Tamarind
November 2011 to February 2012
Ithaca’s acquisition of multiple Thai restaurants has been a slow process. When we first moved here in 1994 the only game in town was critically rated Thai Cuisine on Meadow Street. Other restaurants tried and failed but Taste of Thai established itself on the Commons. A second Taste of Thai restaurant (Taste of Thai Express) was established on State Street, since moving to Meadow Street. New kid on the block is Tamarind, also on Meadow Street and established in a stand-alone previously vacated by a Laotian restaurant that unfortunately I never got round to trying.
The restaurants assumed a kind of pecking order, Thai Cuisine for special occasions, Taste of Thai if you were in the area and Tamarind the one that could be worth trying but no one else ever mentioned.
One lunch hour, in passing, the time was right to give Tamarind a go. This goes back a long time and I most likely went for a curry – one of the coloured ones – but no real recall. But, most importantly, there was something in that meal that added Tamarind to the list of restaurants to revisit. And with every revisit Tamarind has slowly worked its way to become one of our family must visits.
With each order you get an appetiser before your ordered meal. In summer, it’s salad with peanut dressing. In winter, it’s vegetable soup. On that basis, winter is the better time to visit. The soup is a simple peppery broth with carrots, celery, broccoli, spring onion and garlic flakes. When it’s served hot it’s very, very good and when it’s served lukewarm (which is not unknown) it’s horrid.
While dwelling on the negatives, there is one other thing to note. Tamarind is great when it’s not too busy. However, things do seem to fall apart when it’s busy and dinners can take an inordinately long time.
Right now, Tamarind delivers consistent quality food so this review is likely to keep expanding. So on to the food.
The restaurants assumed a kind of pecking order, Thai Cuisine for special occasions, Taste of Thai if you were in the area and Tamarind the one that could be worth trying but no one else ever mentioned.
One lunch hour, in passing, the time was right to give Tamarind a go. This goes back a long time and I most likely went for a curry – one of the coloured ones – but no real recall. But, most importantly, there was something in that meal that added Tamarind to the list of restaurants to revisit. And with every revisit Tamarind has slowly worked its way to become one of our family must visits.
With each order you get an appetiser before your ordered meal. In summer, it’s salad with peanut dressing. In winter, it’s vegetable soup. On that basis, winter is the better time to visit. The soup is a simple peppery broth with carrots, celery, broccoli, spring onion and garlic flakes. When it’s served hot it’s very, very good and when it’s served lukewarm (which is not unknown) it’s horrid.
While dwelling on the negatives, there is one other thing to note. Tamarind is great when it’s not too busy. However, things do seem to fall apart when it’s busy and dinners can take an inordinately long time.
Right now, Tamarind delivers consistent quality food so this review is likely to keep expanding. So on to the food.
Starters
Chicken Satay – A firm family favourite. The usual marinated chicken skewers are served with peanut sauce and a sweet cucumber/red onion relish. The chicken has been very succulent every time and seems to evaporate within seconds. It’s good but I’d judge it an easy appetiser to deliver on.
Roti – Listed on the menu as being served with curry sauce. Small rosettes of bread are presented with a curry dipping sauce. This was okay but was not an appetiser I would go back for. It had a greasy edge that was not great.
Chicken Satay – A firm family favourite. The usual marinated chicken skewers are served with peanut sauce and a sweet cucumber/red onion relish. The chicken has been very succulent every time and seems to evaporate within seconds. It’s good but I’d judge it an easy appetiser to deliver on.
Roti – Listed on the menu as being served with curry sauce. Small rosettes of bread are presented with a curry dipping sauce. This was okay but was not an appetiser I would go back for. It had a greasy edge that was not great.
Stuffed Chicken Wings – This was a superb starter. It was listed as two on a dish and for someone conditioned to typical chicken wings (or Buffalo wings) it wasn’t obvious what to expect. The menu listed the wings as stuffed with chicken, carrot, celery, cabbage and bamboo shoots, effectively a spring roll in a chicken wing. There was also vermicelli in the stuffing. The dish was lovely, benefitting massively from a strong peppery taste in the chicken stuffing. The sweet chilli sauce on the dish provided an alternative milder source of heat. Two wings like this and there really was no need to have a main course. One slight niggle. A knife would have been really useful. Can’t see me ordering this again when eating by myself but as soon as there is one more family member....
