Sakulthai, Mom and Pop Thai on Van Dorn Street near Van Dorn Street Metro in Alexandria - Closed

[DonRocks]

I hesitate to start threads about restaurants such as Sakulthai - I don't want people to read too much into things, because Sakulthai is really just a plain old suburban family-run place, with nothing particularly distinctive about it. I can't "endorse" this restaurant any more than I could several hundred other places in the area.

On the other hand, Red Lobster is right around the corner from Sakulthai, relatively full with customers. Thus:

They cheated a bit with the Papaya Salad ($5.95), loading it up with cabbage to stretch the dish, but it was a passable version, made more interesting by a bit of tiny fermented shrimp. Fresh Springroll Veggie ($4.95) was heavy on the lettuce and vermicelli, with just a couple little shrimp, and saved by its mint leaves and decent, if thick, dipping sauce.

The most expensive dish on Sakulthai's menu, and the one with *Must Try* next to it, is the Crispy Seafood with Basil ($13.95). A frozen seafood mix of mostly squid, baby scallops, shrimp, and a little fish, dipped in a tempura-like batter and wok-fried, then sauteed with garlic, chili peppers, and fresh basil leaves, this is a dish easily ruined by a bad wokmaster, but it was neither oily nor oversauced, and wasn't at all bad.

Sakulthai's website is here, they have free delivery with a $20 minimum, they cater, and I'll come here ten out of ten times before I set foot in Red Lobster.

Reclaiming humanity, one family-owned restaurant at a time,
Rocks.

[TheMatt]

I don't mind Sakulthai, either, as a neighborhood Thai place.

One thing I like is that they have Salted Fish Fried Rice which I can't seem to find many places. And it is good, although they don't add the chicken breast which seems to always be in the dish at Chinese restaurants. (Anyone know of any other places with it?)

Their tom kah kai was pretty good when I had a cold, as well.

I will say, though, that I like the vegetable fried rice at Thai Lemon Grass further down Van Dorn better. That's the one in the Van Dorn int'l strip mall.

[ema]

I live very close to Van Dorn and decided to check out Sakulthai. We ordered

Thai Ice Tea (satisfying, cheap compare to other thai places, but light in quantity). They really need to charge more and making it with free refills or at least 2 refills so I can relish in a sugary coma.

Pan fried mussels (looked and tasted like Bahn Xeo, not what I expected and pretty greasy)

Spring rolls (crispy and oily, not good, not bad)

bean thread salad (spicy and refreshing, but I really hate the ground pork in there. They didn't use good quality pork)

Beef Panang curry (generous amount of beef, decent coconut flavor, but too much on the sweet side)

Overall, its Thai food at a good value, but not worth the trip if you don't live in the vicinity.

[ziv]

I have eaten here twice, had a unremarkable pork with basil, no surprise. That is one of my favorite dishes when prepared by street vendors in Thailand, and I keep ordering it here in the US hoping to find a similar version, and never have gotten close.

But I went back to Sakulthai to try the Floating Market Soup, and it was pretty darned good! It is thicker than you expect, and the bowl is packed with noodles and meatballs and slices of beef and the broth is sharper, somehow, which may be because of the use of blood in the soup. The heat was a little off so I hit it with a half spoon of chili and a spoon of fish sauce with chili and it was an excellent meal for $8! Also had the duck rolls, not so good, but the Floating Market Soup was nearly as good as the versions I got at cafes/vendor stalls in Bangkok.

On 7/3/2009 at 6:26 PM, Ericandblueboy said:

Better than Thai Square? Are there better authentic Thai joints in NOVA?

I have never seen Floating Market Soup at Thai Square, BKK54, Duangrat's, Sawatdee Courthouse, or any of the Tara Thais I have dined at. So I don't know if Sakulthai's FMS is better that Thai Square's, but it was better than most of the dishes I have had at Thai Square over the past 2 years, which is sad because 3 or 4 years ago Thai Square was as good as most of the better dishes I had enjoyed in Thailand. It is still good, it just isn't as good as it used to be. I had chili softshell crabs there 4 years ago that I remember clear as a bell today, spicy, fragrant, delicious!

But I have only had three dishes at Sakulthai, a thoroughly ok basil pork, not so good duck rolls, and a pretty darned good Floating Market Soup that means I will be back again.

[Ericandblueboy]

Went by Sakulthai for lunch today. Ordered 3 dishes (similar to the ones I had a Nava Thai and Thai Square). Started with the Floating Market Noodle Soup. This version was a little sour, a little sweet, chock full of sliced beef, meatballs and noodles but not the least bit spicy. Luckily they give you condiments to heat things up yourself. The other two dishes were sauteed Chinese broccoli with salted fish, and breaded fried catfish in a spicy coconut curry sauce with basil. The sauteed Chinese broccoli was crunchy, flavorful (with oyster sauce) but a little on the salty side. The catfish was fantastic - could use a little more fish though. Better flavor than Thai Square but fewer selection of dishes.

[weezy]

Picked up several dishes here last night for an impromptu dinner gathering at my house. Papaya salad was a bit overdressed and heavy on the cabbage, but the dressing was very good and well balanced in flavor and there were a few whole shrimp scattered throughout and a generous serving. Spicy eggplant was not so spicy and no wok char, so I left that for the eggplant lovers in the group. Duck in red curry was tasty and the duck very nicely tender, as was the chicken penang curry (although the serving was small). And drunken noodles, which was hard to judge because it did not travel or wait well at all (congealed into a drunken noodle block) for my friends who got caught in traffic and were 30 minutes later than expected. Overall satisfactory take-out, $53 for a table full of food.

[durwoodx]

Driving by today, I noticed this place was out of business and soon to be replaced by yep another pollo restaurant. Which is good, because we surely don't have enough of those yet.

[DonRocks]

Sakulthai is being replaced with another branch of Chicken Pollo - the first is on Little River Turnpike in Koreatown.