[REVIEW] Bangkok Taste Cuisine

As a connoisseur of great Asian food, I was excited to learn of Grand Rapid’s newest restaurant, Bangkok Taste Cuisine, which also is now the city’s sixteenth Thai restaurant. Its owners, the Kue family, aspire to bring out the Thai culture in the Asian restaurant category, and their soothing spacious eatery captures this unique flavor. The Kues have been satisfying stomachs since their first restaurant near Detroit nine years prior. Six years ago, they started the very successful restaurant, Bangkok Taste in Jenison. Urged on by their customers, the Kues opened Bankok Taste Cuisine, which enjoyed its grand opening last week Wednesday, Oct. 27.  The restaurant sits on the old site of Bobby J’s.

Mrs. Kue has installed a handful of decorations she purchased from Thailand in February. This artwork, mostly paintings and framed sets of photographs, can be found hanging daintily from the golden yellow walls. There are a couple of mannequins nearby the window, wearing beautiful Thai clothing. There is a wall-hanging of figurines dancing and playing music above where we sat. The place is more roomy than the average downtown family-run restaurant and can hold a good hundred customers–twice that of its Jenison counterpart. It’s a rather relaxing place and has an upscale casual feeling to it. All-together, we spent about $18 pre-tip between me and my guest.

The restaurant caters to ingredient preferences and allergies. In fact, you could even customize your own dish. I ordered a couple of the most popular dishes––peanut curry and pad Thai. I began with a spring roll. It was crunchier than other spring rolls I’ve tried and was served very warm. Dipped in its accompanying honey-lemon sauce, it made for a stringy, ginergery appetizer. We had tea in little cups on the side.

As there was only one other customer when we went, which was just before suppertime, we were served in under 15 minutes. As the waitress brought us our meals, a strong peanut smell rolled off the peanut curry. I spooned the rice onto my plate and watched as the curry became this colorful little stir fry–pretty green and red, with orange bits peeking out, and topped with spongy tofu–almost too pretty to eat. Then there was the taste. Oh the taste! It was far better than I imagined–an outstanding dish.

My guest was served the pad thai, which means “stir fry,” and is their legendary dish made with rice noodles. I also took a few bites. It was firm and eggy, with a hot concealed spiciness that creeps up on you. Even though we ordered mild, the spice was still a little bit overpowering for our taste buds, so we ordered a sweet cucumber sauce to calm it down. All dishes can be ordered with no spice, so each customer can accomodate their preference.

Bangkok Taste Cuisine offers respectable food in a relaxing ambiance. Grand Rapids' newest restaurant is a fine addition to its ever-growing dining community.