We recently visited Street Thai Cafe in Huntington Beach, just down the street from Old World European Market and Bella Terra. This small eatery is vibrant on a weekday with cute decor to boot.
There is a lot on the menu, so make sure you peruse it carefully. There are also some specials on the wall you might like to partake in.
My dining partner loves Thai Iced Tea ($3.50) and when you order a lunch special — offered Mondays to Fridays from 11am to 3pm — you’ll receive a complimentary glass of Thai Iced Tea or Thai Iced Coffee along with your meal.
We start with my friend’s favorite! Tom Kha Gai ($7) a traditional Thai coconut soup with chicken and mushrooms is wonderfully fragrant with hints of galangal and kaffir lime. I was highly impressed! The perfectly balanced flavors of sour, salty and spicy made my mouth pucker and I exclaimed “this is exactly how I would make it, I wouldn’t change a thing!”
Our Phla Goong ($11) of grilled shrimp in fragrant lemongrass is served on a bed of iceberg lettuce, red and green onions, mint and chile. The chile paste lime dressing is fantastic, once again possessing the right amount of acid for my palate.
We order Roast Duck Larb ($13) a special from the wall. While we are all familiar with ground meat larb, this presentation is new to us. Larb essentially means ‘meat salad’, and for this purpose, there is plenty of duck in the salad. I would have liked the duck to be cut smaller to accommodate each mouthful, but I did love how the two salads taste different even though visually, they pretty much look the same, after you’ve tossed the duck salad.
Of course, we can’t leave without trying one of the noodle dishes. Drunken Noodle with chicken ($10) is a delicious plate of wok fried flat rice noodles with onions, mushrooms, Chinese kale, red and green bell peppers, all tossed in a chile basil dark soy. This item is offered as a lunch special for $9, and comes with soup, salad, and a drink. We were surprised at how generous the portion was for a lunch special!
Street Thai Cafe is indeed a hidden gem. The flavors are outstanding, and dishes aren’t overly greasy. We will definitely be back!
Street Thai Cafe
15887 Gothard Street
Huntington Beach, CA 92647
Tel: 714-799-2000
Yummmm I wanna try