Meing Kum

This weekend, HK and I took the advice of our local newspaper food critic and tried one of Atlanta’s newest in a string of Thai Restaurants.

Let me preface this post by saying that we are both huge fans of Thai food. Having been to Thailand on several occasions, we’ve learned to distinguish between “Americanized” and authentic Thai. OK, OK, we’re not total Thai food snobs, but can tell fake Thai when we taste it.

OK, so anyway, this weekend we tried Tuk Tuk Thai Food Loft in Midtown, which opened early December.  I’ll say one word–Yummers!  The restaurant opened in the old Taurus space in the Brookwood shopping center. The restaurant’s stated goal is to serve up authentic Thai street food in a casual setting.  Well, the food was more authentic than many of Atlanta’s Thai restaurants, however, the atmosphere, in my humble opinion, is NOT casual. No, it’s not really fancy, but it is most definitely more the Buckhead-trendy crowd than what we usually prefer for ethnic eateries. (Buford Highway)

The full service bar was lively and definitely the place to be after work on Friday night.  There is outdoor seating, but it was a bit cool to sit outside, altho several people did.   I was happy to see several Asian families eating here, most multi-generational. (More proof of it’s authenticity).

Service was spot-on, but I have to admit that upon arrival, many more people were in the bar than were seated for dinner. Coctails came immediately upon ordering them, and our water was frequently replenished, altho never intrusively so.

We stuck to the recommended little plates so that we could try a wide variety of flavors. Both of us agreed that the Mieng Kum was our favorite. Baby spinach leaves wrap a sweet mixture of peanuts,coconut, lime and ginger. OMG it was sooo good!  The roti (small flat pancakes) with a green curry dipping sauce were very good, as was the Larb Kai salad. The Lad Na Talay street noodles were a bit of a disappointment for me, I didn’t care for the “gravy”, altho HK was more impressed. There are several “big plates” on the menu, but from inspecting a neighboring table’s order, was more of an average size that i could easily have handles solo, in addition to our small plates.

Roti ke-yow whan

All in all, I loved the entire vibe here. the food could have been a bit spicier, but next time we will know to order it that way. I think next time we’ll go with a larger party, in order to try more of the small plates and salads. As it was, we had a salad, 3 small plates and 4 cocktails total, and our bill was $70.00 before tip.

There is better Thai food in Atlanta, altho in my opinion, it is found either in VERY casual or upscale restaurants. But if you are looking for low-key trendy, moderate prices and medium casual, this is the place to be.

Tuk Tuk in Bangkok (I took photo from my tuk tuk)

Check back. Soon I will have a side-by-side review some of my favorite and least favorite Thai eateries in the Atlanta area.