Thai Aroy Dee 8.5/10

Joe went to Thai Aroy Dee without me a few months ago, and I was very jealous when he came home with tales of amazing Thai food at reasonable prices and, best of all, a bring your own policy.  Well, it was only a matter of time before he caved to my insistences that he took me there too.

Thai Aroy Dee is on Vicar Lane, sandwiched between the Tong Palace and an "adult superstore" (mmm...classy).  It is a nice little cafe, small, but when we went was packed with a great range of patrons including a lot of Thai which is always a great sign when looking for authentic, tasty food.

Having picked up a couple of beers from Gerrys on Briggate (one of the best wine and spirit purveyors in the city by the way), we settled in for a starter of prawn and vegetable tempura.  The batter was super light and crispy, the vegetables hot and full of flavour and served with a sweet piquant chilli sauce.  A very good start.

The main event was chicken pad medmamuang himmapran, served spicy on request (chicken with cashew nuts, pineapple and chilli oil), yum phed yang (hot and sour roast duck with chilli and lemon), pad broccoli in an oyster sauce and fried rice.

The chicken was absolutely brilliant - sweet, salty and lovely and spicy and was definitely my favourite.  I wasn't a huge fan of the duck, but I'm not normally as I don't like the fat.  It tasted nice but was a bit overwhelmed by the chicken.  The broccoli was a total revelation: crunchy broccoli with a salty, fishy sauce, ginger and chilli. Fantastic.

I'd definitely recommend trying Thai Aroy Dee - it might not look like much from the outside but the food is wonderful.  Next time we are going to be a bit more adventurous and ask for some recommendations of more off-piste dishes.

Pad broccoli

Yum phed yang (hot and sour roast duck with chilli and lemon)

pad medmamuang himmapran (chicken with pineapple, cashews and an extra dose of chilli for me

Me and my broccoli

Joe enjoying his rice

Oh, and when I said next time, Joe went back for Thai Aroy Dee for lunch two days later!  They do a deal of £6.50 for two courses, every day between 12.00 and 5.00pm.  This time he tried the pad thai and spring rolls, both of which were also great.  So so far, not a dud in sight.  Good job.

Joe's lunch - pad thai and spring rolls

Tuesday - Thai Aroy Dee 9.5/10

Recently on twitter, a couple of people had started talking about Thai Aroy Dee, which is new thai place on Vicar Lane in Leeds. Hunter Pig and I decided to try it out and we both loved it....for me it is the best thai restaurant in Leeds. To be honest, it has more the feel of a cafe than a restaurant, with lovely staff and a BYOB policy.....

I am not going to go into war and peace about each dish, but everything was cooked perfectly and the high-light for me was pad broccoli which was cooked in an oyster sauce - delicious simplicity.

Goong Tem Pur/ Prawn and Veg Tempura

Thai sausages! Can't remember name

Sticky rice

Pad Broccoli

Kaeng Ped Phed Yang/ Duck Curry

Duck and rice

Pad Gaprao

Noodles

Thursday Night - Thai Erawan

Tonight we made an impromptu, Groupon fuelled trip to Thai Erawan.  Joe and I have been to Thai Erawan quite a lot, and usually it's a very satisfying night.  Tonight was no different - it was a little quiet but the food was great, and to be honest, that was all I cared about today!

The Groupon deal was actually 2 mains, 2 rices and 2 glasses of wine for around £12.00.  We bumped it up with a dumpling starter and some thai crackers, and a couple of beers.

Our pork and prawn dumplings were great, as always.  We've been avoiding dumplings for a while because they became such a mainstay in our thai ordering - but tonight nothing else would do.  Meaty, with a salty sauce and cabbage shreds, they were really yummy.  With crunchy thai crackers and a sweet chili sauce - what else could you want?

I love spicy food and it is my groundhog day moan about how no restaurants cook it the way I like.  This time round, we picked very well.  We went for a stir fried pork with chilli and black pepper dish and chicken breast with sizzling sauce.  Both were really good, and the black pepper has a very satisfying kick! The chicken came with a really special chili sauce with lots of fish sauce and tangy spice.

Overall, we had a great meal and would really like more people to give Thai Erawan a go.  I know some people have grumbled about the service, but I have never experienced any problems and I think people should really give it a chance.

Monday - Thai Erawan!! Very Tasty Monday Treats

So it was Joe's turn to go shopping this week, and after a weekend away in Edinburgh he had let his chores slip.  Add this to Joe working in Manchester and me working late, instead of swinging by a shop to buy some food, he decided the best plan was to have a Monday night takeaway.  Very decadent!

