Ayuthai Thai Restaurant in Guilford, CT

[Scargo]

Thai is one of my favorite ethnic foods; perhaps because it can be spicy. As a transplanted Texan, I need my spicy food. And, it can be so "fresh" with many uncoooked components. I like that. I love to cook it at home. Thai was the first meal I prepared for my "Honey". Like Tex-Mex or "Mexican", when I hear of a new restaurant I just have to try it.

I think Ayuthai has been open only a short while; I think it opened around November, '07. When I Googled it I came up with only two entries (now three).

This is a smallish restaurant with two dining areas. There is no real lobby or waiting area. In a small house, I would guess the whole place can seat about 60 people at around fifteen tables. We were there at about 7:30 on a rainy Friday night and they were still fairly full. We ate in the entry/small bar area where they have four, two-tops. This is a busy area. "The bar" is also where customers come for take-out. After a while it was not so bad and became almost quiet and intimate. We were able to have a pleasant after-dinner conversation with the couple next to us, who frequent the place. The two-top tables are too small to handle a number of dishes, wine glasses, etc., at one time. I would suggest opting for a four-top, if you can.

There was a decent selection of wine. This impressed me for a Thai restaurant. We had the Folie A Deux Menage a Trois 2006, a dark Zin blend. This was a great red and, for the quality, was priced conservately at $24!

We ordered fresh "Spring Rolls" and received fried rolls. We said "what the heck" and ate them. Then the "real" uncooked spring rolls arrived. We said, "what the heck--we can take them home if we are too full", so we kept them. They were good but the dark brown, thick, peanut-based dipping sauce was too strong, thick and overpowering. I preferred the light, sweet and sour dipping sauce. My partner ordered Larb (the ground pork salad) for her main course and I ordered the deep-fried red snapper with chili sauce over it (basically Pad Prik Pla) but it included large slivers of onion and green bell pepper. It was not terribly spicy, slightly overcooked, but very satisfying. We both agreed that the Larb was good, but WAY TOO SALTY! I'm sure this occurred from a combination of fish sauce (yet it didn't seem overpoweringly fishy) and salt; when combined was overkill. We are both old enough to want an extra boost of flavors for our less-than sensitive palates, but this was too much. We took it home, put a lot of lime juice over it and ate it with rice. It was acceptable at that point.

We shared a coconut ice cream dessert, which I can highly recommend, especially if you have eaten a lot of spicy food!

Though the experience had some hiccups, I can recommend that you try it. I have had some incredibly good Thai food, in many cities, and this did not quite measure up, on this occasion, but it is as good as any I have had in the New Haven-Guilford area. The service was quite good. It is a neat and clean restaurant.

Ayuthai is easy to get to; taking exit 57, it is one mile back towards Branford on Boston Post Road. It sits by itself, right on the north side of the road, at the top of a hill and has very adequate parking. Enjoy!

BTW, I discovered Ayuthai while looking for a restaurant, while in Guilford. Guilford, among other things, is known for the Shoreline Arts Alliance which has a number of galleries, arts programs and concerts. It hosts the prestigious "Images" photography competition, for Connecticut residents. The chosen entries will be displayed from February 11 through March 1. I just heard that I have a piece that was accepted into the competition! I had to brag....