Lan Larb

We knew that one of the easiest countries for us to check off the list during the Women's World Cup challenge last year would be Thailand, since there are so many Thai restaurants in walking distance of where we live and work. In the end, it worked out that my mom was in the city for lunch one day during the challenge, so we decided to meet up with A and go for Thai lunch specials at a place near his office.

A has written about Lan Larb before, one of the sister restaurants to our neighborhood favorite Larb Ubol (which someday we'll finally write about). He wasn't a huge fan of the drunken noodle there, but we knew that wasn't wholly representative of their abilities since we had some good Isan food there earlier in the year. We were pretty sure that what we would get in our lunch specials would be better.

Although the price point at Lan Larb is a touch higher than I usually prefer for lunch specials, I love that you get a "real" appetizer with it other than just a dumpling. While you could order dumplings or spring rolls if you want, they also give you the option of chicken larb. While we quite like their sister place Larb Ubol, they tend to dial down the spice in the larb appetizer there for the lunch special since it's more mass produced than if you ordered a larb dish on its own or for dinner. But Lan Larb kept it on the spicier side which we really liked. This was really good.

For my entree, I got the kra prow khai dao, which is minced chicken (or some other meat) with peppers, string beans, garlic, basil, and chili, topped with a fried egg and served over rice. This is one of my favorite rice dishes in Thai cuisine, due to the spice, the flavors, the basil, just everything about it. The egg on top just finished it all off perfectly. I've gotten it every time I've ordered a lunch special at Lan Larb, and it's been good every time.

A ordered an entree that I often get for my Larb Ubol lunch special - kao mun kai (which is inexplicably off the Lan Larb Seamless menu at the moment). Kao mun kai is steamed chicken served over ginger rice with a Thai herb ginger sauce on the side. If you're looking for clean eating, this is the thing to get. It's incredibly healthy, so simply prepared, and just allows the flavors of the ingredients to shine through.

We may not have tried anything brand new for our WWC Thai meal, but that challenge doesn't require us to venture out to new spots or get new dishes. One more WWC country checked off!