Siam Rice II is an unpretentious "joint", so for those who regard fine interior design & chic accoutrements to be the sine qua non of haute cuisine dining, stop right here since that ain't gonna happen there. It's basic, down home, and proud of it too. You can come in your raggedy cut offs, wife beaters that have "Don't Mess With TEXAS" printed on it , rubber beach sandals, and they'll still let you in.
The "Angel Wings" or Fried Stuffed Chicken Wings tasted rather good with a nice crusty, crispy batter, huge meaty wings where the radius & ulna are deboned and the meat left is stuffed with a forcemeat of pork, glass noodles, cloud ear mushroom, carrots, possibly onions all seasoned with a bit of Nampla (fish sauce), garlic, white pepper that gave the stuffing and the adjacent chicken meat an herbed, complex medley of Umami & slightly smoky, garlicky undertone.
The sweet sauce supplied here is totally clear & not the typical Thai Chili Sauce with flecks of sweet, red chiles floating in the viscous sugar sauce. Perhaps adding the vinegar and/or the pickled green chiles as well as adding the red chile paste to the thick, sweet, clear liquid will enliven as well as make a more complex dipping sauce. This version of the Angel Wings was quite large in terms of portion and a great deal for the price. Just eating the two wings can be quite filling for a light eater. It was a very satisfying tasting.
I ordered the Pad Ka Pao Pork which usually is sauteed in an oyster sauce, Nampla, onions, bell pepper, garlic, chiles, ground white pepper, sugar with either spearmint or Thai basil thrown in at the end that gives the dish a refreshing herbal counterpoint to the heavier flavours mentioned above. There is also an element of bar-be-cue smoke in the sauce that flatters those who are aficionados of the ancient art of cooking with wood.
The Pad Ka Pao at Siam Rice II has most of the elements of the ingredients & preparation down right except for the niggardly use of either the basil or mint. But unfortunately they seem to be using too much oyster sauce which is extremely salty. Too much use of it ruins the ingredients that are cooking in it.
Adding more Nampla adds a meaty, subtle Umami, but the high salt concentration there also adds to the extreme saltiness encountered in this dish. More judicious use of the oyster sauce would lighten up the Pad Ka Pao sauce & add a more discrete, more palatable level of saltiness & fermented soy bean paste funk which can be good in more moderate amounts. Also the pork was overcooked to the point the meat was dry & hard.
Although the staff seems to be Thai/Chinese at least in the Thai culinary sense, the food here may be trying to cater more to a non-Thai crowd which means that Thai based more delicate, nuanced, understated flavours are sacrificed since they would not be particularly perceived by an audience that may not be more aware of the finer points of this ancient culinary tradition.
I saw my friend, Sue's version of Pad Thai, and the wider rice noodles were swimming in this thick, red, heavy tasting sauce. There was no sign of the usual raw bean sprouts, shreds of raw carrots, cucumber, and not even the wedge of lime to squeeze to add a citrus acid based gastrique to freshen the flavours. The beansprouts were there, but overcooked with the Pad Thai so they were shriveled up. Sue admitted she couldn't eat it all since the overall flavours of the too rich sauce sated her appetite. Another example of the flavour/salt overkill at Siam Rice II.
The Thai Ice Tea was good, but the red/orange tinged tea was either not strong enough or did not have freshness so it lacked a certain deep brewed aliveness & fragrance found in more exemplary Thai Ice Teas.
Neither fish nor fowl at my first visit to Siam Rice II. Only one high flying run, one ball, and 2 strike outs were not a good sign for the other dishes served at this restaurant. The staff is pleasant, and service is good, but unfortunately the taste factor seems awry and out of control. (Who knows, maybe the cook had an argument with his spouse the day I came.) read more