Bai Tong Thai (Southcenter)

For all the times I've visited Seattle, Bai Tong Thai has been on my radar yet it has never happened.  Finally, we got our chance at the Southcenter location.  Actually, this is near the original location at the North end of Sea-Tac where founder and former Thai Airways flight attendant, Chanpen Lapangkura wanted a place that would cater to the Thai Airways crew members.  Well, that was then and Bai Tong has expanded to many more locations.  It started with bringing in top Thai chefs from Bangkok and it still dishes up authentic Thai food to this day.

We were fortunate enough to do a menu tasting and this will be a comprehensive post about many of their most popular dishes.  We began with some appies in the Chicken Satay.  Since they used chicken breast, the meat was not as juicy as using leg meat.  Yet in reality, chicken is not even really a thing in Thailand itself when it comes to satay skewers.  It is usually pork and sometimes beef, due to the influence from Indonesia.  The use of chicken is mainly a North American thing, in particular, the breast meat.  In this case, the chicken was still moist with a slight char on the outside.  The marinade was aromatic but it really did need to be dipped into the creamy peanut sauce on the side. We also had the Gai Hor Bai Toey and Chicken Wings where the former is something I've never had before.  Bite-sized chicken wrapped in pandan leaves and deep-fried, these looked and smelled amazing.  After unwrapping them, we found pieces of chicken that were nicely browned and sightly crispy.  I wouldn't say the chicken was necessarily juicy, but it wasn't overly dry either.  The side of sweet sticky sauce was so rich and molasses-like that it added not only flavour, but moisture to compliment the meat.  As for the wings, they were pretty large and featured a crunchy exterior and fully-rendered skin.  There was good inherent flavour from the soy marinade, but the side of sweet & sour sauce helped add moisture to the meat.

Continuing with small plates, we had the Tod Mun Pla and the Grilled Beef.  The aggressively fried fish cakes were appealingly brown on the outside while being crispy.  Inside, the fish cake was medium-firm with plenty of crunchy long beans.  There was some inherent sweetness with the fish mousse and it did have a good rebound texture.  The cucumber plum sauce provided a slightly tangy sweetness.  As for the grilled beef, it was sliced New York strip, hence it was tender but maybe lacking in some moisture.  Despite not looking like it was grilled enough, I found the charred nuttiness really coming through.  This came with a soy and toasted rice sauce with crushed chilies.  Nice spice and aromatics.

We moved onto a pair of soups staring with the Tom Kha.  Consisting of the classic components of chicken, straw mush-rooms, lemongrass, green onions, cilantro and galangal, the Tom Kha was packed with flavour despite not appearing to be.  The big hits of bright tangy lemongrass and galangal were at the forefront while the kaffir lime leaves added even more citrusy notes.  This was balanced off by the creamy and aromatic coconut milk while the hits of fish sauce were apparent.  Of course we can't forget the sweetness provided by the palm sugar.  This was a flavour bomb and one of the more impactful Tom Kha I've had in quite some time.

Our next soup, the Tom Yum Coconut, was completely awesome.  Normally, a proper Tom Yum would be pretty flavourful already, but with the addition of coconut milk and ground pork, this soup turned into a study in umami.  With similar ingredients as the Tom Kha such as straw mushrooms, lemongrass, galangal, green onions and cilantro, we had the classic tangy aromatics going on.  However, the coconut milk with the pork created a richness to the soup that was robust and intoxicatingly delicious.  We literally could not stop eating this as it hit all of the notes including spiciness.

From here we went onto some salads including the colourful Corn Salad with shredded carrots, green beans, tomatoes, fresh chillies, coconut, dried shrimp, and peanuts tossed in a lime juice dressing.  Absolutely loved this dish as the fresh corn niblets straight off the cob were juicy and sweet with a light crunch.  It was complimented by the crunch from the rest of the veggies while the rest of the ingredients created a truly Thai flavour with spice, aromatics, fermented saltiness and nuttiness.  Of course the dressing brought it all together with fresh acidity.

The other salad was the Bai Tong Yum Salad featuring prawns tossed with cucumber, tomatoes, red onion, lettuce, green onion, cilantro and a chili-lime dressing for a distinctly spicy and citrusy Thai taste.  At first glance, this didn't look like much of anything but the impact was mostly in the aforementioned dressing.  Lots of acidity, sweetness and kick that complimentd the cold-water crunchy prawns and the crisp greens.

 

Onto some bigger plates, we had the Spicy Eggplant with peppers, basil, garlic and black bean sauce.  As you can see, the eggplant was cooked just enough so it was tender, but not mushy.  There was plenty of wok hei which ensured that there was very little residual moisture at the bottom of the plate.  The caramelization of flavors meant that it was a bit smoky and had a good balance between sweet, spicy and savory.

