Traditional Taiwanese Cuisine at Sugar & Spice

My dorm is located in between Harvard Square and Porter Square. Even though I have visited several restaurants in the Square due to its proximity to my classes and social happenings, I rarely spend time near the Porter Square. Really, there is no reason for me to be there! Now that school is out for good and that I have so much free time, I decided to venture out to Porter Square to check out a Thai restaurant there called Sugar & Spice.

My friend and I ordered the Steamed Shrimp Shumai ($4.95) appetizer to start. We got 7 pieces of really dry shumai that tasted like one of those frozen shumai you get from Costco. The fillings were pretty much absent and it was mostly the outer skin. The shumai was also bland and tasteless, even when it was literally dunked in the soy sauce.

Our first entree was Gra Prao Chicken, ($9.95) spicy minced chicken in chili sauce. There was a bed of greasy, chili oil underneath which freaked me out a little. The white rice tasted a bit undercooked, and I couldn't really taste the chicken because it was minced so small. I would have liked more spices.

The Pad Thai ($8.95), or stir-fried rice noodles with shrimp, chicken, egg, peanuts, bean sprouts and scallions, is a must-dish at a Thai restaurant. The pad thai was sweeter than other pad thai I have had (indeed it reflects the name of the restaurant well!). There were only three medium-sized shrimps and bits of chicken. Usually the ground peanuts are served on the side, but this restaurant had it all mixed in the noodle already.

 

Koreanized Thai Food at Saint Augustine

I'm not a fan of Chinese food because its dishes are often deep-fried, greasy, and/or use exorbitant amount of MSG. Although some may argue that Thai food is similar to Chinese food, I disagree because the former has special spice and flavors not found in the latter cuisine.

On Monday I had lunch with another fellow intern from Chosun Ilbo. She was my "partner-in-crime" while scavenging around Seoul for the best shaved ice cafes, so we shared a lot of conversations about food. We went to Saint Augustin, an Asian/Thai cuisine restaurant in Apgu. The restaurant's name certainly doesn't suit its cuisine...

The menu ranged from lunch special and appetizer salad to...

rice and noodle to...

main dishes.

The first dish that came to the table was Yam Wunsen, Thai-styled glass noodle salad. The huge red mussel (it's a female!) on top enhanced the visual presentation of the dish.

The salad had onions, basil, tomatoes, celery, and other vegetables on top. It was mixed in vinegar dressing so the vegetables almost tasted slightly pickled.

Underneath the vegetables was glass noodle. Of all different types of noodles, glass noodle is my least favorite because 1) I don't really like the jerky texture, 2) it's too slimy, and 3) it doesn't have any flavor.

The mussel was warm, so I thought the dish was a warm salad. However, the other components of the dish were all cold.

The Tom Yarn Goong was red, slightly spicy Thai soup with mushroom, shrimp, onions, tomatoes, and basil.

I hated that there were oil drops floating on top. The after-taste of the broth also tasted a bit chalky on my tongue.

The long-awaited king prawn pad thai!

The eyes of the king prawn were so fierce. I could relate to his/her pain while he/she was being cooked...

The bean sprouts and the peanuts were served next to the stir-fried noodle to be mixed by the diners. There was also a side of chili pepper for those who like really savory pad thai.

The noodle was WAY TOO overcooked because it just broke and disappeared in my mouth. Also I couldn't taste that special "Thai" spice in the dish either.

I liked being able to taste different Thai dishes I usually don't eat, but perhaps Thai food tastes a lot better in the U.S. even though Thailand is closer to Korea in distance.

Spice: Too Greasy

As a board member of the Harvard Culinary Society, I was invited to the holiday board dinner at Spice, a Thai restaurant just next door to Sandrine's Bistro. I have frequented Spice more than any other restaurants in the Harvard Square, not necessarily because it's my favorite, but because it's affordable considering it's atmosphere.

Like true foodies, we decided to order several dishes and share them so we could try a little bit of many different meas. The first that came out was Chicken Pad Thai, rice noodles stir-fried with egg bean sprouts, scallions, egg and topped with ground peanuts.

It was sort of unsettling that the dish came out in ~10 minutes, which means it had been mass-cooked. The chicken pieces were really dry and the noodle was drenched in oil, so I had to dab it with napkin before putting it into my mouth.

The Spicy Basil Fried Rice wasn't spicy at all. Like the pad thai, the fried rice was also very greasy, but still flavorful.

The dish that I specifically picked, the Beef Hot Basil Leaves Rice Plate (kra pow, sautéed with onions, bell peppers, mushrooms, carrots and sweet basil leaves in hot chili sauce) wasn't anything special. The beef tasted too jerky, but at least it wasn't super greasy!

Finally, one girl ordered the Spicy Noodles (spicy stir fried yellow noodles with vegetables and chicken) for herself. I had a bit but wasn't a fan of the noodles, which tasted just like cheap-o ramen noodles. Spice still remains my go-to place if I am craving some MSG (since I don't like Chinese food), but I definitely wouldn't recommend it to a health conscious individual.