It is always to fun to check out kind of a new restaurant. We found this Thai restaurant that was still kind of new, and since we like Thai food, we decided to check it out. It is hard to miss with that bright orange colored awning against a very white wall.
The inside was a nice size, with plenty of seating. They had red brick wall on the left, and rest was painted white. Very clean looking and not cluttered. I liked how they didn’t have tables on top of each other, but allowing space in between so that you have more privacy and room to move around. It was bright with natural light coming in from windows.
They had an extension to the right, which was a bar with more seating. This area looked like they are still organizing the kitchen and other items, as they had boxes stacked on the corner areas. They had fake flowers on each table, although I prefer real flowers, it is still cute and is kinder for real flowers.
They had a nice and super affordable lunch special here, which was great. The lunch special comes with a choice of appetizer and main, and the price is based on the main ingredient you choose ($7.25 – $8.95). But, since we were really hungry, we decided to add an appetizer to go with the lunch specials. We chose the one that was named after the restaurant, Tung Thong ($6.95). It looks like Crab Rangoon, but they were a bit different. Here, they are crispy golden bags filled shrimps and ground chicken, served with sweet chili sauce. They were good, nice and crunchy, and the filling was tasty. BUT, when you think about how you can have a lunch set with just another dollar or less, I am not sure if it was worth it… OR, it is simply that their lunch special is at too awesomely priced!
For the first lunch special set, we chose Spring Roll and Sriracha Noodle, and we went with Chicken is main ingredient ($7.25). The spring roll comes with just one roll, but a nice size, and was surprisingly good. It contained a vermicelli noodle (I think) which was really great, I really enjoyed it. The flavor was awesome and fried perfectly.
Sriracha noodle is made with sauteed flat noodles with Sriracha sauce, tofu, eggs, broccoli, onions, scallions and bean sprouts. It was spicy, had a good kick to it, but maybe not as I expected. Maybe they were playing it safe? It was a nice size, good amount of chicken and everything. It was very filling and I enjoyed it. On the menu, they had one chili pepper sign next to this item. For those who likes it really spicy, perhaps I could have asked for it to be extra spicy? For me, it was a good amount of spicy-ness.
For the second lunch special, we chose Veggie Dumplings and Thai Fried Rice with Tofu ($7.25). The dumplings came in two, and was very juicy and tasty. So far, we really liked both of their appetizers. The dumplings were packed with veggie filling, as much as they can put in the shell.
The Thai Fried Rice is made with sauteed rice with egg, onions, tomatoes, Chinese broccoli and scallions. It was not spicy at all, it had a bit of sweetness to it. Again, it had good portion, and good amount of fried tofu chunks. The eggs were fluffy and the Chinese broccoli was cooked just right, still fresh but without any bitterness.
Since the restaurant was not busy (only us and another table), we got good service. The waitress was friendly enough, courteous and efficient. The food came out quickly and we enjoyed them. Even though it seemed to be like one of so many other Thai restaurant, serving similar type of food that we are all very used to here in the US, it was still good to have another new place to go to, when we have cravings for Thai food. Oh, I must mention, another wonderful thing about their lunch special is that offer it 7 days a week! So you can have the same lunch special on the weekend, which is a big plus.
Tung Thong 181 – 812 W 181st St, New York, NY 10033