Soups
For most dishes beyond appeitsers, the selection comes with a question of what protein you would like with dish and how spicy you would like the dish to be on a scale of 1 to 5 (1 mild, 5 very hot). I tend to choose 3 where you know you been eating spicy food and it is just on the right side of being difficult to eat. Get the heat right and you leave the restaurant with pleasantly buzzing lips and tongue.
The Tom Yum Soup ordered by the pot comes on a ceramic stand over a flame. The basic hot and sour broth is stunning with strong lemongrass and lime flavours, with chilli providing the heat. Mushrooms provided the solid substance within the soup. On a heat of 3 this was glorious but by about halfway through the pot my tongue was crying out for mercy. The whole serving was finished but it took a while for my tongue to return to normal. This is a dish I’d happily order again.
For most dishes beyond appeitsers, the selection comes with a question of what protein you would like with dish and how spicy you would like the dish to be on a scale of 1 to 5 (1 mild, 5 very hot). I tend to choose 3 where you know you been eating spicy food and it is just on the right side of being difficult to eat. Get the heat right and you leave the restaurant with pleasantly buzzing lips and tongue.
The Tom Yum Soup ordered by the pot comes on a ceramic stand over a flame. The basic hot and sour broth is stunning with strong lemongrass and lime flavours, with chilli providing the heat. Mushrooms provided the solid substance within the soup. On a heat of 3 this was glorious but by about halfway through the pot my tongue was crying out for mercy. The whole serving was finished but it took a while for my tongue to return to normal. This is a dish I’d happily order again.
Noodles
Pad See Ew – Rice Noodles stir-fried with egg, sweet soy sauce, onions and broccoli, garnished with crushed peanuts is a nice middle of the road dish. No heat rating is discussed. The broad, flat noodles were a surprise the first time I had one of these noodle dishes but if you want Thai-style comfort food you can’t go wrong with these.
Even better and one of my top choices at Tamarind are the Thai Spicy Noodles. It is another stir-fried dish using the broad rice noodles and comes with a good selection of vegetables including onion, pepper, carrot, baby corn and mushroom. Chicken works very well in this dish. Addition of Thai basil gives a strong herby edge to the dish. Although the dish is spicy, the noodles tend to help mitigate the heat from the chilli so it is not aggressive in the mouth. This is a lovely satisfying dish.
Pad See Ew – Rice Noodles stir-fried with egg, sweet soy sauce, onions and broccoli, garnished with crushed peanuts is a nice middle of the road dish. No heat rating is discussed. The broad, flat noodles were a surprise the first time I had one of these noodle dishes but if you want Thai-style comfort food you can’t go wrong with these.
Even better and one of my top choices at Tamarind are the Thai Spicy Noodles. It is another stir-fried dish using the broad rice noodles and comes with a good selection of vegetables including onion, pepper, carrot, baby corn and mushroom. Chicken works very well in this dish. Addition of Thai basil gives a strong herby edge to the dish. Although the dish is spicy, the noodles tend to help mitigate the heat from the chilli so it is not aggressive in the mouth. This is a lovely satisfying dish.
Tamarind serves a number of noodle soups. The star of these and for me the best dish on the entire menu (tested so far) is the Tom Yum Noodles. The glorious hot and sour broth at the core of the dish is just phenomenal and I could eat it for hours. This broth does not have the aggressive lemongrass/lime flavour of the Tom Yum soup but is definitely the one I’d go for first. Each bowl is built from the bottom with beansprouts and rice noodles that are then topped with minced pork, fish balls and slices of pork. The soup is garnished with crushed peanuts and coriander. The fish balls didn’t seem convincing at first but the more I’ve had this dish the more you get the sense that the soup would suffer without them. This is consistently the best dish I’ve eaten in Ithaca. There is one problem though. Don’t wear a light shirt if intending to order it. It’s almost impossible to avoid splashing the soup as you slurp the noodles. Maybe a lobster bib would work.
