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Baan Siam - Chef Jeeraporn "P'Boom" Poksubthong Moves from Baan Thai to 4th and I Street, Chinatown


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On 1/22/2020 at 9:39 PM, cheezepowder said:

Washington City Paper article about Baan Thai’s name change to Baan Siam and upcoming move to the former Alba Osteria space in Mt Vernon Triangle.

Baan Siam is officially open, doing takeout and limited delivery only at the moment. Given how much @MichaelBDC and I loved Baan Thai, we are more than thrilled that Baan Siam is a mere two blocks away from our home. We put in an order on Thursday, Baan Siam's first day, and the food was as good and fiery as ever. We split the chicken tapioca dumplings (an old favorite) and the crispy lotus root and grilled shrimp salad to start. @MichaelBDC loved the dumplings but I couldn't get enough of the lotus root salad despite how spicy it was. I especially appreciate that the fried lotus root came in a separate container than the rest of the salad to ensure it remained crispy. I got the roasted duck red curry for my entree while @MichaelBDC had the spicy chicken in banana leaf. Both were great though my mouth was on fire from the curry. We already have plans to go back. 

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Thanks to eatruneat's post, we ordered carryout last night and I'm going to enthusiastically second the thumbs up.  We live in the Ballston environs, but drove downtown to pick up the lotus root and shrimp salad and chicken tapioca dumplings (both magnificent, and while I was initially a bit skeptical of the texture of the dumplings, after my first bite I didn't care WHAT the texture was, they were so good - and totally +1 on them putting the lotus root in a separate container).  We also got the stir-fried rice with crispy pork bits and garlic shrimp, and the Thai vermicelli in chili peanut sauce, which has ground chicken in it.  Both were cooked perfectly and held up well from the drive back home.  Finally, we ordered the young coconut milk with sticky rice, but were too full to eat that, so into the fridge it went, and we'll try that later today.

Worth every penny and more.  We didn't order anything above one pepper, since we wanted to check heat level first (we both love spicy, but we also know how spicy Thai can be).  The food definitely had heat, but we'll happily try a 2-pepper dish next time.  Agree with eatruneat on making plans to go back.

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Hard to compare to other places when the dishes are mostly different, but the old Baan Thai was definitely my favorite. Only one meal so far from the new location, and it seems every bit as good.  The menu is slightly different-many items have edged up about $1, and a few old dishes are gone. But favorites like the Vermicelli with Shrimp, Chicken and Peanut are still great.  They are also selling a couple of spice/chili pastes for use in home cooking-I used too much of the red chili one and the spice blew my head off, so use sparingly, but great flavor.

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Thai Restaurants (captcourt)

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So far my favorite things are: eggplant salad (smoky eggplant, shrimp, a dash of heat and citrus), the deep-fried asian pumpkin, khao soi gai, floating market noodle soup, and the mango and sticky purple rice. the eggplant, in particular, is very addictive. The fact that it will show up at my door is also addictive, although sipping a white lotus slushy while walking home is just a little bit naughty and therefor also enjoyable.

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I took my kids here last week and we had an amazing meal and destroyed the menu!  And even with a major amount of over ordering, there were plenty of dishes we would have loved too try.

We started with:

Golden Fried Pockets (little dumpling type things that looked like a little sack of coins tied at the top).  Tasty and unique.

Chicken Tapioca Dumplings - Always get this.  Weird and wonderful and unique.

Pineapple Chicken Bites - Same filling as the Tapioca dumplings, but still very tasty and the sweetness of the pineapple was a nice contrast.  Great presentation too.

Coconut Soup with Chicken - my daughter ordered this because she was freezing and we all shared it.  Very good and hit the spot.

Crispy Lotus Root and Grilled Shrimp Salad - fantastic.  Another weird and wonderful and unique dish.  I don't think I'll be go here again and NOT order this!! 

Thai-Style Deep-Fried Chicken Wings - the kiddos wanted this and it was fine, but not interesting or unique. I wouldn't order this again. 

Small Cucumber Salad - I ordered this thinking it would be similar to the spicy cucumber salad at A&J, and this was more of pickled version with small slices of onion.  There was nothing wrong with the dish but it wasn't that interesting and I wouldn't order it again.

 

For the mains we ordered:

Stir-Fried Glass Noodles with Chicken and Shrimp - really good.  A favorite of the group

Chicken Red Curry with Chayote - tasty but not as special as some of the other dishes

Stir Fried Rice with Garlic Shrimp - very tasty, but more of a standard type dish than some of the others.  My kids are incapable of not ordering a fried rice dish and this fit the bill

Spicy Chicken in Banana Leaf - we ordered this on the recommendation of the server, and for the presentation/banana leaf.  This a nice dish, but probably suffered from the fact that we were beyond stuffed at this point.  It wasn't as interesting or (good) weird like some of the others, aside from the presentation, but it was a fine dish.

 

All of that food was $140 before tip which seemed like a bargain compared to some other meals we've had, but then again none of us ordered alcohol and I just had one order of tea.  It's amazing the cost savings when you're not drinking!

Here are photos of the Golden Fried Pockets and the Pineapple Chicken Bites.

 

 

Baan siam golden pockets.jpg

baan siam pineapple.jpg

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