9 Shirlington: T.H.A.I

One of the few disadvantages of not having a car in DC is that nice places like Shirlington, VA are not very accessible. But thanks to JR, who does have a car, I was able to experience a day out in downtown Shirlington. The pedestrian area displayed a wide range of restaurants so choosing one was difficult. JR recalled a Thai place he used to go to after rehearsals with Synetic Theatre so we decided to go for lunch at T.H.A.I and experience the Food, this time, before the Art.

The weather was good enough to sit outside. T.H.A.I had a good outside-seating area for chilling and having a great meal in the middle of downtown. The restaurant was also nice from the inside (simple and elegant decor), but why have your meal indoors with such beautiful weather outside?

We started off with a couple of Thai Iced Tea. The black tea came with the milk and syrup separately. This is a great option for people who think that Thai iced teas are too sweet or too creamy and would like to add in as much milk or syrup as they like. Plus, adding the pure white milk into the brown-orange tea has some cool visual effects!

Now, to eating. The Spring Rolls we ordered as appetizers were lean and long and served with a side of sweet carrot sauce. God I love Thai Food! The spring rolls were hot and delicately crunchy. The sweet carrot sauce was delicious and I made sure that the spring roll was thoroughly covered with the sauce on every dip.

Again, I love Thai Food! (I love it so much that I forgot to take a picture of the dish above before digging in!). One of my favorite dishes is Thai Green Curry with Chicken. It's spicy, creamy, tangy, basily/gingery...what's there not to like? The green curry at T.H.A.I was yummy. To be more descriptive, the 'creamy' element was the most prominent of all. I wished that the dish had a stronger kick of 'spicy' but the generous amount of vegetables and chicken left JR and I very satisfied.

We asked for the check but I decided to take a look at the dessert menu in case I come again (and I will!). I saw something amazing - Thai Fried Roti Dough with Taro Ice Cream. I was already full but I'm always willing to make room from something like Thai sweet roti...and with taro ice cream? For that I'm willing to utilize my second, and third stomachs! The hot sweet roti came topped with a moderately sweet scoop of taro ice cream, towered with a taro chip. The combination was so good! I'm willing to come back to Shirlington just for this dessert. I better start saving for a car...