Posted: October 9th, 2009 | Author: JR | Filed under: Asian, Danvers, Sawasdee Danvers | Tags: Danvers Restaurants, Lunch, Sawasdee Danvers, Thai | 4 Comments »
Award-winning Thai food for lunch? Conveniently located in downtown Danvers? What’s not to like? Indeed, we found everything to our liking on our visit to Sawasdee, which recently won Northshore Magazine’s vote for best Thai food.
The interior is airy and comfortable, with brick walls and wood floors, funky light fixtures, and more tiny bamboo plants than we’ve ever seen in one place. A cozy bar occupies one corner, and the restaurant serves beer and wine.
The menu is just as well thought out, with a huge selection of appetizers, the option to create your own stir fry or curry (choice of meat and sauce/veggies), and plenty of lunch specials. We especially like the option to change the white rice in the specials for brown rice ($.75), sticky rice ($1), or rice noodles ($1).
We started with a DIY appetizer special call fun fun lettuce wraps: large leaves that hold a chicken mixture and crispy bean thread noodles, all dipped in a sweet chili sauce ($5). Fun, crunchy, and delicious.
Then we moved onto pad thai ($6.75), panang curry with beef ($7.75), and pla rad pik (crispy fish, $7.75). The pad thai noodles and large shrimp were succulent, and the sauce was a tad sweeter than we’re used to—absolutely addictive. The panang had just the right combination of coconut and curry, although the beef was a bit chewy.
The fish was quite fiery and had a terrific light breading. It’s available as a whole fish for dinner, and we recommend it for those who complain that Thai restaurants turn down the heat too much for Americans. The vegetables on both the fish and the curry dishes were crisp/tender, just the way we like them.
Done right, there’s nothing like Thai food to satisfy those cravings for comforting carbs, salty sauces, and heat—and Sawasdee definitely does it right.
Sawasdee Danvers
49A Maple St, Danvers
(978) 744-8424
www.sawasdeedanvers.com
Posted: April 5th, 2009 | Author: JR | Filed under: Asian, Beverly, Siam Delight | Tags: Beverly Restaurants, Dinner, Lunch, Siam Delight, Thai | No Comments »
With signs of spring still few and far between, we decided to perk ourselves up with an indulgent lunch at our favorite Thai restaurant, Beverly’s Siam Delight. It did not disappoint, and we left with pleasantly full bellies and a lighter step.
The pretty green walls, warm wood, and whimsical lighting in this restaurant are somewhat unexpected given its location next to a dry cleaner on Cabot Street. Locals are certainly not fooled, as evidenced by the full dining room and long take-out line at lunch.
The food at Siam is consistently terrific—fresh and flavorful, and they never use MSG. We tried several new dishes on this visit and enjoyed all but one. First though, from previous meals we highly recommend the pad thai (well balanced sauce, good noodle texture, plentiful chicken and shrimp), and the duck green curry (just the right amount of heat and lots of sauce to coat the rice).
We started our lunch with shrimp in a blanket ($6) but weren’t crazy about the texture of the minced shrimp and fish inside the crispy shell. We had no complaints about our entrees, starting with the homestyle duck ($8) featuring boneless slices of tender meat, crisp-cooked vegetables, and a tasty sauce. The large plate of food came with a good-sized mound of white rice—an excellent value.
Longing for summer, we couldn’t resist ordering a dish named noodles on the beach and were glad we did. The wide noodles were succulent, and the sauce clinging to them and the vegetables featured a wonderful spicy basil flavor ($7.50). Our third dish was also a hit: beef magic fried rice. We don’t know about the magic, but the marinated beef, green peppers, basil, and plump rice grains made an addictive combination.
Siam Delight just celebrated its tenth year in business, and it’s easy to understand their staying power. With great food at reasonable prices, it’s our bet they’ll be delighting diners for many years to come.
Siam Delight
128 Cabot Street, Beverly
(978) 922-8514
www.nvo.com/siamdelight