One of the under-the-radar items we had was the Thai Omelette with pork, green onions, cilantro and fish sauce.  It was both crispy and fluffy at the same time.  We had crispy and nutty edges while the center was fluffy and also meaty from the minced pork.  Naturally, the cilantro added Southeast Asian herbaceous notes while the fish sauce provided that fermented salty brininess.  Really great to eat on its own, but I liked it with rice.

In fact, we were moving into dishes that needed rice including the Stir-Fried Seafood with curry Powder.  This sported a bevy of seafood including Kiwi mussels, prawns, whole scallops and squid with celery, egg, bell peppers and onion. Sure, it wasn't the prettiest dish out there, but the seafood was prepared properly with the scallops being buttery soft and the squid still being tender.  The curry was on point with an aromatic earthiness that was nicely spiced.

One of our favorites was the Roast Duck Curry featuring half of a duck with grape tomatoes, bell peppers, basil and lychee in a red curry.  Let's talk about the curry first, it was coconutty and sweet with a good amount of spice.  The lychee added a different sweetness to the curry, but good thing they accounted for that and didn't overdo it with the palm sugar.  As for the duck, it featured roasted and rendered skin while the meat itself was tender and naturally flavorful.

The next dish was something that is familiar to most people in the Chicken Green Curry with bamboo shoots, bell peppers, basil, green chilies, coconut milk, kaffir lime peel and palm sugar.  This was a delicious rendition of this classic curry.  It was rich, but not too thick while filled with a good balance of spice, brininess, creaminess and sweetness.  lots of aromatics going on and also the bamboo shoots added their pungency.  The chicken was quite tender too.

The grandest dish of all was the Crispy Trout Curry featuring a whole fried fish bathed in Panang curry.  Although looking super fried, the fish was actually super flaky and moist.  Even with all that curry on top, the exterior was still crispy.  That contrast between textures was quite appealing.  As for the curry, it was sweet due to the palm sugar and creamy from the coconut milk.  There was equal parts savory and some tanginess as well.

So we had to get the classic Pad Thai right?   Of course we did and we selected chicken as the protein.  This was a good version where there was, once again, good wok hei.  That meant there was caramelization of the palm sugar and fish sauce while the smokiness of the sear came through.  The noodles were not clumpy and nicely al dente.  With legit tamarind, there was the unmistakable tangy sweetness that makes a Pad Thai appetizing.  Possibly this dish could've used just a bit more moisture.

Continuing on with another noodle dish, we had the Bai Tong Special Noodle.  Consisting of wide flat rice noodles, preserved cabbage, green onions and egg, the special noodles were also the beneficiary of a hot wok.  The egg was especially aromatic while the noodles were a bit soft.  In terms of flavor, the pickled cabbage came through with some salty sweetness and a touch of spice.  I could've done without all that lettuce as it interfered with the delicious noodles.

Another classic Thai stir-fried noodle was the Pad See Ew.  This one was made with beef and had some broccoli as well.  We also found the same wide flat rice noodles that were tossed in sweet soy in a hot wok.  There was obvious searing of the egg and noodles where we could taste the nuttiness.  I really liked how this dish wasn't too greasy, as it can be due to the noodles often sticking to the wok (hence more oil is needed).  I found this to be fairly mild-tasting. 

We ended this epic meal with 2 rice dishes starting with the Salted Egg Fried Rice with chicken.  This, like all the other dishes, was kissed by the hot wok, hence it was nutty and and a bit smoky.  Also, the grease was minimal, which meant the wok was indeed hot enough to not stick.  There was the unmistakable salty nuttiness of salted egg as well as enough seasoning to make each spoonful interesting.  There was some veggies in the mix that were not overcooked.

Lastly, we saved one of the best for last with the Crab Fried Rice with extra fried egg on top.  Not trying to sound like a broken record, but the same qualities in the salted egg fried rice applied here as well.  In addition to fluffy crab, we found dried shrimp as well which gave some salty brininess.  The fluffy egg on top added extra texture.  So after trying all these dishes, we came to the conclusion that Bai Tong is legit.  Portions are generous and the preparation of the stir-fries were on point.  We also found good heat with the curries and the soups were flavor bombs.  Really enjoyed this meal and would definitely come back!

*All food and beverages were complimentary for this blog post*

The Good:
- When we asked for medium, it still came out flavorful and spicy (like it should be)
- Nice use of a hot wok with the stir-frying
- Generous portions

The Bad:
- Some meats were a bit dry