Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Dinner at Ghang Thai Kitchen

So Ghang Thai Kitchen (204 Smith St., between Baltic & Butler, 718-222-5598) opened about three years ago, and will soon be opening another branch on Court St., but I'd never been until last night. We were scheduled to see a movie at the Cobble Hill theater, and coming from the nearby Bergen St. subway stop, Ghang Thai offered proximity and speed. It also offered decent food, but it's not going to replace my favorites (Em Thai & Teeda Thai) any time soon.

We started with the Curry Puffs, happy to see them being served, as I've only seen them at Em Thai where they're one of my favorite appetizers. They were crispier, a little more cooked and a darker brown than I'm used to, as well as smaller. They had a nice curry flavor, but fell apart as you ate them. And while chock full of peas, there wasn't much else inside.



We also split an order of the Tofu & Veggie Pad Thai. I know, this is like, the dumbest thing to order, but I also think that it can be a pretty good measure of what the food is like at a New York Thai restaurant. Ghang's version didn't have any chopped peanuts on top, no lime wedges and it only had four chunks of tofu. It wasn't greasy, but had a slightly mushy quality to it. Again, it was fine, but it didn't match up to the Pad Thai at my two neighborhood favorites.



Not sure how the second, nearby location is going to fare amidst the glut of Thai places in Carroll Gardens/Cobble Hill. I guess only time will tell.

6 comments:

FN said...

Funny, I saw the new one opened up on Court St and I thought to myself "I should check it out." Then, on the way there, I got to Joya and just, well, ummm, went to Joya instead.

I love Joya!

Eat It Brooklyn said...

I can't deal with Joya, but that's just my stubborn-ness talking. The food is good and cheap and they have a garden out back for the warmer months. I still prefer Em over everything else!

FN said...

What kind of stubborn-ness?

Anonymous said...

I've been to Ghang Thai several times and I think what kept bringing me back was the fact that it was BYOB. Money's tight, so with a $2.99 bottle of Trader Joe wine, an entree costing around $10, and a good group of friends at one of their large tables, you can't go wrong for a cheap night out. Are they still offering that cause I don't think I see the sign in the window anymore? Not too sure why they need another one so close by though.

Eat It Brooklyn said...

FN - the stubborn-ness is my writing off a place and refusing to give them another chance. I'm not into the DJ-at-a-restaurant thing either, so there aren't a lot of reasons for me to go there.

As for BYOB - I think the Ghang on Smith is and the new one isn't. Yeah, a block away seems very redundant, but the spaciousness of the Smith St. location does provide for a great night out if the company is right!

Thanks for the comments!

Anonymous said...

I went to the new one on Court street. I thought the food was slightly better, but the drinks suck and are expensive for the few sips you get due to all the ice. The service however, was the WORST ever! It took almost 20 minutes before someone came over to take our order, and that was because we started getting up to leave. I will never go back there, and I only live a few hundred feet away!