Monday, August 25, 2014

A Taste of BKK...



Circles Thai Cuisine
812 North Second Street
Philadelphia, PA 19123

My fiancé and I would love to find a really amazing and authentic Thai place in Philadelphia. We have tried a few places since our trip last year, but none of them have quite measured up. We headed up to Northern Liberties to try a place we had heard about and see if it finally measured up. That place was Circles Thai Cuisine. 



I was a little worried when we got there, because we were the only people in the place at first. That changed a little while after we got there, but it always makes me a little apprehensive. The restaurant was dimly lit, making for a romantic setting. I wish I had remembered it was BYOB, but I didn’t, so we just had to endure without. The menu was pretty interesting with tons of traditional Thai dishes, and some that were definitely a bit more on the thought provoking side. We ordered the Papaya Pok Pok Salad, seitan pumpkin curry, pork pad kee mow and mango sticky rice for dessert.

The papaya salad was up first, and I thought it was a pretty tasty rendition. It was beautifully presented, and the flavor was definitely authentic. The flavors of the green papaya, tomato, carrot and peanut are all brightened up with the lime dressing and heat from the Thai chiles. It left me with that slight mouth tingle that I have come to expect from Thai cuisine. My only issue with the dish was that the papaya was that it was a little tough. I am not sure if that means it was not ripe enough or not marinated properly, but something was off with its texture. Everything else about the dish was spot on though.  



Our main courses were up next and they fared pretty well also. I was a little apprehensive about the seitan dish, but it wound up being my favorite of the two. Both were very traditional Thai flavors, well, the pumpkin I am not so sure about, but the curry base was definitely Thai. I really have come to enjoy seitan, especially the more that I have it. It really eats like meat, and it is always flavorful when cooked properly. The pork pad kee mow was intensely flavorful as well. It had some heat as all my favorite Thai dishes do and it was packed with noodles and veggies.

I really didn’t want to order mango sticky rice for dessert because I knew it was not going to taste as good as it had when we traveled to Thailand, but my fiancé is obsessed with it, so we did wind up ordering it. It was about as good as I imagine mango sticky rice can be here in the States, but it just wasn’t the same. The Thai mangoes just taste different, and they get the sticky rice the perfect creamy texture every time. Its worth ordering here at Circles though, because it was definitely the best I have had around here. 



Three pints for Circles Thai Cuisine. I think the restaurant itself has some great innovation in its menu, while still keeping true to classic Thai dishes. The flavors were great. I will definitely make a return visit because it is the best Thai I have found in Philly. Try it and let me know what you think! And if you know of anywhere better, please point me in that direction! Cheers!

No comments:

Post a Comment

About Me

My photo
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
I am a food lover living in Philadelphia.

Followers