Cafe Isan - Regional Thai food
This eatery is named after the North-Eastern province in Thailand. The food is a bit different than the Thai food from cities like Bangkok. I was invited here to try out the food.
As soon as I entered, I noticed the lovely interiors. It feels earthy with use of wood and some leaves around the place. This particular day there weren't too many people and it felt especially cozy.
They also sell tom yum paste and have some table games played in Thailand.
The lovely manager Lisa was attending to us, and explained us the concept of the restaurant before she took our order.
The restaurant serves traditional Thai dishes, then there are specialities of the Isan region, and also international dishes that are made Thai style. They're marked with the three logos respectively that you see on the menu in the below photo.
We started with the Som Tum (Papaya salad) since my friend wanted to have this. I'm not a fan of this dish, but it was so good that I kept having more of it. This indeed was really good.
I then saw Laab cakes on the menu. This is a dish from the Isan region. This was made from deep fried minced fish (you can replace it with chicken if you want) and had some lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, and Thai spices. They were served with a sweet and spicy sauce. I really loved this dish too. I haven't had it in any other Thai restaurant in Dubai.
The Tom Yum soup is a Thai classic and I was wondering whether or not to get it, but the Isan version of it is a little bit different. It is a bit watery and spicier than the regular Thai one. It was served hot and the taste lingers on my tongue as I write this.
We then had the Pad Thai. It was as comforting as it should be and there isn't much I need to describe about it.
For our curry, we had the Massaman curry and made it in the vegetarian version for a change. It was a bit thicker and we really enjoyed it. We could get the flavours of the coconut and it was just mildly spiced.
There was this dish called the Hustler on the menu which caught our attention. It is locally called Kra Pao. It is a street style wok fried dish with thai basil, green beans and red onion in a light soy and garlic sauce. You can have it with or without the sunny-side-up. It was served rice. We asked for this to be made with medium spice levels and this tasted amazing. It was a bit on the spicier side but we were enjoying every bite of it.
To end on a sweet note, we were thinking whether to choose the classic Thai desserts, but in the end opted for a dessert from the Isan region called the Bua Loi. This dish consists of gelatinous balls of rice powder that are dipped in coconut milk. I can loosely describe it as a sweet and warm soup. Despite me liking coconut only selectively, I really found this dessert to be delicious. I though I would just have a bit or two, but I just kept going. It was topped with sesame seeds which added onto the flavour.
We got to know that this restaurant is the brainchild of the head-chef who herself is from the Isan region.
What I really liked about this restaurant is that they've kept the food truly street style, and by that I mean that there is no fancy presentation, but moreover, even the prices are street like. Perhaps the food here was among the most delicious Thai food that I've had in Dubai.
Follow me on Instagram to know about great places and food in Dubai.
As soon as I entered, I noticed the lovely interiors. It feels earthy with use of wood and some leaves around the place. This particular day there weren't too many people and it felt especially cozy.
They also sell tom yum paste and have some table games played in Thailand.
The lovely manager Lisa was attending to us, and explained us the concept of the restaurant before she took our order.
The restaurant serves traditional Thai dishes, then there are specialities of the Isan region, and also international dishes that are made Thai style. They're marked with the three logos respectively that you see on the menu in the below photo.
We started with the Som Tum (Papaya salad) since my friend wanted to have this. I'm not a fan of this dish, but it was so good that I kept having more of it. This indeed was really good.
I then saw Laab cakes on the menu. This is a dish from the Isan region. This was made from deep fried minced fish (you can replace it with chicken if you want) and had some lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, and Thai spices. They were served with a sweet and spicy sauce. I really loved this dish too. I haven't had it in any other Thai restaurant in Dubai.
The Tom Yum soup is a Thai classic and I was wondering whether or not to get it, but the Isan version of it is a little bit different. It is a bit watery and spicier than the regular Thai one. It was served hot and the taste lingers on my tongue as I write this.
We then had the Pad Thai. It was as comforting as it should be and there isn't much I need to describe about it.
For our curry, we had the Massaman curry and made it in the vegetarian version for a change. It was a bit thicker and we really enjoyed it. We could get the flavours of the coconut and it was just mildly spiced.
There was this dish called the Hustler on the menu which caught our attention. It is locally called Kra Pao. It is a street style wok fried dish with thai basil, green beans and red onion in a light soy and garlic sauce. You can have it with or without the sunny-side-up. It was served rice. We asked for this to be made with medium spice levels and this tasted amazing. It was a bit on the spicier side but we were enjoying every bite of it.
To end on a sweet note, we were thinking whether to choose the classic Thai desserts, but in the end opted for a dessert from the Isan region called the Bua Loi. This dish consists of gelatinous balls of rice powder that are dipped in coconut milk. I can loosely describe it as a sweet and warm soup. Despite me liking coconut only selectively, I really found this dessert to be delicious. I though I would just have a bit or two, but I just kept going. It was topped with sesame seeds which added onto the flavour.
We got to know that this restaurant is the brainchild of the head-chef who herself is from the Isan region.
What I really liked about this restaurant is that they've kept the food truly street style, and by that I mean that there is no fancy presentation, but moreover, even the prices are street like. Perhaps the food here was among the most delicious Thai food that I've had in Dubai.
Follow me on Instagram to know about great places and food in Dubai.
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