Lunch at SriPraPhai

Even though we used to live in Queens 6 years ago, we have never been to this restaurant. Finally yesterday we decided to try it out and we were glad that we did. When we arrived they were just opened, however there were a lot of people already, it was lunch time.

We were asked if we wanted to sit outside in the garden, it was nice but we preferred to sit inside. Then came our waiter who brought us the menu, he was very nice and friendly. We told him that this was our first time here so we asked for his recommendation. He mentioned some of the food that was popular and good there. He took our drink order and then let us look at the menu.

I remembered reading of what should be ordered from here, so I tried to find the picture of it. There was an album filled with pictures of most of the dishes, it was a good idea. After browsing that album, we finally decided what we wanted to try and told our waiter when he came back with our drinks, the Thai iced tea.

Thai iced tea

For appetizer we ordered fried vegetable (chive) dumpling that was recommended by our waiter. It was crunchy and filled with lots of chives, a little bit too bland when I didn't dip it in the sauce that came with it. It was okay, not our favorite.
The next dish was crispy thai catfish meat salad, it was amazing. The crispiness of the fried shredded catfish combined with the spiciness, sweetness and sourness of the salad was perfect, so yummy! We would come back again if only for this dish, highly recommended.

Fried vegetable (chive) dumpling and Crispy thai catfish meat salad

For the entree we ordered soy sauce noodles with beef and broccoli, it was good. The beef was tender but the overall taste was not that flavorful. The one from Thai Kitchen in New Jersey was still better. The saute fried soft shell crab with chili, garlic and basil leaves was delicious, it was special of the day. The crab was well covered with the sauce that was spicy and tasty.

Soy sauce noodles with beef & broccoli and Saute fried soft shell crab with chili, garlic & basil leaves

The masaman curry with chicken, onion and potatoes was wonderful. The chicken was tender, the sauce was rich and not too spicy. Then came the shrimp paste fried rice with chicken and dry shrimp, it was fantastic. The tender chicken and the crunchy dried shrimp were very tasty, mixed with the cucumber, red onion and egg as well as the shrimp paste fried rice itself was incredible, definitely our favorite here. When we ordered this, our waiter made sure that we knew what this was. He warned us that it didn't smell good but the taste was good. We told him that we are familiar with the shrimp paste and love it, even though it does smell awful :-)

Masaman curry with chicken, onion & potatoes and Shrimp paste fried rice with chicken & dry shrimp

As usual we ordered too much, we couldn't finish them since we wanted to save room for dessert. We chose sticky rice & ripe mango, as well as steamed sticky rice wrapped in banana leaves with banana filling, they both were excellent.

Sticky rice & ripe mango and Steamed sticky rice wrapped in banana leaves with banana filling

Before we left I told my husband that I wanted to check out their display that we passed by on the way to our table. I was so happy to see boxes of fried chicken skin and decided to get one box. It was so crispy, a little bit too salty though, but overall was still very good, I love it. It's been a long time since I had this since I couldn't find it until yesterday. I didn't want to make it myself even though I had a deep fryer at home, I just didn't want to get hurt from the possibility of hot oil splash. The fried banana was disappointing, the banana was still not ripe yet.

Fried chicken skin and Fried banana

I also got a couple desserts to take home: sweet rice, coconut milk, longan & sugar and tapioca, coconut milk, corn & sugar. Both of them was very good, creamy and not too sweet.

Sweet rice, coconut milk, longan & sugar and Tapioca, coconut milk, corn & sugar

From here we went to Mitsuwa Marketplace to check out their Matcha confectionary fair that they had this weekend.

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SriPraPhai
6413 39th Ave
Woodside, NY 11377
(718) 899-9599