kaffir lime leaves, lime juice, garlic, spicy sauce. 

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behold…it was a spicy seafood salad. Seafood included: 2x oysters, 3x shrimp, 4x squid.  

but it was spicy and painful after all……

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…though not enough to overtake Korean kim chee @ Ar-ri-rang!!!!!

And guess what…that salad costed $12!!!! Cry If Lunch Queen were here, she would definately be against that expensive lunch!!! 

blah….so here's a pix of us leaving

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Yeah…that's Frank on the right.  You know I had to take a pix of you, right? Bye

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The dishes seemed pretty authentic, but I'll have to go one more time to decide for sure.  I think some dishes were overpriced (i.e. the seafood salad), so that was a big minus.  And I had to take into consideration of the screw up in the ordering….so….

Hungry cactus’ verdict: B-