River Kwai Thai Restaurant

[GoodEater]

Sorry to not carry on the thread but I could not post a new one. Just want to pass along new info on to everyone-

A new Thai restaurant is coming to Totowa! Location is in the small strip mall right off the exit ramp for Riverview Drive off Route 46 West. It is just behind where the Applebees is and in the same plaza as Soprano's Pizza. They have a sign up which says "River Kwai Thai Restaurant". As of yesterday they still had paper over the storefront window. I pass by here almost every weekday so I will keep you posted on the progress.

I have had many good meals at Wondee's and I will have to try Thai Chef sometime. It will be terrific to have a Thai place so close to my office.

Note: Split from Thai Chef topic.

Edited June 24, 2004 by Rachel Perlow (log)

[GoodEater]

As to my last post I forgot to mention that there is a sign up on the window of River Kwai which says, "Coming Soon". I only drove by and saw the place from a distance. I will walk up to the place soon and take a closer look to see how far along they are with the construction.

[Rosie]

Be sure to send us the address and phone #. Thanks.

[GoodEater]

River Kwai is open. I drove by yesterday and they had a grand opening banner out.

As I already had dinner planned for yesterday I did not pick up any food. But I am going to get lunch there today. I picked up a menu and it looks to be fairly complete with around 132 dishes listed. Menu headings are: Appetizers, salad, soup, Thai favoirtes, Thai curry, Thai Barbecue, Thai seafood, Thai duck, River Kwai Chef' s specials,Thai noodles, Thai fred rice, Vegitarian menu, rice, dessert and beverages.

They have split the menu between lunch prices and dinner prices on all of the dishes. The menu states right on the front, " No Lunch Menu On Weekends & Holidays."

From a quick look it seems as if they can seat around 50-60 people. They had paper table coverings over all of the table so it is a very casual enviroment. Front wall of the place is all windows as it is in many NJ-type typical small strip mall. The overall look of the place is clean and uncluttered. (Some fancy Thai restaurants look like Thai shrines/palaces-as I sure most of you already know)

Price range looks to be moderate for a Thai place. Apps range from $4.95 to $6.95 and dinner entrees range from around $7.95 to $16.95. Lunch entrees run from $6.95 to $14.95.

On the bottom of the menu they have printed in red ink a small red pepper and right next to it "MEAN SPICY". This reminded me of another thread about funny misspellings on menus. Of course they meant to say MEANS SPICY. But hopefully their hot dishes are "mean spicy" because I prefer a great deal of heat in a dish that is supposed to be spicy. This could be a new saying for me- "WOW! That's mean spicy." Let's hope it is.

Well after all of this I hope that the food is better than good. I will send a report soon.

The address is Totowa Plaza- 400 Minnisink Road, Totowa, NJ.

Tel # 973-812-8488 or 973-812-8489.

It is BYOB and they accept Visa and Mastercard.

To put everyone's mind at ease- I have NO affiliation with this restaurant but I just love Thai food ( but I guess could say that about all foods that are well prepared and well presented!!!)

[pete ganz]

My wife picked up some take-out from River Kwai Thai and said the wait was very long (still new...working out the kinks). The dishes we ordered had good flavor, especially the 2 dishes with chicken (Singapore noodles and BBQ chicken). I had the Panang curry (beef) and ordered it "hot". It had a little kick, but not the usual "hot" you expect at a Thai restaurant. I suggest you order it extra hot if you're a chili-head. This place definitely has some promise, and was certainly needed in that culinary wasteland (where Rt. 46W meets 23 and 80).

[GoodEater]

I had a Thai curry (take-out) for lunch. It was the Gang Keow Whan. This dish is green curry with bamboo shoots, Thai eggplants, Thai basil , red pepper and coconut milk. It was just the right spiciness. Price was $7.35 with tax -There was a choice of beef, chicken or Pork (Shrimp or Calamari was $2.00 extra). It came in a pint sized container with a 1/2 pint of white rice on the side.

This was a really very good dish. Vegtables we fresh and we not overcooked. Sauce was a thin coconut sauce that could have used a bit more curry flavor- but overall it was a very good Thai dish.

I asked the woman working there a few questions and she told me they opened on July 4. I also found out that the restaurant is owned by the same family that owns Tuptim in Montclair. I am certain that I wll return with my wife for a more complete dinner sometime soon.

On a previous post I said from a quick look that the place could hold 50-60 people but it is more like 38 people ( I had time to get a good chair/ bench count while I was waiting.) Also saw some really nice looking dishes coming out of the kitchen to dinners in the restaurant. Plating technique looks very good.

This place has a good background (Tuptim) and it is great to have it so close to Fairfield. Thanks all for now

[tommy]

goodeater, how well do you think it stands up to Wondees? i suppose it's like tuptim, but i've never been there.

