Tag: papaya salad

Food Review: Kbird, Finally!

I’ve heard about Kbird for years and just now finally tried it. It was different….here’s the breakdown.

ENVIRONMENT

Kbird is in a house in the Heights. I’d never noticed it before, but it was easy to access and there was plenty of street room for parking.

There is a casual cozyness to the inside. There are only a few tables, most of them large, so you will probably end up dining with strangers, as we did.  And those strangers will be hipsters. Everyone in here had a mustache or was wearing glasses. It was pretty interesting.

There’s nothing fancy about this place and there’s a lot of stuff….everywhere. But it has some charm to it. You can also see all the cooking going on in the kitchen, which is right behind the counter, where you order and pick up your food.

 

MENU

The menu is located at the front, next to the order counter. It is neither fancy nor lengthy, but everything sounded so good, it was still hard what to decide on.

FOOD

Pad Thai with Tofu: $11 (tax included)

My friend got this dish and it was delicious. It had slices of mango, which added a great sweetness that pad thai doesn’t normally have. However, she said there were a couple bites that were a bit sour, but she still finished every bite and enjoyed it. Next time, I’ll definitely be getting this. From the two bites I had, it was very flavorful, and very unique compared to pad thai around here.

Papaya Salad $10 (tax included)

This salad gets a lot of attention on social media, so I had to give it a try. While I’ve only had about 5 other papaya salads before, this one didn’t seem to be any different or better than those. It was the perfect amount of spicy, though, which means my mouth was burning at the end, but I was able to finish it off. I probably wouldn’t get this again, only because other dishes being eaten looked very tasty.

OVERALL

By the time it was 12:10 (on a Friday), the owner put a “sold out” sign on the door and had to turn many people away. I don’t know if this is a regular occurrence or if it was just that day, but to run out of food by noon (when you open at 11) seems odd. So, get there early!
Also, it took us 45 minutes after we ordered to get our food. So, no quick lunches here.

 

Food Review: Crushcraft Thai in Dallas- Spoiler Alert, it is AWESOME.

My “second lunch” after the delicious Banh Mi at Nammi (hey, there were a couple hours in-between) was a carefully chosen, very healthy option: Crushcraft Thai Thai Street Eats. It has hundreds of great reviews online and another blogger I follow, Daniel Eating Dallas, suggested it a while back. So, here’s the breakdown:

ENVIRONMENT

Crushcraft Thai is a really nice area of Uptown Dallas and is in a very modern shopping center.  When you first walk in, the menu is plastered to a wall on brown paper. You then have to memorize what you want to and walk over to the counter to place your order.  This is the only thing that bothered me. There were no paper menus for me to read off of while ordering, so I had to keep jumping over 2-3 feet to read the wall to order the three items I wanted. Awkward.
Suggestion: pull up their menu on your phone and take it with you to the counter. Much easier.
Also, with the only menu on the wall in a small area, this area gets pretty crowded.

Behind the counter you at which you order and pick up your food, there are some bar stools to sit at.

Though most patrons, myself included, chose to move further into the restaurant in the much more fun and colorful seating area. This room is spacious, colorful, and bright.

MENU

You can find their menu here (as it is hard to read my picture) on their website: http://www.crushcraftthai.com/menu/

In short, there are many delicious options, making a decision on what to order a tough one. There are many rice or noodle dishes (ex: drunken noodles), a few coconut milk curries (ex: panang over rice) , some “craft greens” options that sound very healthy (ex: chicken lettuce wraps), and many unique sides and “shareables” (ex: tofu fries). Plus, everything is pretty cheap!

FOOD

First thing to mention, at the serve-yourself drink station, there are 7 different types of sauces to take to your table. I love me a sauce bar! Most are very spicy, fyi.

Tom Kha Soup + 3 Fresh Rolls, $7.99 (pictured on the left)
Description: Chicken or tofu, rice wrap, basil, cucumber, crushed peanuts, toasted rice, chili lime dip, with a cup of thom kha soup.

This was the least flavorful dish we ordered. (Meaning it only gets better!) The spring rolls were fresh and pretty flavorful, but not nearly the most flavorful I have had. The chili lime dip was delicious and really helped.
The Tom Kha, which is probably my favorite soup overall, was pretty bland. It definitely had a tomato tinge to it, which was weird. It was worth eating, but definitely nothing I’d get again.

Green Papya Salad Cup, $1.95 (pictured in center)
Description: none given

Even though there was no description, this VERY flavorful and spicy salad had green papaya “noodles”, slices cherry tomatoes, green beans, and crushed peanuts with a vinaigrette full of chiles and lime juice. It was the BEST papaya salad I have ever tried, though it was so spicy it was hard to eat all of my half (split with Drew)…even with breaks in-between for non-spicy fresh rolls.  I would definitely get this again. Plus, it was really large for less than $2!!!!

Mahaw Lettuce Bites $1.85 (featured on the right)
Description: Wok-seared pork, pickled radish pineapple chutney, crushed peanuts, seasonal microgreens.

Wow, this was so unique and delicious! Even though these are called “bites”, each one was easily 3 bites each. The salty pork with the vinegar-y veggies and the sweetness from the pineapple hit all flavor components. The only downside was it was a little dry. Adding a little sauce to the top of it definitely would help the dryness. But it was still fantastic! I would  get this one again for sure.

OVERALL

While there are some hits and misses here with the environment and some of the food, I don’t think you can go wrong coming for a to-go meal or a quick, healthy meal. The sides and shareables are probably the best deal. Though, I definitely want to try some panang curry next time!