We haven't had Thai for a while, so opted for an old favourite, Thai Erawan.  Unfortunately Joe cannot remember what he ordered so we can't tell you what these dishes are, but believe us when we say that they were very nice! (He is trying to come up with some excuse about trying to order food on his mobile while looking at the internet at the same time - what a poor defence!) 

Miscellaneous beef stir fried dish - this is something with lots of chilli and garlic and was very nice!

Stir fried chicken, also with chilli (do you sense a theme?!)

And a Monday night dinner complete...!

Joe's food.  Since we cannot tell you what it is, you should pop along to Thai Erawan and sample the menu for yourselves.

Thursday night thai chicken skewers

Tonight was another long run for Joe (and a pathetic short run for me) so I thought I'd treat him with spicy chicken skewers and noodles.  Joe has insisted that I put on the picture of the raw chicken, which I think is a little gross!

Pre-cooked chicken skewers

stir fried vegetables with rice noodles

The finished chicken skewer product!

Friday Night at Thai Edge

By the power of Twitter, we have made contact with a number of restaurants and recently struck up conversation with Thai Edge in Leeds (for website, click here).  They invited us to come and sample some of their food, and do a review.

I have lived in Leeds for six years, but never been to Thai Edge before.  Leeds has quite a few good Thai restaurants and it just happened that I have lived around the corner from Sukhothai, or across the road from Chaopraya, or near Thai Erawan, so never made it to Thai Edge.  I had had the impression that it was an "all you can eat" buffet place (which it does appear to do on weekends) so had been a little put off.

Anyways, we trotted along to Thai Edge last night not knowing what to expect.  It is a big airy restaurant opposite Millennium Square and the LGI with lots of glass and clean lines and a few traditional bits of decor thrown in.  When we first arrived there was a little confusion over our booking - as it had been made over Twitter, it was in their name, not ours.  We eventually made it to the right table, which was reserved by the window overlooking Millennium Square, giving us a good view of the other diners and the revellers outside.

Each table has a basket of crackers (a mix of Thai and prawn) ready on arrival.  The staff are quick with menus and we went with their recommended house rose, which has been chosen to be a good match with oriental food. 

The crackers on arrival - nice touch and replenished when we asked.

The house rose - good with spicy food!

Joe and I in the obligatory drinking pose.

The menu has some nice touches, including a glossary of Thai words.  We recently went to a restaurant in London (Hong Kong cafe - see post from Wednesday 17th August) where we didn't understand half of the menu!

The menu has a broad range of dishes from across Thailand.  After a great deal of debate, we opted for Yam Woon Sen (salad of glass noodles with minced pork, prawns, shrimps and dried shrimps in a spicy dressing) and Poh Pia Gai Tod (crispy spring rolls with chicken and white cabbage).  My only slight disappointment was that there are no dumplings on the menu (a favourite of FoodandBiscuits), but there are plenty of other dishes to choose from! The food is beautifully presented.  They also ask you how spicy you would like your food, and we opted for a very spicy salad.  It was brilliant - clean flavours, salty, sweet and spicy - and by far the best Thai salad I have ever had.  The spring rolls were light and crispy and came with a sweet and sticky plum sauce. 

Poh Pia Gai Tod - spring rolls with plum sauce

Yam Woon Sen - very spicy salad with pork and prawns - a vibrant wake up to the senses!

Joe eating a spring roll - check out his chopstick action!

Main courses also caused a big debate!  The menu is split by main ingredient and includes lots of curries and stir fried dishes.  We opted for Panang Nuae (beef cooked in a dry red Panang paste with lime leaves and red chilli) and Gai Ma Maung Himmapan (stir fried chicken with cashews, mushrooms, spring onions, red and green chillis and roasted chilli).  Despite all of the chillis in this dish, it was advertised as only medium heat, so I asked them to spice it up a bit.  Recently Joe and I have been a bit hit and miss with our ordering, but this time both dishes were really good.  The beef was rich and full of coconut, chilli and ginger and the chicken was hot but with real depth of flavour with a balanced sauce so all the individual tastes came through (my favourite dish of the meal).

Gai Ma Maung Himmpan (chicken with cashews and lots of chilli)

Panang Nuae (beef in red panang paste with coconut and red chilli)

Noodles in light soy sauce

Joe with our charming waitress, Ard.  All the waiting staff were very good, and very attentive last night.

The bill - a very good meal for under £50.00 is a real treat!

All in all, we had a really lovely evening at Thai Edge and I would definitely go back again.  There is a lot to try on the menu and they clearly put as much effort in to the food as they do to the appearance.  A big thank you to all at Thai Edge.