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| - Tonight was my second visit to Red Thai. The first time we were a group of four, and all in all thought our meals were rather good. The first time I went, I had four course meal for around $30. It included a soup, which was very good, a papaya salad, which was okay, a lemon sorbet as a palate cleanser, and a beef curry. The flavour of the curry was quite good, but a few pieces of my beef had gristle. Overall, our table was pleased with the meal, with the exception of a few points.
So the second time, I came in with a groupon (cause that's how I roll ;) ) figuring we would give it another shot.
My friend and I ordered several dishes to share. The tom yum soup was really flavourful, with nice hints of lemongrass and cilantro, and quite a few mushrooms. The imperial rolls (meat filled), were quite good, though a bit greasy (which I guess is to be expected). The grilled calamari ($7) had nice flavour, and was quite spicy with a generous amount of black pepper. It was slightly tough. For the main meals, we tried the duck with kumquat sauce and the peanut butter shrimp with crispy spinach. We struggled to cut the duck ($ 20) which was very overdone around the edges, but okay in the centre. The sauce was flavourful, and was served with a few sauteed peppers and mushrooms. The peanut butter shrimp were well cooked, but lacked a bit of oomph. The soup, rolls, and shrimp were part of a table d'hôte ($28), and rice is to be ordered separately.
I really like the decor. Leopard print chairs, dark wood, dim purple and pink-ish lighting, and statues. The presentation is very nice, as is the serving-ware. The presentation of the dishes is great - everything is served on a variety of nice white and blue patterned dishes. It seems like more focus is placed on presentation and restaurant style than on the preparation of the food. The dishes fall short of the strong flavours you'd find in smaller, cozier Thai places.
Service was efficient and effective (dishes promptly removed, water constantly filled) but wasn't very warm.
While the meal was okay, the quality/value ratio isn't there.
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