True Thai

While in Minnesota for my friend Bethany's wedding (congrats Beth & Tony!) I met up with some friends for dinner. My mother's friend Nancy is a nurse, and one of her coworkers happens to own a Thai restaurant-she pretty much is living my dream! Nursing and a restaurant-ambitious, yes, but it CAN be done :)

Being a group of 6 plus one adorable 1 year old, it took us awhile to decide what to order, so we started with some appetizers.

(adorable 1 year old ->)

The best of the 4 ordered was definitely the corn cakes, served with a sweet-spicy-savory dipping sauce. The corn cakes were crispy on the outside and steaming inside.


For my main dish I decided to go my usual route; order something with lots of vegetables (I enjoy eating vegetables but find myself less motivated to eat them if I have to prepare them!). I settled on a wok-fried 7 vegetable medley with a savory brown sauce and tofu. The vegetables were lightly steamed, and the sauce flavorful but a little safer than I prefer. The dish was not at all greasy, which is something that drives me crazy about some Thai restaurants.

Anna, the super nurse-restauranteur was kind enough to send us out a couple of entrees to try.
The first was a spicy red curry, rich in coconut flavor with shrimp and kabocha squash. Although I tend to shy away from curries (I love them, but I have spice intolerances/allergies) but once in awhile will risk my health to try a particularly tempting one. This squash is awesome. And strange! I expected a summer/zucchini squash but this definitely would fall into our winter squash variety! It complimented the creamy coconut and fiery curry nicely. The second dish was a slow roasted Minnesota duck in a sweet, sour, salty chili reduction sauce. At this point I become very glad to have a mild entree! The duck was perfectly roasted, very moist and tender. The fire from the chilies cut through the sweet duck fat. I love love love this dish. If you are in Minneapolis, or even have a long layover there, I highly recommend ordering the roast duck, you will not be disappointed!!

My friend Andrea ordered dessert as her entree, having apparently had Thai for lunch (oops). Creamy coconut ice cream had flecks of real coconut and bananas were lightly battered (I believe) and deep fried. Bittersweet chocolate sauce was drizzled over both. Oh my freaking god, this is so mouth-watering awe-inspiring delicious. Period. I hope that I can find something similar in Boston.


After 4 appetizers for the table and entrees the bill came out to about 14 dollars each, with enough food left over for another meal. The food was amazing, the waiter sweet if a little inexperienced and the bill quite reasonable. True Thai is located at 2627 East Franklin Avenue in Minneapolis.

Also-there is an option to purchase curry sauce at the restaurant to use at home! I love that-I think it makes the food much more accessible to people who cannot afford to eat out as often.


*photos are from the restaurant's website www.truethai.com