My wife and I LOVE great tasting Thai food. THE STORY BEGINS ! We were enjoying another great dinner at the Capital Noodle Bar on Barranca Pkwy in early January and were fortunate enough to meet James the amazing co-owner. James told us about his other restaurant Capital Seafood Restaurant at the Irvine Spectrum Center because we love Dim Sum. And then he said that a chef friend named Jenny had a fabulous Thai restaurant in nearby Costa Mesa.
So we looked up Hanuman Thai Eatery . . there are 2 locations both with excellent reviews. We decided to try this one . . the original location. On Friday as soon as it opened at 3pm I phoned to make a dinner reservation. The female who answered said we don’t take reservations ( Google Maps info ? ) . . put your name down and the wait is 45 to 60 minutes. Mmmmm ! I said to my wife I don’t fancy waiting around for up to an hour in the cold weather for a table here. I needed to know just how good this restaurant was so I messaged my best Yelp friend Sherry Chu ( top local realtor ) on Instagram whinging about no reservations and the long wait for a table. Sherry’s words said . . . Yes, it’s a super particular restaurant.
Now Sherry is probably the ultimate foodie in my opinion . . dines out a lot more than her Yelp reviews suggest. DONE DEAL ! On Friday straight after my wife returned from her hairdresser we hit the road and arrived here at 5.50pm. And yes there were people standing around everywhere in the cold and a hostess outside the entrance greeting people and taking down names. We approached the hostess desk and spoke with Am who told us the wait would be 45 mins to an hour.
Even though there were heaters all around on the busy outdoor patio we wanted to dine inside. I asked Am if she could get us in a bit quicker . . maybe my Aussie charm worked because we were called up in about 30 minutes. Thank you manager / hostess Am. GREAT TABLE ! We were seated at a table in the perfect location facing the kitchen. A very polite server named Min came by soon after to take our dinner order. First up some iced waters, an Allagash White Belgian Style beer and a Thai Iced Tea. We went with 1 x CHICKEN SATAY Appetizer ( Grilled marinated chicken served with homemade peanut sauce and sweet pickled Persian cucumbers ) to kick things off.
And then for our mains we ordered 1 x KHAO SOI ( Myanmar influence dish creamy curry broth over egg noodle topped with crispy noodle served with curry stewed chicken drumstick ) and 1 x MASSAMAN ( Mild, savory and slightly sweet with fragrant spice undertone of cumin, cardamom, and cinnamon prepared with potatoes, onions and peanut . . with choice of grilled chicken breast, fried chicken thigh or grilled tofu, hanger steak or grilled shrimps, grilled Canadian salmon ). I chose Hanger Steak ( medium rare ) and I asked Min our server to have it kicked up to number 6 spicy. Our Chicken Satay Appetizer arrived promptly and blew us away . . . flavor flavor flavor !
Our entrees arrived and looked beyond amazing ! My wife went crazy enjoying her Khao Soi . . the chicken drumstick was as big as a dinosaur leg ! Now my Massaman Curry with medium rare Hanger Steak kicked up to number 6 spicy at my request tasted MOUTHSATIONAL ! We still had some room for DESSERT. Before we knew it out came my WA-NON PUDDING ( Banana pudding topped with banana chips and homemade whipped cream with freshly made salted caramel and served with a side of cookie crumbs ) and my wife’s choice . . . THAI TEA CREME BRULEE ( Homemade Thai tea favored brûlée ). What a delicious finale to our incredible dinner !
