- Location: 917 S. High Street (aka rt. 42). If you're heading south on 42, it will be on your right. If you get to the Rocking R Hardware Store, you've gone too far. Check out the Asian grocery store behind Taste of Thai while you're there.
- Website: http://www.taste-of-thai.com/
- Food profile: Thai (duh).
- Local meats: not sure, but I don't think so. If someone from ToT reads this, please comment to let us know. If you have local or organic meats, you should advertise it! People love that sort of thing.
- Price: Entrees range from $11 upwards to $25.
- Take-out: Yes! In fact, it's probably a better place for take-out than dine-in. The place is usually so crowded that it's hard to hear your dining partners. Also, many diners insist that take-out portions are larger.
- Warnings:
- If you pull into the parking lot and it looks insanely full, don't panic! The restaurant is much larger than it looks from the outside. At least go in and see if there's a wait.
- As noted above, it gets really loud in there, particularly on Friday and Saturday nights.
- They don't take reservations for parties smaller than 5.
- Specialties: The broccoli sesame chicken is delicious, if you're in the mood for that kind of thing, though it sometimes borders on being overly sweet. The pad talay is a smorgasbord of sea food--a variety you'd be hard pressed to find on any other plate in the 'burg. If you want to really blow your own mind, check out the Thai coffee--but not if you plan on sleeping any time this week. It's enough caffeine and sugar to power you through whatever life throws at you.
∫About Taste of Thai:
This was the first wonderful Harrisonburg restaurant I ever visited, back in the fall of 2004, when I had just moved to Staunton. At that time, our fair city didn't boast the numerous downtown dining options that it now has to offer. After walking around the Court Square area, I asked someone at A Touch of the Earth where I should go for lunch. She directed me to ToT, and I was shocked that such high-quality ethnic food was available in the Shenandoah Valley. Taste of Thai was serving up yum back when Thai Flavor was just a shadow of a twinkle of a dream. They proved that an Asian restaurant could thrive in this town.
Food:
Practically everything is fantastic. The "Thai spicy" food can be pretty intense, but nothing you can't handle. The tofu curry runs on the bland side--I recommend asking for it a bit spicier. Don't miss out on the tom yum goong, a soup with lemongrass and mushrooms. I wouldn't have ordered it, but a friend told me to try it, and it's a surprising blend of spicy and tangy flavors, complex on the palate, but refreshing as well.
Atmosphere:
This is a classy place--plush decor, a courteous staff, and beautiful serving dishes. Dress decently or you'll mess it all up. It's a perfect restaurant for a business lunch with the client you're trying to land, a family celebration, or a date that is a step above Cally's, but not quite Joshua Wilton House.
But what if I hate Thai food?
Skip this place. Or get the pad thai; it's just rice noodles and veggies--pretty innocuous.
Hi,
ReplyDeleteThis is mostly off-topic toward both this post and this blog more generally. Anyhow, here goes: I used to read your religious blog. I checked it recently for the first time in awhile and saw that it hadn't been updated in eons. However, it did lead me to this blog. It's a rather good read here and useful, living as I do fairly close to Harrisonburg.
Now, the main point. Does your abandonment of Christian blogging mean that you have renounced the faith, or is it merely that you prefer writing about different topics these days? If you don't mind answering, that is.
Hi!
ReplyDeleteNo, I certainly haven't left the faith. However, I'm not teaching Sunday school right now, and haven't in a while. Most of the material for the other blog was derived from my experience as a Sunday school teacher. I'm still working on that project a bit, trying to edit some of that content and some other stuff into a book on how Christians are educating their children in the faith. I also no longer attend the same church that I was attending at that time, and the religious education program in my present church is much better (we actually looked for this when we were trying to find a new congregation, because we were thinking ahead to starting a family).
I started this foodie blog because I wanted to celebrate one of the things I love about Harrisonburg. Another thing I love about the town is the vibrant Christian community. I've worshiped with many of the congregations, and been impressed by the depth and sincerity of their faith, whether it was in a high school cafeteria (Shalom Mennonite) or a big formal church (Mulenburg Lutheran). I'm sure this food blog will get a little faith in it too. Given how much I love food, I can hardly think of a better place for the Lord of the Harvest to have set me down. :) thanks for reading!
No problem! I liked your old blog, and am myself between denominations. For a long awhile, I've been an "independent" who attended no church and was unaffiliated with any sect or organization. I'm currently leaning toward a couple certain Churches, which I won't name.
ReplyDeleteAlso, more on point, I thought Taste of Thai was a bit overpriced for the quality of food. Further, it was also somewhat less spicy than what I had expected from a Thai place. Just my 2 cents-I lack the articulateness to describe it more in depth.