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Foodie In Training

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Code Cracked: Bangkok Bistro

Tonight Ryan and I had a nice evening, we were productive before dinner and got the tuxes ordered for the wedding (check that off the list) and then we headed to dinner.  We were in Kenwood/Montgomery area, and folks if there is a great, local restaurant in this area of Cincinnati, please tell me, because all we ever seem to see is chain restaurants and the mall food court.  I'm sure there have got to be a few, but Ryan and I have even tried asking someone last time we were at the mall, and they had no idea where to send us, besides Max and Erma's or Macaroni's across the street.  Don't get me wrong, those restaurants are just fine and dandy, but I can eat there any time in any city in America.  We wanted something local and non-chainy.
So we headed back to the Hyde Park area. Of course I was wanting Thai food so we decided to go to Bangkok Bistro.  This is not our first time eating at Bangkok Bistro and I have always had a great meal here.   They have really good Paad Thai and pretty decent sushi.  Our dinner tonight was really good, we had a fun waiter, which is always nice and a few great things happened...1.) i had an awesome duck noodle soup that made me realize that Thai and Asian soups are my new best friend and 2.) I have cracked the code when it comes to ordering spicy food on the spice scale.  ha!
I'll start with my soup, I had the duck noodle soup which is new on the menu at Bangkok Bistro, and in this wonderful soup contained noodles, duck (duh, and duh) cooked lettuce, onions, tons of fresh parsley, and bean sprouts in a tasty beef broth.  The aroma of the soup when it was set before me was amazing, the fresh parsley brightened every bight and the duck (although a little fatty) was really tender and delicious.  I only wish I could have gotten a photo of it...but I forgot my camera. I've been very good about eating healthy and not going overboard because I'm trying to watch what I eat.  I've come to the conclusion that Asian soups are a really great option if you are a watching your diet.. I know the broth was probably super super high in sodium, but I ate my soup with chopsticks so by the time I was done (and stuffed) I still had 3/4 of the broth left in the bowl.  So, the other ingredients are not that bad for you and very filling! 
OK- so here is the big news...Many blogs posts ago, Ryan blogged about the plight of the white man and spicy food.  He wasn't sure how he was supposed to go about getting the really spicy food that he so loves...Well, I told you about our fun waiter, Ryan asked him what he recommended and our waiter told him he really likes spicy food.  So he recommended the Drunken Noodles and Ryan challenged him by saying "10" spice level.  The waiter was like, "are you sure" and Ryan said yes and I  added my two cents by saying "give it to him good!" The gauntlet was laid..  When Ryan got his dish he was pretty impressed, it wasn't so spicy that it wasn't enjoyable for him, but it had enough heat to satisfy his taste buds.  so yay!  
But here is where the code was cracked, I heard the waiter talking to another table about spice levels and he said that if you want it really spicy and the spice level is 1-10, say you want a 11, 12, 13, 14, or 15, therefore challenging the cooks and letting the waiter know you mean business.  If you say 9 or 10, they might take it easy on your thinking you can't handle it...Another suggestion the waiter made is ordering a 1o spice level and then asking for more sauce on the side, so if it's not spicy enough, you can always add more.  

Quite a productive evening I must say!!  So next time we are at an Asian or Indian restaurant that has spice levels, I want Ryan to test this code... I'll let you know what happens. 

3 comments:

Donn24g said...

I am always on the prowl for new (non chain) restaurants. One of my favorites, and in my humble opinion has hte best pad thai in the city, Teak up in Mt. Adams. It's not cheap (but Thai food rarely is) and they are perfect on the spice scale. Their scale is 1-10 and my boyfriend always orders a 20. They mean business when they throw in Habenero peppers all over the plate.
(just stumbled upon your blog searching through cincinnati. I am a brand new blogger)

Ryan said...

We do like Teak a lot. I haven't tried to challenge their spiciness yet, but I'll be sure to next time. I'm actually pretty impressed by the Asian offerings of Cincinnati. As for Thai, we really like Bangkok Bistro, but there are others on the east side that we want to try: Ruthai's Thai Kitchen and Lemon Grass Thai Cuisine.

Anonymous said...

Good words.