Seattle isn’t short of great Thai food restaurants. In fact, I would put the Thai Restaurant’s in Fremont alone up against any other major city on the west coast. But when it comes to where the best Thai food is, I have concluded after much enjoyable deliberation, that the best Thai food in all of Seattle belongs to Ballard’s own, THAIKU.
Crying Tiger
What sets Thaiku apart from the rest of the pack is that Thaiku not only celebrates doing the norm to perfection (which it does), but most importantly bases most of its menu on coupling not so common regional specialties with creative dishes that are inspired by the reconstruction of traditional thai flavors with hints from other parts of the orient. When eating at Thaiku, you’re best served to do right by your stomach when venturing into the unknown.
I’ve almost tried every dish at Thaiku and I’ve never been let down. For the appetizers, the highlight for me has been two very simple meat dishes grilled so perfectly that I’ve been tempted to thank the grill master in person. The Chicken Satay with peanut sauce, a standard dish at most Thai restaurants stands heads and shoulders above any version I’ve had anywhere else. Not because of any fanfare or secret ingredients, but because the chicken is always cooked so perfectly. Along the same lines comes another appetizer that makes you take a moment of pause after your first bite as you ask yourself, “did that really taste that freakin good?”. The Crying Tiger appetizer is a perfectly grilled steak slices with a spicy dipping sauce that has hints of citris. So tender it almost melts in your mouth.
Kao Soy
As for main entrees at Thaiku, the restaurant has an assortment of noodle, rice, and soup dishes. The first dish I every tried here was so good that I didn’t order something different until my 6th or 7th trip. That dish, still a favorite in all of Seattle, is a creamy curry noodle dish called Kao Soy. Beneath a creamy yellow curry and coconut broth, lies soft egg noodles, your choice of chicken or tofu, and pickled mustard greens. Above the concoction from heaven are a heaping helpful of crispy noodles, chopped green onions, and a side of chili oil (which I use all of). The contrast of crispy noodles to soft noodles in the creamy and spicy broth is textural food porn and an absolute revelation.
Guay Tiow Tum Yum
Of the soup noodle dishes I’ve had at Thaiku, my favorite so far has been a dish called Guay Tiow Tom Yum. Being from Hawaii, I am a big fan of Hawaiian Saimin and a sucker for the many versions of soup noodle dishes that exist in Asia and the South Pacific. Whether it be Filipino Pancit, Vietnamese Pho, or Chinese Mein, I’m always in. Guay Tiow Tom Yum has rice noodles, green onions, garlic, ground peanuts, chili paste, lime juice, cilantro and your choice of meat, in a hot and sour broth. It’s a hot and sour soup that doesn’t overpower the other flavors but instead that has a light broth that allows for all the flavors to stand out on their own and occur at different depths making each bite unique.
I’ve tried many of the dishes at Thaiku and look forward to trying them all. Each dish has been prepared perfectly and has obviously been created by a true chef with real vision. It’s not often that I can eat food of this quality in a place with such a unique and wonderful atmosphere for such a reasonable price.
Other dishes I’d recommend include;
Kao Moo Dang – A Barbeque pork and chinese sausage dish over rice with a tangy red sauce
Won Ton Soup – Its peppery! It also has pork and prawn filled Won Tons
Grilled Prawns – Picture the Crying Tiger but with Prawns.. yum
The bar at Thaiku, Fu Kun Wu, deserves its own blog. Can’t wait to spend a night covering that!
Thaiku is located at 5410 Ballard Ave NW and is open 7 days a week.
Bite Seattle 