6 minute read
Restaurant Review
The Cashew Nut Chicken tops the author’s homemade version of the same entrée.
Melt-in-your-mouth boneless duck is the centerpiece of this Duck and Eggplant dish.
Spoonful Thai Bistro—
Cure for a Manic Monday
By Susan N. Denaro, Esquire
There are many reasons to dislike Mondays. When I’ve listed them in the past, that list always ended with: and there are no good restaurants open on a Monday. Gratefully, thanks to Spoonful Thai Bistro, 615 Penn Avenue, West Reading, that last reason is no longer true.
On a bland and dreary Monday night a few weeks ago, I stumbled upon this little BYOB thanks to a Google search of ‘non-chain restaurants open on a Monday’. Armed with a flask of Sake martinis, we marched to the nearby locale that was previously home to Rice and to Papillon before that. We’ve never had a bad meal at either of those prior establishments, and fortunately, our luck there has continued, and we’ve found another reason to like Mondays: thanks to the other nearby establishments being closed, we managed to easily snag a parking space on Penn Street right in front of its door.
Our meal started with the duck roll drizzled with brown sauce. Not sure what to expect, I was pleased the duck was rolled in a Thai pancake rather than a standard eggroll wrapper. A Thai pancake is very reminiscent of a scallion cake in a traditional Chinese restaurant. The roll was cut into a few bite-sized pieces and was a lovely way to start our meal as the cucumber in it enhanced the subtle flavors of the Sake in our martinis.
In order to boost our Monday experience, we ordered the veggie drunken noodles for our second course. I’ve never been a big fan of the flat rice noodles as they usually seem overcooked, but this dish was lovely. We ordered it with a medium heat level, and it arrived steaming hot, the veggies still had some crunch to them and contrasted well with the carbs. Overall, it was one of the better noodle dishes I’ve had in an oriental restaurant in years.
For our final course that first night, we shared an order of cashew nut chicken and an order of Kapow garlic chicken. One of the advantages of eating out on a Monday night was that our dishes were served straight to us from the stove since the restaurant was empty save for a few people coming in for carry out. Again, we ordered both dishes with a medium spice level, and they were scrumptious. I found the cashew chicken better than the version I make at home, probably thanks to the addition of pineapple and the lightness of the sweet chili-based sauce. The diced bell pepper and onion were evenly
Chicken Potstickers are a superb starter with just the right salt level. The cucumber in the Duck Roll complements the subtle flavors in a Sake martini.
cut which helped elevate the appearance of the dish. It walked the delicate balance between sweet and spicy and is one I will order again. My only negative is that I felt it needed more chicken. Ironically, I thought that while the garlic chicken was tasty, it needed more vegetables.
The following Monday night we decided to try Spoonful as a carry out to see if the magic would travel. I placed the order remotely, and about 10 minutes later rocked up to find the same parking space waiting for me. The food was just being boxed, and by the time I arrived home, it was still hot, looking like it had been freshly plated and delivered straight from the stove to table.
I’ve always been a fan of pork potstickers but Spoonful’s chicken ones are a superb version. Most restaurants steam them and fry only one side, if that. Spoonful fries the entire dumpling; the filling has just the right salt level to sing thru the crispy outside, making for a perfect bite. They were good with the soy and rice vinegar dipping sauce but were also tasty without it.
We decided to try a roti, that Thai pancake that's served as the base to the duck roll. It came with a white-hued spread that confounded me as I have never had anything like it in an oriental restaurant before and could not identify all its flavors. Although the sauce was tasty, I won’t rush to order a roti again as it was a bit heavy, and I’d rather spend those calories on the potstickers.
We enjoyed an order of the chicken pineapple fried rice that surprisingly included raisins that had been soaked in a liquid to reconstitute them. Those raisins, together with the pineapple, brought a nice sweet element to balance the spiciness of the curry base. Again, it could have used a little more chicken for an American appetite but the rice to vegetable to meat ratio seemed authentic.
Anxious to sample the curry dishes on the menu, we ordered the chicken panang. Although we ordered a medium spice level, it had a bigger kick than any of the other dishes we tried. The lime leaf brought a bright element to the curried coconut milk broth and the carrot slices added a hint of sweetness. If you are ordering dishes to share, it’s a winner if you really like a spicy curry.
For my money, the best of the best was the duck and eggplant entrée that boasted red bell pepper and fresh basil leaves. Typically, when oriental restaurants serve sliced duck, they include the bones. This, however, was just an entire boneless duck breast that was so thinly sliced that the scant layer of fat under its crispy skin melted in the mouth. The eggplant was cooked to perfection and when combined with the diced red and green peppers provided, not only a flavorful, but also a colorful backdrop to the tender duck. It will be my go-to dish at Spoonful as it was outrageously good and hit the right balance between the protein and the veggies.
The only truly disappointing thing we ordered was the wonton soup. The broth was pale and thin and flavorless. The other soups looked tempting but are made with fish sauce so they are on the allergen no-fly list since fish sauce traditionally is made with shrimp shells.
Despite the misstep with the wonton soup, suddenly Monday nights don’t seem so mundane. We hope Spoonful manages to survive in that location as it fills the void I’ve felt since Rice and some of the finer oriental restaurants from years past closed. And with a little luck, if the other eateries nearby remain closed on Mondays, my parking space out front will be waiting for me regardless of whether we dine in or carry out.
