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Business & Tech

A Relaxed Thai Experience

Enjoy the lounge-like atmosphere at Erawan on Bell Boulevard

This past weekend, I had a craving for some Thai food — so we decided to try out  on Bell Boulevard. Located one block off Northern it is a quick drive from our 'Neck of the woods.

From outside, the restaurant doesn't look like much — but when you walk in, the place opens up in front of you. Long and narrow, the restaurant seems to go on forever, with a bar taking up the back left and the rest of the space filled with seating.

I really liked the look and feel of the place: modern with classic Thai art adorning the walls and some trip-hop music playing in the background. 

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We immediately ordered some Thai ice teas and took a look at the menus. There is quite a bit to choose from: appetizers, soups and salads, House specials, seafood, Thai curry dishes, noodle dishes and a vegetarian menu. Everything sounded so good on the menu it was difficult to choose what we wanted. 

For appetizers we decided on Jeeb Pu, which are steamed crab dumplings with a soy vinaigrette dip, and some Thai spring rolls, minced chicken, shrimp, mushrooms with some plum sauce to dip into.

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For our main course, we ordered the Erawan steak, broiled marinated sirloin with a Thai chili dip. We also got curry noodle — thin rice noodles with baby shrimp, chicken, scallops, Asian vegetables, egg — all marinated with sweet curry powder.

After a few minutes our appetizers came out. One plate had eight bite size steamed dumplings and the other had six spring roll halves. Both were very good. The steamed dumplings were soft and warm and the spring rolls were crispy and loaded with ingredients. I especially liked drizzling plum sauce on the spring rolls to give it a sweet kick.

Next came our dinners. Each dish was plated as a work of art, very chic. They placed the curry noodles down in front of me and I was quite impressed with the portion size. There was a lot of everything. The noodles had a light curry flavor but it was definitely there. The chicken and scallops tasted a little over cooked, they were slightly dry. The shrimp and veggies were cooked just right. It wasn't especially good or bad; it was exactly middle of the road.

The steak was served to my wife and she immediately dug in. They pre-sliced the meat into small medallions that made it easier to eat. The piece I had was good and I liked the chili dip it came with, sweet with a little heat. My wife liked the dish as well. They cooked it just the way she wanted. She was a little upset that the dish comes with nothing else but the steak, no vegetable or rice.

The atmosphere and service are most enjoyable at Erawan. You can also see that they take pride in their presentation from the decor of the restaurant to the way they plate their food. My only gripe was that some of the food we ordered wasn't as exquisite as all the glitter surrounding it.

Erawan is located at 42-31 Bell Blvd. in Bayside. Hours are Mon. - Thu., noon to 10:30 p.m.; Fri. - Sat., noon to 11:30 p.m.; Sun., 3 p.m. to 10 p.m.

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