Even if you're unfamiliar with Thai cuisine, you'll have no problem with the menu at Thai Classic. It's full of color photos of the most popular appetizers and entrees.
Owner Surachai Vongvighat thought that would be helpful to customers when he opened the restaurant two years ago in a small strip shopping center in Eldersburg.
The storefront restaurant is done in peach with dark green trim. The tablecloths are also dark green. There are framed photos of Thai royalty on the walls and a single fresh rose on each table. You also might come across a vegetable rose before your meal is through, like the one carved from a carrot on our plate of fried calamari.
It was the picture of Thai Classic's seafood combination topped with minced ginger that caught our attention, and the dish tasted as good as it had looked. It was full of large shrimp, carved pieces of calamari, tiny mussels and jumbo sea scallops, all cooked perfectly. Nothing was overdone. The sauce was simple, not spicy, with the ginger providing most of the zip.
On the other end of the heat spectrum, drunken noodles, or pad kee mao, was a fiery mix of ground beef, onion, hot peppers and basil ladled over wide rice noodles. If you like hot food, try these as an alternative to the noodle classic, pad Thai.
The panang curry with tender pieces of chicken also was spicy, but tempered with coconut milk and a touch of sweetness. We liked the flavor of the sauce, but the dish seemed bare with just chicken and no vegetables.
Had we realized so few vegetables would be included with our dinners, we might have ordered a vegetable dish on the side, perhaps watercress stir-fried in Thai black bean sauce or mixed vegetables in a sweet and sour sauce with pineapple.
We had our share of vegetables with our appetizers, though. There were piles of thinly shredded carrot and cabbage garnishing our crunchy-coated fried calamari. Green papaya salad was a mix of shredded green papaya, cabbage, carrots and raw string beans in a tangy-sweet dressing next to a sliced grilled chicken breast.
A salad of lettuce, cucumber, green cabbage and thin red onions formed the base for nom tok, grilled marinated beef in a pungent dressing with the toasty flavor of ground rice.
Most of our complaints centered on our appetizers. The dressing on the papaya salad was too sweet, almost tasting like the lemon-lime mix a bartender might use. The beef on the nom tok was cooked a little too long, and was not as tender as it could be. Least likable was the tom yum, an unadorned bowl of lemongrass soup with chicken and button mushrooms. A piece of lemongrass, a lime leaf, a hot pepper and chopped cilantro are typical garnishes for this soup, with each ingredient adding its own fresh flavor. Ours just tasted sour.
The staff at Thai Classic is small, but they try hard to make sure their customers have a pleasant experience. One way to ensure that is to finish your meal with a homemade Thai dessert. Our favorites were the red bean ice cream, and coconut ice cream mixed with tropical jackfruit.
Thai Classic
1720 Liberty Road, Eldersburg
410-795-0017
Hours: Open Tuesday to Sunday for lunch and dinner
Credit cards: All major cards
Prices: Appetizers, $2.95-$5.95; entrees, $6.95-$12.95
Food: **1/2
Service: **1/2
Atmosphere: **1/2
Ratings system: Outstanding: ****; Good ***; Fair or uneven **; Poor *
Pub Date: 03/11/99