Located across from Breeze Center (微風廣場), the interior of Home’s Thai (香米泰國料理) is as trendy as you’d expect from a popular restaurant in this neighborhood. It’s dimly lit and appointed with sleek tables and chairs. A glimmering ceiling-to-floor crystal curtain sets off the staircase to the restaurant’s second floor.
But despite its coolly modern interior, Home’s offers comfortingly familiar and piquant Thai classics.
The restaurant’s menu is extensive — almost overwhelmingly so. Appetizers are divided into two sections, one that features exclusively fried items like shrimp cakes and battered and deep-fried frogs legs. For a healthier option, try the Thai-style raw shrimp (NT$350). The dish is a Thai restaurant staple, but the version at Home’s Thai is notable for the freshness of its firm, plump shrimp, which are butterflied and covered in a big heap of diced garlic and chili peppers.
As with any menu the size of Home’s, there are bound to be a few lackluster dishes. The Thai tapo (NT$280) is ground chicken, beef or pork (we chose pork) stir-fried with chili peppers and sauce. The dish is served with lettuce leaves for wrapping, but the oil made it somewhat difficult to get the meat successfully inside. The Thai spicy fried crab with lemon grass had a good balance of flavors, but like the Thai tapo was also distractingly greasy. At NT$680, it was also one of the most expensive items on the menu.
Home’s Thai’s version of another classic, chicken satay (NT$280), is much better, with big, juicy pieces of meat on skewers and two delicious dipping sauces, a thick peanut butter sauce and a lighter sweet-and-sour option. For something more unusual, order the Thai-style grilled lamb chop with spicy sauce (NT$460), which is cooked just as skillfully as the chicken satay and more robust in taste.
Two seafood dishes, the spicy fried seafood (NT$300) and Thai sauce squid blend (NT$300), are both excellent, flavored with just enough chili and garlic. The spicy fried seafood, which is actually stir-fried, is especially good, with plump mussels, shrimp, squid and crab leg meat. The squid blend is served cold as a salad and topped with thin stalks of crunchy celery that complement the firm but tender slices of seafood.
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