The House of Thai Taste: A Spicy Noodle Fest

Located on the southeast corner of Venice Boulevard and Beethoven Street just east of Venice High School, The House of Thai serves delicious, home-style Thai dishes, using fresh market ingredients.

Opened in 1994, this restaurant with the bright red exterior is warm and inviting. Decorative masks and colorful paintings hang on the walls and I especially like the giant golden face, carved in wood. The burgundy banquettes are comfortable and offer the perfect color contrast to the green-toned walls. A small aquarium provided constant entertainment for my son as he watched the fish swim around the coral, playing “peek-a-boo” in the tank.

As for the food, you're spoiled for choice here. The menu offers a large variety of appetizers, soups, noodles, curries and vegetables. There are also plenty of barbecue dishes including honey beef ribs, fried roasted duck and Thai taste BBQ chicken. Seafood specialties include scallops, calamari, shrimp, crab and trout, all prepared in a variety of ways.

We started our meal with the appetizer tofu delight with peanut sauce.  The tofu triangles were crispy, but I was hoping for a bit more flavor. The peanut sauce was spicy, though I thought it would be sweeter and thicker.

However, the spicy noodles - pan fried noodles with garlic, chile, onion and mint, were spot on. I loved the slightly charbroiled taste of the flat, thin noodles with just the right amout of spice. This was my favorite dish of the night.

My dining companion ordered the Pad Thai (their most popular item), and includes shrimp, chicken, egg and bean sprouts, sprinkled with crushed peanuts. He thought it was good overall, but mentioned that it was a tad too sweet. We also had the vegetarian version with tofu and vegetables. I have to agree with his assessment and prefer the spicy noodles over this noodle dish.

Another tasty dish I enjoyed was the tofu and broccoli curry – a spicy yellow curry that also had onions, carrots and bamboo shoots cooked in coconut milk. Be sure to order a side of rice to soak up the delicious, spicy sauce. The vegetables were nice and tender and the tofu took on the flavor of the sauce and was very good.

My son enjoyed the baby corn and mushroom dish, stir-fried in a mild gravy with onions and carrots. The carrots were cut nice and thin and were sculpted around the edges to look like a flower – beautiful! All the vegetables were cooked perfectly, but I prefer the spiciness of the other dishes and could eat those spicy noodles all day!

Lunch special (11a.m. - 4p.m.) – Choice of entrée, steamed rice, salad and egg roll for $6.95.

Dinner special (all day) – Choice of entrée, shrimp fried rice, salad and fried shrimp for $9.95.

 Hours: Open seven days a week from 11a.m. – 11p.m.

 House of Thai Taste, 12824 Venice Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90066-3508, 310-915-0123 ‎

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