The Gossiping Gourmet: Bangkok Avenue is a modern take on tasty Thai fare
Bangkok Avenue recently opened in Huntington Beach and is being billed as a modern Thai restaurant.
The new venue is no strip-mall site. It is a modern building with minimalist décor and clean lines. Two huge old palm trees help frame a large outdoor glassed-in patio, which also features a long, narrow glassed-in fire pit in the middle.
Inside, the décor includes a wall of wine bottles, cement floors, dark inlaid wood tables, a skylight with retractable canvas shades, black leather chairs and white walls. It is attractive and the food is tasty.
It isn’t quite fusion cuisine. The menu offers ahi tuna spring rolls and corn fritters from the appetizer menu as well as fried calamari and E-San sausage charbroiled with fresh herbs, peanuts, chilies and cabbage.
Angel wings are chicken wings coated in a thick but very crunchy crust and stuffed with minced chicken and noodles cooked to a golden brown. They are served with a perfect complement of sweet and sour dipping sauce. My dining companion and I also liked the corn fritters — crispy golden cups filled with sweet corn and served with a sweet hot cucumber chutney, which really made the dish.
We wanted to taste one of the soups but didn’t want to fill up on it, so we ordered a small bowl of tom ka with shrimp, thin slices of organic mushrooms, lemon grass, galanga and kaffir lime leaves in a mild coconut broth. The “small” bowl was quite large, and we shared it and still had half a bowl left.
We really didn’t want to stop slurping up the delicious soup with its subtle tartness and hints of something sweet. A large bowl could easily make a meal, and diners are offered a choice of adding chicken, shrimp, seafood or vegetables.
For one of our entrees, we selected the Japanese eggplant with fresh garlic, string beans, green and red bell peppers and basil. Out of a choice of chicken, pork and tofu, we opted for the pork. The eggplant was perfectly cooked, tender and almost creamy, while thin slices of pork added some meatiness, and a thin gravy-like sauce, with a hint of sweetness, completed the excellent dish.
Paella is obviously not Thai, but it was very good and very hot. This was a green curry seafood paella with fish and big scallops, big mussels in the shell and chewy calamari strips, all adorning a substantial amount of rice that was dotted with peas and red and green peppers and buzzed with some very spicy chilies.
Before we could dive in, our waiter returned to say that he had served us the wrong sauce. We noticed that the wait staff asked other diners about the level of heat they desired with some of their dishes. We didn’t get to do that and ended up with some very spicy sauce. However, we really liked it. It was just at the point of no return. The heat didn’t hit us at first but kind of welled up as we ate.
The entrees include meal-size salads, specialties, wok dishes, rice and noodle selections and curries. Five vegan selections are also available.
The perfect ending to our meal was a cool, refreshing plate of fresh mango slices presented around a mound of sweet rice topped with a dollop of coconut sauce.
Bangkok Avenue is definitely a find, a very attractive space with a pleasant outdoor patio and excellent food. It’s a spot to which you will want to return.
TERRY MARKOWITZ was in the gourmet food and catering business for 20 years. She can be reached for comments or questions at m_markowitz@cox.net.
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BANGKOK AVENUE
LOCATION: 17221 Beach Blvd., Huntington Beach
OPEN: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Mondays through Sundays
PRICES:
Appetizers: $6 to $15
Soups and Salads: $5 to $6
Entrees: $10 to $18
Desserts: $6 to $9
WINE:
Bottles: $24 to $45
By the glass: $6 to $13
Corkage: $10
INFORMATION: bangkokavenue.com