It’s all about the ingredients right now. With an ever-changing seasonal menu that keeps regulars coming back again and again, you never really know what you’re going to get at Samrub Samrub Thai, but you know that ingredients are on display—literally.
Before the meal even begins at Samrub Samrub Thai, diners are met with a palette of ingredients, some of which might be wholly new. Have you ever tried the latka tree fruit (Burmese grapes)? How about Indian nightshade (hairy eggplant)? The staff walk you through the bitterness of grape seaweed and pickled taro to get you ready for the main event.
This venue comes from the mind of Prin Polsuk, formerly of Nahm and Sala Rim Naam, and his wife and business partner Thanyaporn “Mint” Jarukittikun, reopened just last year with their new space in Saladaeng. You walk to a stainless steel door that seems out of place in the hi-so neighborhood to a renovated 4-storey white house. The long black wood serving counter follows to a few more intimate seats in the back for dates and families.
The venue opens to a busy kitchen to your left filled with chefs plating and chatting over Thai pop music. It’s a friendly space that’s not quite communal—and it really lets you concentrate on the food. In this case, the theme is seafood from the gulf.
The first dish after your cuttlefish cracker snack is the grilled lobster with the grape seaweed with chili and galangal dressing; this is a great way to set the tone because it’s delicate but with a spicy kick—not a fine dining kick, a real kick. But a favorite of the starters on this menu had to be the smoked grilled stingray with red rice yeast. The meat comes with a mild, coppery taste that pairs well with the fermented chili vinegar.
With the seafood menu, the style is turning unique flavors into elevated fare, and then turning that into something approaching comfort food. An example of this is the coconut sour curry grilled pomfret; the wild asparagus berries, yet another underused ingredient, add an earthy, nutty taste to the floral hairy eggplant—all in a refreshing curry. Other dishes, such as the stir-fried tiger prawns with salacca and braised lotus root, can come off a little under seasoned though still satisfying.
The dishes at this uniquely Thai stop elevate underused ingredients into carefully crafted yet simple, unpretentious fare with a high degree of creativity. The servings are cobbled together and elevated from old Thai cookbooks and made with care in the open kitchen, but the key to Samrub Samrub Thai is in the warm, family style. The house in which you’re dining, an upgrade from their former digs, is the home Mint grew up for 30 years. It’s fine dining with soul.