[GoodEater]

I can't tell you in any detail yet because I only had the one take out dish. But based upon on curry dish and just looking at the presentation of the meals brought out to the diners it seems to be a little more refined cooking in terms of overall plate presentation and the chef's knife skills (especially with the veggies).

Freshness and flavor was very good at River Kwai. Wondee's is usually very good as well but I will let you know more after I have additonal dishes. I am going for next week to try some more dishes and I can then give you a more complete comparision.

I will definitely be going to both places as I work in Fairfield and I have a relative who lives in Hackensack. So I will simply be FORCED to patronize both places.

Some of us have to SUFFER!

[jsibley]

I've now been twice, and recommend the River Kwai for Thai food. It has a pretty extensive Thai menu, including things one doesn't always see in other restaurants (and which appear to be authentic Thai, such as Chinese sausage salad). I thought the flavors were quite good and have now tried Pad Prik King (spicy chicken or pork with green beans and kafir lime chili sauce), Moo Yang (grilled pork with a sweet chili sauce on the side), Nam Sod (like Larb, but with peanuts and pork), and Panang curry.

And, if not in the mood for a Thai dessert, there's a branch of Applegate Farms ice cream a couple of doors down.

In my opinion, and to my surprise and relief, this is not suburban, Americanized Thai food (at least the dishes I ordered).

[Jason Perlow]

I concur with JSibley that River Kwai is a very nice, authentic Thai restaurant -- Rachel and I had a nice meal this evening. Very diverse Thai menu, with lots of offerings in Noodles. I would put the food quality on par with Wondees.

However, the portions are VERY small. Their larb portion was like 1/3 to a 1/4 of the size you get at Wondees, for about the same amount of money -- come to think of it, it was the smallest portion of Larb I have ever seen. Curry puffs were 3 to a plate and were rather small. Rachel's noodle dish also was quite small. A "large" Thom Kha Gai soup yeilded 2 1/2 small soup bowls worth of soup -- the Wondee's equivalent can feed 5 people. My dinner curry order was like 1/3 the size of what Wondees would serve.

I had some other issues as well. The soup was good, but the one thing I didn't like besides the portion size was that there were no identifyable peices of galangal or lemongrass in the soup, which although done to make the soup easier to eat is a major flaw in my book. Plenty of mushrooms and some nice white meat chicken but not much else. The Gang Keow Warn green curry had well defined flavor, but even though I ordered it at the highest spicy level, I didn't even break a sweat. The vegetables were purposefully undercooked, and while some people might like that, I didn't. I don't like Thai Eggplant and green beans to be crunchy in a curry.

The place is clearly focusing heavily on presentation, all the dishes came out very nice looking, and even the rice is molded into little boat shapes and garnished with little carrot flowers on top. Its a bit annoying however that it takes them 10 minutes to get you an extra plate of rice if you want it, though. Rachel felt the service was a tad on the unprofessional side because they didn't have any professional waitstaff and family members were acting as servers, but I thought they looked presentable enough.

I'd probably come back again for lunch or something if I was shopping in nearby Wayne, but otherwise I'll stick to Wondees, its a much better value. Although if I lived in the area I would probably be very glad that such an authentic Thai restaurant was nearby, and I am sure the Totowa residents are quite happy they are there.

Oh and if you do go, its a REQUIREMENT that you eat at the Applegate Farms Ice Cream in the same strip mall that JSibley mentioned. Its so creamy that its practically gelato -- and they have some great flavors, including this Graham Cracker flavor that is truly outstanding.

[Rachel Perlow]

What he said. Very good to excellent food, small portions, forgetful but very friendly service. I'm sure I'll be taking my mom there after our next trip to Fortunoff.

[mongo_jones]

do they actually serve the food of the province(s) the kwai river flows through or is the name merely for recognition?

[tommy]

I had some other issues as well. The soup was good, but the one thing I didn't like besides the portion size was that there were no identifyable peices of galangal or lemongrass in the soup, which although done to make the soup easier to eat is a major flaw in my book.

quite frankly, if i don't have to pick out big bits of lemongrass and galanagal, i wonder what the heck is going on as well. i agree. for a dinner party i might pull them out if preparing for guests, but at a thai place, leave 'em in there, 'cause that's half the fun.

as far as the name goes, i don't get too wrapped up in trivialities: it's a thai restaurant in NJ. and given that, their food probably represents north, south, up, down, east, west, and -i influences. they could call it Golden Tommy and i wouldn't be too upset, as long as they're giving me some good food.

Edited August 8, 2004 by tommy (log)

[Jason Perlow]

I had some other issues as well. The soup was good, but the one thing I didn't like besides the portion size was that there were no identifyable peices of galangal or lemongrass in the soup, which although done to make the soup easier to eat is a major flaw in my book.

quite frankly, if i don't have to pick out big bits of lemongrass and galanagal, i wonder what the heck is going on as well. i agree. for a dinner party i might pull them out if preparing for guests, but at a thai place, leave 'em in there, 'cause that's half the fun.

