Rama Thai

For those who are unaware, Portland's Thai food game is pretty unreal.  My experiences with Thai cuisine in the PDX area has been meals to remember.  Coming from Vancouver, B.C., it was a total surprise at first, but now it is just par for the course.  In fact, the Thai food is so good that the original superstar Thai restaurant, Pok Pok, doesn't even exist anymore!  The options are just so many and they are generally good.  So it was fitting to visit Rama Thai in Beaverton as our first meal during our trip.

To start, we had something I've never had before in the Som Tum Thai.  We chose the salted crab version and it was mixed into the papaya salad.  It provided a salty brininess to the crunchy papaya.  The ample amount of dried shrimp combined with the usual sweetened fish sauce dressing provided pops of fermented brininess, sweetness, tanginess and aromatics.  This was quite the seafoody-tasting salad and I loved it.  Only thing I didn't like was the crab getting in the way as we couldn't eat the shells. Provided good saltiness though!

Going with another classic Thai starter, we had the Larb Chicken with lime juice, shallots and mint.  This was an ample portion of chicken that was slightly dry.  I've made this dish before and the meat is cooked without oil in a pot, so it dries out a bit (it is normal).  Mixed in with the fish sauce and lime juice, the meat became rehydrated a bit and took on the tanginess and saltiness.  It was had the aromatics from the shallots and herbecousness of the mint. 

From here, we moved onto a couple of meat dishes in the Crying Tiger and the Moo Ping Kati.  Consisting of a 9oz char-grilled ribeye, the crying tiger was flavorful even without the side of sweet chili sauce.  Although it was still moist being prepared medium, the meat was a bit tough.  However, the pork skewers were considerably more tender with a good caramelization.  I loved the sweetness with some smokiness.  I would go for the pork skewers any day!

Moving onto the soup course, we opted for the Tom Yum Goong.  This was a large portion of soup that was kept warm with a heated hot pot.  I found this super fragrant and impactful (a flavor bomb!).  They weren't shy with the fish sauce, galangal, lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves because I could taste every one of these clearly.  Beyond that, the ample amount of shrimp were plump and barely cooked-through having a buttery snap.

Another dish I've never had before was the Ka Prow Kai Yeow Ma.  This consisted of stir-fried ground pork and preserved eggs.  Honestly, they had me at preserved eggs.  Yes, those black things on the plate are the eggs.  They are gelatin-like and taste a bit nutty and pungent.  As for the pork, it was tender with plenty of sweetness and a faint touch of spiciness.  This was also aromatic due to the garlic as well as the fried basil on top.

One dish I had a love hate relationship with was the Crispy Fish featuring deep fried tilapia slices with sweet & sour and Thai lime sauces.   Okay for the love part of the dish, each piece of fish was indeed crispy and nicely salted.  Dipping sauces were bright and delicious, especially the lime.  However, I'm not a big fan of tilapia, but that wasn't the problem here.  The hate part was that the fish was rather dry.  The sauces helped though.

We had to get some noodle dishes, so we had the Pad See Ew with an extra fried egg on top.  This tasted quite good with a good balance of sweetness and savoriness.  There was enough wok hei to ensure caramelization of flavors and slight smokiness.  The noodles were mostly intact but there was also a number of pieces that were broken and clumped-up together.  That didn't affect the eating experience much, but still needed to mention it.

We had to also get the classic Pad Thai, in this case, we had it with prawns.  This was a good version of the dish with loose, al dente and non-clumpy noodles.  The dish was a bit sweet with ample palm sugar, but at the same time, there was balancing tanginess from the tamarind.  There was also a medium spicy kick (as we requested) that brought the dish together.  Would've liked more pickled radish as I didn't notice it much.

One of my favorite dishes of the meal was the Snow Crab Fried Rice.  Beyond the good amount of fluffy crab and eggs, the rice itself was expertly prepared.  Sure, it was on the greasier side, yet that only meant it was legit.  The wok hei (wok's breath) was strong and helped create caramelization and smokiness.  Each grain of rice was discernible, chewy and nutty.  There was brininess and aromatics abound.  Excellent dish.

Beyond the rice, we ended off on an even higher note with the Crispy Duck Curry.  This featured a substantial amount of bone-in roasted duck sitting in a beautiful red curry with pineapple, peppers and basil.   The duck was moist and tender with rendered crispy skin.  The curry was sweet with a spicy finish.  The intense pops of sweetness from the pineapple really helped keep things light.

We also had a couple of drinks to go with our meal in the Butterfly Pea Flower Lemonade and the Cranberry Slushie.  The lemonade was refreshing and lightly sweet, perfect for cooling down the spice.  As for the seasonal slushie, it was tart and sweet with ginger cinnamon vibes.  It could be had as mocktail or cocktail.  Ending off this meal, we had the Thai Tea Toast with coconut ice cream.  This was not as sweet as it sounded as the Thai tea jam was used conservatively.  The toast itself was crispy and light, so this didn't eat heavy at all.  Overall, the meal at Rama Thai was good with some real highlights.  A great start to our Portland food adventures!

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

The Good:

- Food full of impact

- Good wok hei, hence caramelized and nutty flavors

- Generous portion sizes

The Bad:

- Parking lot is insufficient

- Fish was a little dry