| Judy and I have been going to Siam Hut ever since we moved here in 2015, but it was a long-established restaurant even then. It is what we consider "authentic" in our experience with Thai restaurants, in that it is a family operation with Thai decor and familiar dishes - not just "Thai flavored" dishes. | ||
| Siam Hut is in a rather drab, non descript strip mall shopping center, easy to miss as you drive by - but as I think about it, I really can't recall ever being to a really good Thai restaurant that was in a particularly inviting location. Most of them have looked like hole-in-the-wall places from the outside. Once you get inside, there's no doubt from the decor and atmosphere that you are in a real Thai restaurant, as opposed to a Chinese or sushi place that added a couple Thai dishes to round out their menus. | ||
| I say the following, because I
have seen a few negative reviews that I thought were unfair: Service is dependably good but not acrobatic, if you know what I mean. This is a family operation with only one to three people working the floor, the same ones who have been there doing this for literally years. Don't go during peak hours and expect fast service. Don't expect them to be able to list off a dozen dishes for special dietary needs like gluten free, peanut free, etc. It's a family owned Thai place, not a Cheesecake Factory. Don't ask for substitutions if you do not understand the cuisine and what is reasonable. |
||
| One night I overheard a lady ask if they could substitute rice for the noodles in her Pad Thai, which would be kind of like substituting rice for the spaghetti in spaghetti and meat balls or steak for chicken in chicken parmesan. The poor waitress was taken aback and didn't know quite what to say, and the lady was upset that she was told she could not have rice instead of noodles, and I suspect it is people like that who write negative reviews for a restaurant like this. | ||
| The food is skillfully prepared from fresh, good ingredients according to old recipes - and that's why you should go there, but go with the attitude that it's worth waiting for if you go at peak times. | ||
| Our favorite dishes are: Massaman and Panang curries, we typically get them medium with chicken. There are 4 other styles of curry as well. Pad Thai - "of course" - we consider Pad Thai the "beginner dish." Start off any friend who is trying Thai food for the first time with Pad Thai. Shrimp Ashore - this is on the last page under their house specialties. It's fried shrimp in a viscous sweet and hot chili sauce over a bed of veggies. Crispy Trio with pork or chicken - another house specialty, "trio" refers to the flavors, it does not mean you get three proteins. Crispy fried meat in a three flavor sauce that is again sweet and hot, but also sour, over veggies. Kanom Bieng - is a unique appetizer I have never seen in many years of trying different Thai places. It is also known to friends of ours as 'the taco," but it's a crispy crepe stuffed with minced shrimp, shredded coconut, bean sprouts, and ground peanuts and served with a cucumber salad that is tiny pieces of cucumber and carrot in a sweet vinegar dressing. The coconut is moist and for some reason - I've never asked - it is orange. This is a dish you will not see anywhere else and you have never tasted anything quite like it. You should try it at least once. |
||
| Satay - Chicken satay is the classic, familiar Thai appetizer, skewered marinated chicken with peanut sauce and the same cucumber salad as Kanom Bieng | ||
| Cashew Nut Stir Fry - onions, celery, carrot, cashew stir fry with your choice of chicken, beef, pork, tofu, shrimp, or squid. There are about a dozen varieties of stir fry dishes in all. | ||
| Roast Pork Fried Rice - there are 11 varieties of fried rice on the menu, including a regular pork fried rice and a roasted pork fried rice. I greatly prefer the ROASTED pork fried rice, because it uses a char siu pork... you know that very tasty kind of pork you get in a Chinese place, with a red coating or rind? Yeah, that stuff. The roasted pork fried rice is heaven if you like that stuff, I am not kidding. | ||
| These are just a few favorites. The menu has 5 varieties of fish dishes, fried tilapia in various sauces. There's at least one duck dish with pineapple in a red curry. There are two frog leg dishes. There are 7 noodles dishes, 8 traditional Thai salads - I love Nam Sod, Judy hates it - a dozen appetizers, and 5 soups. | ||
| If I had to find fault with something, I'd say, "don't judge Siam Hut by the Siam Roll." I am a lover of spring rolls and egg rolls - I love Siam Hut but I do not consider their Siam Rolls indicative of the rest of the menu. Oddly neither are their Chicken Wings one of my favorites. When I consider the Kanom Bieng, the Satay, the Goong Gra Boug, the Giew Za, and the Mee Grob, I dont see any reason to order the wings or rolls. If you must have them, they'll do. | ||
| They do serve beer and wine, but I am not certain if they serve liquor. The bar is certainly not the star here. | ||
| In case there's any doubt, Siam Hut is definitely in our top two or three choices when dining out. | ||
| https://capecoralsiamhut.com/ | ||
| Other Thai places in the
area we've tried: Thai Nawa on Pine Island Rd, Phensri Thai, and
Thai Garden are all good. Each has its followers, and I
know people who prefer one or the other. I would not go out of my way for Thai Bon on Del Prado. I'd only go to Captain Hook Sushi/Pho/Thai if I had a group of people who could not agree if they wanted to eat sushi or Thai. There are better places for both sushi and Thai food. |
||