Chada Thai Restaurant

Saturday afternoon and it was getting towards dinner time. Neither My Beloved nor I could decide what we were going to prepare for dinner.

If you look at the last post “Recycling and lamb’, which was posted 27 January 2013, you will see I said there that we were going out for Thai. I do not understand what happened, but that was Sunday, yet I am writing now about the previous day, Saturday, 26 Jan 2013. Now, how can that be? Well, it was because I had drafted the Sunday post, but not published it. It’s all about a learning curve, this blogging game, and a learning curve for this old brain is a shallower one than it was fifty years ago.

So, now we are back on track and I am writing today, Tuesday, 29 January 2013, about a visit to Chada Thai Restaurant on Saturday, 26 January 2013.

Although the clouds had crept across the San Jacinto mountains, there were no drops of water descending from them, so My Beloved and I set forth for Chada. Well, I am not exactly correct in saying that, because while we knew where we were going and to which restaurant, we did not know the name of it.

We were shown a table for two as soon as we walked through the door. We are pretty savvy diners, having dined in many countries, but we have rarely dined on Thai fare, so the menu had a certain mystique about it.

Nevertheless, when the Maitre d’ came (whom we believe to be the owner) to get our order, we boldly spouted out “Tom Kah as an appetizer, please,” to which he responded, “Bowl or pot?”. As My Beloved and I looked at each other wonderingly, he said, “Pot – better for you two share.” So he had made the decision for us. And we were, subsequently, delighted he had. However, he had not obtained all the information he needed. “What meat?”, he said. I had no idea what he meant: did he mean what did I want for my main course? Fortunately, My Beloved chimed in with, “Chicken, I think.” Obviously, she had read the menu better than I. So, Mr. Owner went away happy with her answer.

We were sipping our Merlot when he returned with a two-tiered apparatus, into which he plunged     a fire-starter and. lo and behold, flame shot out through the centre of the apparatus, a good 30 centimetres high. Never had either of us seen anything quite so exotic and lovely as a way of serving a soup.

And what was, or is, Tom Kah? A hot and sour coconut milk soup with
delightful little straw mushrooms, Thai name Hed Fang, which resemble tiny little helmets, lemongrass and, yes, the chicken pieces. It was delicious! Truly delicious!

Additionally, as our mains, My Beloved chose the lightly breaded calamari, which were lovely and tender with a side of hot sauce, and I chose the crispy catfish, which came with a very tasty mildly spicy red sauce, broccoli and a few discs of carrot. A bowl of steamed rice served well as a foundation for excess sauce from my plate.

We denied ourselves any dessert and the whole came to $55 including $10 tip. A lovely meal and we will return to Chada.

But now, it is time for dinner at here at home in the condo.