There are restaurants where we go with dear friends, catch up on our busy lives, and plan to be at the restaurant for a long time. Thai Wat is that kind of place.  Friday night I joined my friends Jamie and Mary Jo for dinner at Thai Wat.  Nestled between two large stores in a strip mall, it may be hard to mistake it for your common ethnic take out place. Once inside, you forget you've parked next to everyone else shopping next door at Walmart.   

Thai Wat has a diverse menu with ginger, lemongrass, curry and basil flavors, typical of Thai cuisine. Categories range from fish, duck, traditional meat, and those with vegetarian sides can leap for joy as there are vegetarian salads, appetizers, and entrees labeled just for us.

Service is very slow during peak hours. Plan accordingly. Although reservations are not necessary,  if you will be eating between the hours of 6:30-8pm on a Friday or Saturday evening, it is strongly suggested that you make a reservation.  Staff is always pleasant.  The restaurant is always clean, temperature normal, and the music is never too loud.

I ordered Jasmine tea, a light bodied traditional Thai beverage that is served hot.  It's a refreshing, light tea that prepares my palate for a meal of complex flavors.

My first course is a bowl of their Veggie Tom Yum.  In addition to the strong lemongrass flavor, there is a gentle hot pepper flavor that lingers on your tongue. On their menu, it is rated with one chili pepper on a scale of three. The broth is a very thin version of a typical sweet/sour soup, and glides right off the spoon. The body of the soup is speckled with a tender array of vegetables: carrots, snap peas, cabbage, broccoli, greenbeans, and onions, evenly cooked and tender. A small number of breaded tofu chunks soak up the lemongrass/spice flavoring and dot the soup.

I follow the soup with the vegetarian entree, Jack and Sue, pictured above. It is a vegetable patty formed to a heart shape, placed on a bed of cabbage and surrounded with a light spicy mushroom sauce. I highly recommend squeezing the orange over the patty as it complements the dried onion, mushroom, and vegetables nicely.  It is slightly spicy, but only ever so much that you can still taste the individual flavors of the vegetables with the slightest after thought of heat.  The patty is filling after the large bowl of soup and the sauce is just enough to adorn each swipe of the fork. The vegetables are the stars of the dish. There have been occasions where I have ordered this dish and the patty has been slightly chewy, not tender.  Although it has been steamed, the texture could benefit by a brief time in the oven to form a soft crust on the top. Otherwise the flavors are excellent, and the orange, dried onions, and mushroom broth are a perfect dressing to the multiple veggie patty. Thank you Jack and Sue, the vegetarian couple that supposedly inspired the recipe. It is my favorite meal at Thai Wat.

My friends ordered the Eggplant Stinger, a slightly spicy combination of sauteed eggplant with chicken and the Drunken Noodle, large rice noodles with sauteed chicken. Both dishes are slightly spicy.  The Drunken Noodles are Matt's favorite dish as well when the two of us eat there.

They serve a variety of desserts from coconut, mango, green tea ice cream flavors to a mung bean custard. I've never needed to order dessert, as I am quite full by the end of the entree.

My meal with soup and vegetarian entree cost about $15.00.