Siam House – Reviewed

A Thai escapade

Siam House is by far one of the oldest Thai establishments in the city and we decided to hop in to see how the place was faring after so many years. As you walk in, a whiff of ancient Thai heritage and culture hits your senses and you are instantly in awe of how true to ethnicity the place is.

What really impressed us was the new ‘Absolute Thai Street Food’ corner. They’ve got it installed in a corner outside in the garden. The very cheerful chef who ran the show there told us that they set this up around 2 months ago and we were very impressed with the execution of it.  They’ve got a whole new selection of Thai food at insanely low prices. From Grilled chicken balls you’d find down the streets of the extravagant floating markets to the roadside cafes, this corner of delight whips up some great dishes. Ah bonus, they’ve also got a range of alcohol turned mojitos that are as delightful as they sound.

Service & Ambience

The waiters were super nice to us. You can see that they are very experienced and they know how to keep their customers happy.

One other good thing about the place, besides the food, was the great music. There was an overhead speaker playing some beautiful instrumentals all through the night. Makes it a great place for a date night too.

Food and Drinks

Drinks: Arrackito – Rs. 340, Vodkato – RS. 360, Siam Lady – RS. 750 and Sunset – RS. 520

Even though the name ‘Arrackito’ sounded like we were in for a treat, the taste didn’t really do justice. The passion fruit punch overpowered the arrack.

‘Vodkato’? Where’s the vodka? It was more like Vodka ko? All we got was lemonade!

Their exclusive, the Siam Lady is a beautiful mix of vodka and Baileys cream that tasted pretty amazing. It was topped with a cherry and had a sense of lightness to it. It’s also got a great milky texture to it.

A classic sunset with a mix of arrack, orange juice, lime juice, sugar syrup and grenadine syrup. It was actually a good option. All the flavours didn’t overpower one another and the alcohol cut through.

Appetizers: Chicken Balls Grilled – RS.225, Stir Fried  Egg  Noodles  with Vegetables – RS. 200, Sweet Corn with Chicken  Soup – RS. 560 and Fried Chicken  Wrapped  in Pandanus  Leaves – RS. 1020 (6 pieces)

Personally, the chicken balls weren’t a favorite. But it did taste different in a good way. And for Rs.225, it is so worth your money. Succulent small balls of chicken lightly grilled and served with a piping hot sweet chilli sauce and something like coleslaw salad. I don’t get how you can grill meat but still end up having it this soft on the inside. The meats rips apart so smoothly with every bite.

Take my money! For Rs.200, I could live on the Stir Fried Egg Noodle with veges. Even though it contains no meat whatsoever, it would perfectly disguise your tongue into thinking that you’re having a dish from high end Thai restaurant. It was that great. It was loaded with carrots and pak choy. It tasted like an average pad Thai but indescribably so much better. Served in a plastic plate, they really try to give you the ‘eat street’ experience.

We love-love-loved the chicken and sweet corn soup. It’s was super creamy with chunks of chicken and corn. It also had a great sweet tangy flavour to it which we though was great. Ticked all the boxes a chicken and sweet corn soup could tick.

A great pick. We really enjoyed the fried chicken wrapped in pandanus leaves. The smokey taste of the leaves has mixed into the juicy chicken, making it an absolute treat. The meat was super soft and split apart into three when we dived into it with a fork. An added surprise is the base with a few corn kernels, again bathed in the smokey taste of pandanus leaves.

Mains: Fried rice with mixed meat – Rs. 790 (small), Thai red thick curry – RS. 840, Pan Fried Kankung with garlic – Rs. 590 and Omelet with chicken – Rs. 930

Have you had that feeling of comfort when you smell the smoke gushing out of your rice and when you know that your gastronomical desires are going to be pleased abundantly? Too long a sentence and question, but this rice calls for it. It’s sticky, but not too sticky. It falls apart and combines so well with the rest of the curries we ordered. We went with the option of mixed meat, and although it wasn’t loaded on the meat, we weren’t disappointed with the quantity either. The portion is more than enough for two.

When picking the meat item for the red curry, we went with almighty beef. You can pick whichever you want. We weren’t very impressed with the red curry. It hits the right spots with the spice and the texture and thickness of the gravy, but we didn’t see anything commendable about it. A general beef curry, just slightly more spicy than if you made it at home.

As a typical Sri Lankan, I will always want fried kangkun with any East Asian meal I have. We chose the kangung with garlic, but if you’re feeling too carnivorous, you can opt to have it with meat instead. Nothing over the top, just simple pan fried kangkung. They’ve perfectly nailed a classic!

A pretty massive omelette and it had to be, given the fact that it cost Rs.930! It was pretty loaded with chicken shreds but it was also very loaded with oil and we hated that about it. The omelette was way too greasy and oily to really enjoy the fluffy goodness inside it.

Have you tried out Siam House yet? Let us know what you think of it in the comments below! Is there anything we’ve missed?

Tip: Drop into the street food stall. They’ve got insanely cheap prices & amazing food!