#36 Ruen Pair
Posted on September 9, 2007
Filed Under Thai |
Thai Food! This entry was first featured on
LAist.com, as a part of Project Thai One On. Ruen Pair is one of the better reviewed Thai restaurants in Thai town, so let’s get rockin’.
First up is the famous Papaya Salad. It’s a good size and the shredded papaya is quite refreshing on a hot day, but I felt like it was a little light on the tangy dressing and crunchy peanuts. More flavor, I say! Anyway, this was quite appetizing and I was ready for more…
Fried Shrimp Cakes. It’s pretty good but nothing extraordinary. This borders on a guilty pleasure, I like fried stuff.
Next up is soup. This is the Tom-Yum-Goong.
This was quite impressive as a hot pot of shrimp, mushrooms in a red spicy looking broth came to rest on our table, flames shooting out of the top. This was loaded with shrimp and was not as spicy as I thought it’d be, though it did have a good kick to it. I’m not very used to a sour soup so this wasn’t my favorite of the night, certainly impressive looking, though.
This is the Chicken Pad Prik King, the star of our show. It’s chicken sauteed with red curry paste, green beans, and lime leaves. The green beans were fresh and had a great texture to them, the spices were dead on and the whole thing fit together perfectly.
Garlic sauteed on-choy. (Morning glory) This was also very well put together.
It’s clean and the service was prompt. I had my water refilled more than enough times despite the spicy soup. It’s not a date place, though, so feel free to bring friends and family here for get-togethers. I hear they’re open uber late, until 4AM, so maybe it’s a whole other kind of place at that hour.
I had the waitress recommend all of our dishes tonight, but now I wish I had looked over the menu more closely. It seems like she gave us a very mainstream list of dishes, not knowing I like my food hard-core and deviant.
Items to try next time: Raw crab in spicy lime sauce, Duck stew, fried morning glory. (Seriously, how the hell did I miss THAT!?)
Parking in the plaza is convenient and inexpensive at $1 an hour for valet. The whole plaza is made up of Thai restaurants and I think Palms / Thai Elvis used to be here before they moved. Oh, I miss Thai Elvis… Oh, and they’re open ’till 4am!
Ruen Pair
5257 Hollywood Blvd
Hollywood, CA 90027
323.466.0153
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I love Ruen Pair. I “discovered” it in college back when Palms restaurant was still in the same plaza. We didn’t want to wait so we went there instead and instantly fell in love. They used to be open until 4am…making it great for late night food runs and after clubbing eats. Are they still open that late?