For lunch today I went to a new-ish Midtown Deli called International Gourmet Kitchen. The thing that sets IGK apart from all of the others, at least for the ones I've seen, is that they have an awesome made-to-order pasta station AND a made-to-order Asian noodle and rice station. So today, I ordered the chicken pad thai.
Flat take out box for the noodles and rice
It's hard to describe how large the box itself is, but the best way for me to describe it is that the amount they give is enough to fill me up, and I'm a big fattie.
Pad Thai
My first impression just on looking at the noodles was that this was a "drier" pad thai than I had just had the last time I ate pad thai. What that means is that there's less sauce associated with the noodles. The flavors for the dish were good but not spectacular. The tamarind flavor that is normally in the sauce was definitely evident, but it was subdued. That could have been from the less sauce, but again, this was still tasty.
The chicken was a bit odd. All of their chicken is pre-grilled prior to cooking, and I think that actually takes away from the dish. The chicken doesn't absorb enough flavor from the rest of the dish because it was pre-cooked not with the sauce. The grilling also adds a nice char to it that I normally would like, but it doesn't match well with the pad thai itself. I felt that the sprouts were a little lacking, but I'm wondering if I had just asked for more if they would have obliged. Maybe next time I'll do that.
Overall, it was actually satisfactory. It obviously wasn't the best pad thai I've ever had, but I like it enough that I would go back and get it again. IGK doesn't have a hot/cold bar, and it may not have pizza, but it more than makes up for it by having the made-to-order stations.
It's hard to describe how large the box itself is, but the best way for me to describe it is that the amount they give is enough to fill me up, and I'm a big fattie.
My first impression just on looking at the noodles was that this was a "drier" pad thai than I had just had the last time I ate pad thai. What that means is that there's less sauce associated with the noodles. The flavors for the dish were good but not spectacular. The tamarind flavor that is normally in the sauce was definitely evident, but it was subdued. That could have been from the less sauce, but again, this was still tasty.
The chicken was a bit odd. All of their chicken is pre-grilled prior to cooking, and I think that actually takes away from the dish. The chicken doesn't absorb enough flavor from the rest of the dish because it was pre-cooked not with the sauce. The grilling also adds a nice char to it that I normally would like, but it doesn't match well with the pad thai itself. I felt that the sprouts were a little lacking, but I'm wondering if I had just asked for more if they would have obliged. Maybe next time I'll do that.
Overall, it was actually satisfactory. It obviously wasn't the best pad thai I've ever had, but I like it enough that I would go back and get it again. IGK doesn't have a hot/cold bar, and it may not have pizza, but it more than makes up for it by having the made-to-order stations.
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