Restaurant Review: Thai Basil

Ah, Thai food, you hold a special place in my food-adoring heart.  A menagerie of sense pleasuring spices – curry, ginger, turmeric, basil – fresh vegetables, and succulent proteins, Thai is arguably (and a good argument at that) the most palate pleasing of all Asian cuisine.

Thai is also incredibly consistent as well; most dishes sharing the common denominator of all the components just mentioned.  Throw a splash of coconut milk or fish sauce to get a nice spice-laden sauce over the veggies and protein, or add some thick rice noodles to make a hearty plate of pad thai noodles, it’s really not hard to get a taste of what thai cuisine is all about in a single dish.

in Largo certainly recognizes this and executes well.

Like many Thai restaurants, Thai Basil’s menu has the same majority of dishes as its Thai brethren – spring rolls, satay (similar to kabob), gai tom kha soup laden with coconut milk, various curries over white rice, pad Thai noodles and a few original house specialties to round out the menu.

Of course, spring rolls are almost a required pre-requisite to any Thai meal and the ones at Thai Basil are no exception.  Filled with bean thread, specks of ground chicken and spices, the spring rolls were large with flavor beyond just the greasy crunch of the fried rice paper.  What really shined though was the sweet chili dipping sauce, which provided an intriguing balance of sweet and spicy taste enough to eat on its own (not that, that happened or anything).

Wonton Soup, not typically a dish associated with Thai cuisine, was up next.  The broth was a slightly-over salted culmination of classic Thai flavors – most notably ginger and basil. It was accentuated by the mushrooms, pea pods, and wilted cabbage swimming throughout.  The soft wonton almost melt in your mouth, but kind of ruined by the wet, crumbly mess of ground chicken inside.  A well-marinated chunk would’ve done just fine.

For the main course, you really can’t go wrong with a big plate of pad Thai noodles with pork.  And, the portion size at Thai Basil is monstrous enough to easily feed, and stuff, two.  Fans of spiciness can opt for a helping of ground Thai chili peppers that’ll easily clear the sinuses and get the eyes watering if you’re not careful.  Ground peanuts, bean threads and a somewhat meager, but delicious helping of sliced pork accentuated the spicy noodles quite well.           

Overall, Thai Basil knows how to satisfy with simple, well-portioned, classic Thai, and sometimes that’s all it takes.