Thai, try again Thai, try again (January 06, 2006)

Still popular after all these years, Siam Royal Authentic Thai needs attention in the food department

By Sheila Himmel

Siam Royal Authentic Thai has been named Best Thai restaurant by local restaurant-goers four years in a row. The 13-year veteran of downtown Palo Alto clearly is popular among Stanford students and young families. But Siam Royal may be resting a little too comfortably on its laurels, because the decor feels faded and the food seldom strays above average.

If we must hand out bests, Siam Royal could nab honors in some focused categories. Best deal on a lunch special, possibly. Friendliest welcome to strangers and regulars alike. Best refilling of water glasses, definitely. But most of the food falls flat. Where is the interplay of sour, salt, sweet and hot flavors that makes Thai food sing? Trademark Thai visuals also are missing in action. Garnishes lean heavily on shredded cabbage and carrots, which do go well with the dipping sauces, but you really have to like cabbage and carrots. Pad Thai is a blob of yellow-orange noodles.

The high-ceilinged dining area has lots of wall space, and it's attractively populated with shiny wood panels, painted fans and pretty carvings. Blue tablecloths and bright woven place mats are protected by clear plastic. But the kitchen is up front, behind a half wall, and the preparation area is in the back. Staff have to lug fish and produce through the demilitarized zone where people are dining.

Among appetizers, chicken and beef satays ($6.25) are fine. You can have all chicken, all beef, or a combination of five skewers. Tender flaps of char-broiled meat are tasty on their own, and dipped in slightly sweet peanut sauce. Mint rolls ($6.25) are a lot like fresh Vietnamese spring rolls, wrapped in rice paper, except that mint is the main attraction. Besides lettuce and carrots, they can be filled with tofu or chicken. Still, they need a long swim in the accompanying sweet-sour sauce.

Speaking of tofu, Siam Royal makes vegetarians feel very much at home. All the greatest hits and more are available in vegetarian versions. Such as: basil tofu, pad Thai, pad spinach, lemon-grass and coconut milk soup. But for the omnivores, grilled beef salad ($6.25) is best when the meat is just cooked, charred on the outside and pink inside. This meat was chewy.

Both the tom yum and chicken coconut soups ($3.25) would comfort you on a rainy day. Both have strong hints of lemon grass and lime juice, and the clear tom yum broth can be accented with shrimp, chicken or mixed vegetables. But they won't make any "best" lists.

A hefty fillet of Panang salmon ($9.95) simmers in a pleasantly creamy curry and coconut milk sauce, and the vegetable sidekicks are string beans and broccoli instead of cabbage and carrots. The fish itself, so-so.

Crispy fried chicken pieces ($7.95) would have been very good had they been hotter. Our best dish by far was spicy eggplant with chicken ($8.25), bringing the smokiness out of Chinese eggplant in concert with garlic, red chili and sweet basil. There it was, the promised land of sour, sweet, hot, pungent and smoky.

Also admirable, sticky rice with fresh mango for dessert ($3.95). This is often a chilly throwaway in Thai restaurants, but Siam Royal goes to the trouble of cupping half of a ripe mango over a mound of warm rice, sweetened with coconut milk.

Dinner service may lag when Siam Royal fills up, but lunch is lickety-split. Lunch specials are available on Saturdays as well as during the week. Prices top out at $6.50 and no one leaves hungry. Lunch includes a tiny salad, plenty of entree and rice garnished with an orange slice, usually juicy. Almost before you've ordered, there's a little plate of iceberg lettuce, cucumber coins and carrot strips in a perky sweet-tart dressing.

Garlic lamb ($7.25) sank in a runny brown sauce, with straw mushrooms for earthy depth and baby corn cobs for color only. Yellow curry chicken ($6.25) is a much better choice. Day or night you'll see lots of it around the room. Coconut milk, chunks of potato, carrots and mild yellow curry seep into pieces of tender white meat.

At lunch, a young woman was telling her mother how she used to eat at Siam Royal twice a week when she was a student, before going off to seek her fortune beyond Palo Alto. She clearly loved being back, and didn't mind the musty smell or the smudged tabletops. The staff recognized her.

There you have the main attraction of Siam Royal Authentic Thai.
Siam Royal Authentic Thai 338 University Ave., Palo Alto (650) 329-8129 ww.siamroyalthai.com
Lunch: Mon.-Sat., 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Dinner: Sun.-Thurs., 5-9:30 p.m. Dinner: Fri..-Sat., 5-10 p.m.

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