Tag Archives: Twin Cities Thai

Bangkok Thai Deli

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Last week I wrote up a meal at Krungthep Thai in Minneapolis, the recent off-shoot of Bangkok Thai Deli in St. Paul and noted at the end that it had inspired us to return to Bangkok Thai Deli for lunch. Here is the write-up of that meal.

We’d eaten at Bangkok Thai Deli for quite some time until On Khumchaya left to open her own place. We had a few less than great meals at Bangkok Thai Deli in the intervening period until we learned a) that there had been a change in the kitchen and b) of the existence of the excellent On’s Kitchen. We defected double-quick and hadn’t been back since. I’m not sure why our mediocre meal at Krungthep Thai made us want to check out the mothership once more but it did. And I’m glad it did. Continue reading →

Krungthep Thai

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This is just a brief report on a lunch a few weeks ago at Krungthep Thai in Minneapolis, an Eat Street offshoot of the Bangkok Thai Deli in St. Paul. As noted before, the Bangkok Thai Deli was where On of On’s Kitchen used to cook, and they seem to be the launching pad for new Thai places in the cities. Krungthep Thai has been named the best Thai restaurant in Minneapolis by City Pages and the best Thai restaurant in the Twin Cities by Mpls. St. Paul Magazine, and while when we first came to Minnesota that would have been an utterly meaningless accolade, the scene is now much improved and so we were interested to check it out. Continue reading →

On’s Kitchen

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On’s Kitchen (at 1613 University Avenue W. in St. Paul) is one of our very favourite places to eat in the Twin Cities. It is a family-owned Thai restaurant started a few years ago when owner/chef On Khumchaya left the kitchen of the Bangkok Thai Deli (further down University Avenue). There was a marked dip in the quality at Bangkok Thai Deli after she left, and we haven’t gone back since we found her again a couple of miles up the road–they may well have recovered.

Anyway: On’s Kitchen’s menu contains a lot of the familiar Thai dishes that can be found on the menu of every Thai restaurant in the US, but there are also a number of more esoteric things on it that are well worth checking out. We’ve eaten up and down the menu and every meal has been at least very good–with one exception when On was away in Thailand. Everything is made to order and has the clarity and depth of flavour which tells you that they’re not using commercial pastes or taking any shortcuts. And unlike at almost every other Thai restaurant in Minnesota the food here is not cloyingly sweet. Service can be a little bit spotty when the restaurant is full–there are only two people serving and bussing the tables–but this is really a very minor complaint. Continue reading →