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Review: ThaibodiaSanta Clara’s Thaibodia rises above the familiar favorites of most Thai restaurants in Silicon Valleyby Stett Holbrook on Feb 24, 2010A FEW WEEKS AGO, a reader sent me an email urging me to try the tempura vegetables at Thaibodia in Santa Clara. Now, I’ve pretty much given up on Thai food in Silicon Valley. We have scores of Thai restaurants that all basically serve the same thing. I like pad thai and green curry chicken just fine, but there has to be more to Thai cuisine than the same two dozen or so dishes that appear at every Thai restaurant I go to. Where’s the regional variation? Special seasonal dishes? Apparently not in Silicon Valley. So I was dubious, but this reader was so emphatic about the ethereal quality of the tempura that I figured it was time to drop my skepticism and give another Thai restaurant a try. So I went. And I was disappointed ... at first. As far as tempura goes, it was pretty good for $6.95. The panko batter was light and brittle with nary a trace of oil. In the end, however, it was just battered vegetables, not enough to change my opinion of Thai food in the South Bay. The tempura was an appetizer, and I was about to just call it quits right there, but I decided to give the menu another chance. And that’s when I saw it: hor mok. Hello, what’s this? The menu listed hor mok as its lone house specialty. Why not? One hor mok, please, with rock cod ($10.95). It’s described on the menu as “sautéed with fresh Napa cabbage, basil, egg, coconut milk and red curry,” which really doesn’t do the dish justice. What came out of the kitchen looked like an aluminum-foil-wrapped bowling ball that had been slit open with an “X” to release an aromatic cloud of steam perfumed with the delicious aroma of kaffir lime leaves. Hor mok is like a giant fish cake bound together with coconut milk and egg whites. The cabbage, basil and spicy red curry give the dish texture and color. It’s traditionally served in banana leaves, but the foil package is still impressive. I loved it. The sweetness of the mild fish and coconut milk combined with fiery curry sauce and redolent kaffir lime made me want to come back for a second visit to see what else I might find on the menu. I discovered more to like when I returned. Crispy love ($7.95) conjures up odd mental pictures, but on the plate, it’s a delicious, simple-looking appetizer made from ground shrimp and cuttlefish cloaked in eggroll wrappers and then fried crisp. Although I had a hard time seeing the seafood, the flavor was definitely there. It tasted great dipped in sweet-and-sour sauce. The roti was another winner. The fried bread was heavier than Malaysian versions I have had but still steamy and rich; the peanut sauce served with it was good enough to drink. The spicy bamboo with duck ($8.95) was another surprise. Instead of making it with those uniform little rectangles of bamboo shoots, the kitchen serves the dish with big, ragged chunks of bamboo shoots in all their sweet and funky goodness tossed with onions, tomatoes, green bell peppers and basil in a delicious red ginger sauce. The Thai barbecue chicken ($8.95) wasn’t as unusual as some of the other dishes I tried but just as good. The half chicken isn’t barbecued but grilled up tender and juicy. I found myself picking at it well past the point of full. I saw the requisite fried banana and sticky rice for dessert and figured I would stop while I was ahead. My run of bad Thai restaurant luck had been broken. You might think that with a name like Thaibodia the restaurant would serve a mix of Thai and Cambodian food, but you would be wrong. The menu consists of just Thai food. But in this case, the result is better than the same old thing most Silicon Valley Thai restaurants serve. Thaibodia Address: 2155 El Camino Real, Santa Clara. Phone: 408.248.8868. Hours: 11am–9:30pm Mon–Thu, 11am–10pm Sat and 11am–9:30pm Sun. Cuisine: Thai. Price Range: Entrees $7.95–$12.95. Website: http://thaibodia.com. by Stett Holbrook on Feb 24, 2010 |
 SILVER STEAMER: The hor mok at Thaibodia is slit open to release its aroma. |
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