Noodles for the win!

Once again we found ourselves at Friday. Exhausted. Too tired to think about cooking. Thanh Thanh to the rescue!

Thanh Thanh Oriental Noodle House is a Vietnamese restaurant that has been around since at least the 90s. When T first moved to the big city and saw the bright lights, it was one of his regular haunts grinding as a junior designer. In my current day job, it is where we go for our twice a year team lunches. And where I go at least once or twice a month for a fix of spicy beef satay soup. But I’m getting ahead of myself!

Mesmerizing!

When we walked in a huge fish tank greeted us. The baby was faaaaaascinated with the fish. So much so that he cried a little when we left to be seated. Helpfully, we sat him facing the tank so he could wave at the fishies throughout our meal.

Burns like hell, tastes like Heaven. 

While I am not the biggest fan of spicy food, there is something about the spicy beef satay soup at Thanh Thanh that is like a dragon I’m constantly chasing. It’s addictive. When I was pregnant I once ate it three days in a row, with the leftovers for lunch for each of those three days. Yes, I am ‘fessing up to eating it 6 times in 3 days.  It’s that good. BELIEVE ME. It’s so flavorful with coconut, beef, heat, peanuts and delicioso noodles.

Before

So aaaaaaaanyways, it was all I wanted to order. Baby loves spring rolls so we ordered 6 of them and mashed them up in a bowl for him. He devoured about 4 of them!

After

T ordered the soup lover’s delight because in all his years of eating there, he’d never tried it. 

Solid, solid pho.

He usually orders the Szechuan chicken but felt the need to try something new. He’s a big fan of pho and felt the most basic version of it there would be a good barometer against other restaurants. He thought it was delicious; Solid broth, safe ingredients, not the ‘adventure choice’ (read: no tripe). Next time, it’s on like Donkey Kong.

All in all I would rate it:

Did they have a highchair?             Yes (5/5)

Did it look like it had been wiped down this calendar year? Yes (5/5)

Change tables: one in the ladies room (+2.5), none in the men’s room L (0) = 2.5/5

Did the wait staff give us stink eye? They rolled with the tossing of the chopsticks, brought us new 

ones twice and told us he was cute. No extreme fawning (4/5)

Was the food awesome? Yes (5/5)

Total: 21.5/25

Our recommendation: bring the kids and go for the adventure choice! Try something new!