The Duck Noodle Soup is almost as good as the Tom Yum Noodles. The broth is not spicy but has a wonderful black pepper scent to it when it is first placed down. The flavour combination of the peppery broth with the duck breast meat is glorious. The dish is rounded out with rice noodles (although egg noodles can be chosen), pak choi, mushrooms and spring onions.
Rice
The Spicy Fried Rice has the same blend of ingredients as the Thai Spicy Noodles. It is the drier dish of the two and if prepared at the “same” heat rating the rice dish is the hotter of the two where the rice does not act to mitigate the chilli. This is an alright dish but the noodles work better for me. (No picture)
The pineapple fried rice, however, is delicious. The rice is fried with chicken, prawns, egg, curry powder, onion, raisins, cashews, peas and carrots. Two things make this dish sing. The curry powder livens the dish up compared to many fried rice dishes and the fresh pieces of pineapple justify its star billing by providinge wonderful moist, sweet chunks in the midst of the other ingredients.
The Spicy Fried Rice has the same blend of ingredients as the Thai Spicy Noodles. It is the drier dish of the two and if prepared at the “same” heat rating the rice dish is the hotter of the two where the rice does not act to mitigate the chilli. This is an alright dish but the noodles work better for me. (No picture)
The pineapple fried rice, however, is delicious. The rice is fried with chicken, prawns, egg, curry powder, onion, raisins, cashews, peas and carrots. Two things make this dish sing. The curry powder livens the dish up compared to many fried rice dishes and the fresh pieces of pineapple justify its star billing by providinge wonderful moist, sweet chunks in the midst of the other ingredients.
A La Carte
Pad Priew Wan (Sweet & Sour) is another delicious dish. Chicken pieces are stir-fried with pineapple, cucumber, tomato, bell pepper and onion. Boiled rice accompanies it on the plate. Nice sour notes in the sauce work well with the light tastes of the cucumber, tomato and pineapple.
Pad Priew Wan (Sweet & Sour) is another delicious dish. Chicken pieces are stir-fried with pineapple, cucumber, tomato, bell pepper and onion. Boiled rice accompanies it on the plate. Nice sour notes in the sauce work well with the light tastes of the cucumber, tomato and pineapple.
Choo Chee consisted of salmon in a red curry sauce with finely cut Kefir lime leaves. The strong flavoured fish was tender and easily picked apart with a fork. It worked well in the dish because it wasn't overwhelmed by the delicious sauce. The only criticism was of the lettuce leaf is was served on that just got in the way of everything else.
Pad Khing is presented on the menu as stir-fried ginger with onion and black fungus. This was ordered with chicken and the dish also included shiitake mushrooms, spring onions and white rice. With ginger and onion as the main ingredients, this was an intensely flavoured dish although the well-seasoned chicken was not overshadowed at all. Together with the shiitake, it acted as a calming complementary partner. The black fungus added an almost crunchy texture to the dish. Overall this was another winner.
Curry
The curries at Tamarind are all good but less of a standout compare to the other Thai restaurants in Ithaca. Having any of the curries with chicken works really well but I’ve found the pork can be a bit dry. Yellow and Panang curries are milder and more fragrant with the Green tending to be the hottest of the bunch. Each of the curries is recommended but there are so many other good items it makes choosing food difficult.
The curries at Tamarind are all good but less of a standout compare to the other Thai restaurants in Ithaca. Having any of the curries with chicken works really well but I’ve found the pork can be a bit dry. Yellow and Panang curries are milder and more fragrant with the Green tending to be the hottest of the bunch. Each of the curries is recommended but there are so many other good items it makes choosing food difficult.
Overall Verdict:
There's nothing ground-breaking in terms of the menu items at Tamarind but the cooking is good and the dishes that work well are incredibly moreish. If they maintain the consistency they’ve shown over the last 12 months then it will continue to be a firm family favourite for some time to come.
There's nothing ground-breaking in terms of the menu items at Tamarind but the cooking is good and the dishes that work well are incredibly moreish. If they maintain the consistency they’ve shown over the last 12 months then it will continue to be a firm family favourite for some time to come.