Thai Time

Who doesn’t love a delicious thai dinner prepared in bold spices and fresh herbs? At in Bel Marin Keys, this busy restaurant showed that everyone was ready to entertain their food pallet with these exotic dishes.

This place, as well as most Asian restaurants, are great to experience with a group of people so that you can share and taste a variety of dishes. I would recommend starting with the Sample Platter. This plate came with chicken satay, curry puffs, crispy spring rolls, and thai shrimp for $13. The variety this platter has to offer is a great start to opening up your taste buds for a full thai dinner experience.

Can you say Yum Talay? This seafood salad was mixed with calamari, mussels and shrimp.  It had an excellent warm flavor, not too fishy or too spicy.  I’ll be honest, I was a little nervous about the seafood salad. At most places, seafood is hit or miss. I personally love seafood but it is like nails on a chalkboard to me when I receive a seafood dish that is not well sauced and the flavors of the sea salt from the shore are as potent as if the dish just came off the boat. However, that was not the case with this $13 seafood salad. It was a beautiful and exotic presentation. I loved the combination of the warm seafood mixed with the cold greens.

The next four dishes were in the $8- $9 price range.  A noodle dish is a must have at every asian dining experience. The drunken noodles had great texture and the noodles were not drowning in the sauce. Using Chinese broccoli made it easier to eat the noodles with the vegetables in one bite. The flavor was a bit on the spicier side, but not too overwhelming in my opinion.

Most people are familiar with a thai basil dish. This Spicy Thai Basil Beef was served with strips of beef, just in case you are one of those people who gets frustrated when ordering a beef dish to find out they forgot to mention “ground beef” on the menu. Basil beef is traditionally served with bell peppers, onions, and basil. In addition to those vegetables, Arun Thai serves their basil beef with cauliflower and zucchini. For me, the extra vegetables took away from the authenticity of the traditional bail beef. It became more like a beef and vegetable stir fry dish to me.

If you are a vegetarian or just love your vegetables, the Eggplant Tofu entree was overflowing with vegetables. It was complied of tofu, eggplant, broccoli, carrots, onions, green beans, cauliflower and perfectly sauteed with a light flavor of asian spices. It met your nutrient requirements and your satisfaction requirements as well.

I'll end this thai experience with a Yellow Chicken Curry that was AMAZING! I hate to break it to my friends who love my husband’s chicken curry dish, but Arun Thai won this battle. The curry was a light fresh flavor. The sauce had a dash of cinnamon that made my spoon continously returning to the bowl.  If you and a group of friends are looking to experience a great taste of thai this week, Arun Thai in Bel Marin Keys is the hot thai spot in Novato!