Absolutely. I want to see that fresh Thai produce is being used, ESPECIALLY in Thom Kha.

[mongo_jones]

as far as the name goes, i don't get too wrapped up in trivialities: it's a thai restaurant in NJ. and given that, their food probably represents north, south, up, down, east, west, and -i influences. they could call it Golden Tommy and i wouldn't be too upset, as long as they're giving me some good food.

oh i wasn't making anything of the name--just wondering. are there any regional thai places anywhere in the u.s though? now that the chinese are fairly diversified, and the indians are beginning to follow suit, i wonder how long it'll be before thai restaurants do as well.

and not that i ever find "the chef's special sauce" tempting anywhere, i certainly wouldn't ever get anything featuring it at the golden tommy.

[tommy]

and not that i ever find "the chef's special sauce" tempting anywhere,  i certainly wouldn't ever get anything featuring it at the golden tommy.

if i say you will you will. are we clear?

i suppose your question is reasonable. i'm not all *that* familiar with the regional styles of thai to even guess if they'd go over in Everytown USA. but i'm guessing not. i'm just glad we have 30 thai restaurants in northern NJ, and 5 or so worth visiting in manhattan. many of which offer a good varietly of northern and southern thai dishes. of course, the "outer boroughs" are a powderkeg of excitement when it comes to thai food. or so some will have us believe.

and now that i think about it, i'm wondering how well diversified the "chinese" really are in the US. for every shanghaiese and sichuan place (with "authentic" food), i'm thinking there are about 1,529,302 "chinese" restaurants. but i could be off by 546,934 or so.

Edited August 8, 2004 by tommy (log)

[Curlz]

...pieces of galangal or lemongrass in the soup

Jason, what's galangal?

It's funny...I met a friend for lunch and we went to a Thai place in Somerville (I cannot for the life of me come up with the name right now--want to say Ciao Phaya but I know it's not Ciao!!--I'll find out).

I don't have a lot of experience with Thai food, but whenever I have it, I just marvel at the flavors. I had a small bowl of soup and asked for it "1 pepper hot" (out of 3), and it was HOT. Delicious, but HOT! And I spent time picking out lemongrass pieces and what I would describe as broken pieces of dried bay leaf just for reference on the look and texture. Is that galangal? I know you're not supposed to eat it, but that's as much as I know!

And I must agree that having Applegate Farms right in the same strip as a decent Thai restaurant is THE answer. Following this spicy soup today, I had to order a Thai iced tea to put out the fire! Their ice cream would more than do the trick---it's fabulous. And fwiw, AF has an outpost in Hanover/Florham Park now, too--on Ridgedale Ave on the northern side of Rt. 10. I'm wondering if the owners of Tuptim and Applegate decided to go in to that mall together, as they're both Montclair-based...

PS, sign me up for a trip to Wondee's! And maybe to Golden Tommy. But only if adegulio and amy go along with me.

Edit: It's Chao Phaya--I'm not as crazy as I thought!

Edited August 9, 2004 by Curlz (log)

[Jason Perlow]

Curlz, galangal is a root rhizome related to ginger, its used extensively in Thai cooking. The name Galangal is derived from the Arabic word Khalanjan, which is thought to be a bastardization of a Chinese word meaning 'mild ginger.'

http://www.theepicentre.com/Spices/galangal.html

The word "Kha" in Thai is the word for Galangal. Thus "Thom Kha Gai" is galangal soup with chicken.

[Rachel Perlow]

BTW - The stuff that looks like bay leaves should be Kaffir Lime leaves.

[Curlz]

Thanks, Perlows! One of the joys of eG is the education.

[phaelon56]

Oh and if you do go, its a REQUIREMENT that you eat at the Applegate Farms Ice Cream in the same strip mall that JSibley mentioned. Its so creamy that its practically gelato -- and they have some great flavors, including this Graham Cracker flavor that is truly outstanding.

One caveat on the truly wonderful Appplegate farms ice cream (stopping for an ice cream at their main Montclair location after the movies was one of my favorite NJ summertime things to do when I lived there). Applegates has ice cream they sell by the cone or dish and also in handpacked pints or quarts - it's incredibly good. They also sell "machine-packed" hald gallons and quarts in standard retail packging from a freezer. The stuff in the freezer is on par with good supermarket ice cream but in now way does it match the stuff they serve over the counter. The freezer product is much airier and less dense - not nearly as creamy (it's also cheaper - ya gets what ya pays for).

[Curlz]

Since my day ended in the Wayne/Totowa area today, I decided to stop at River Kwai to pick up dinner. First of all, they've made a very pretty space, esp when you consider what a true strip mall it is. There is seating for about 3 dozen people; the decor is calm, with lots of copper wall hangings, candles and elephants (I'm guessing that as in India, they are good luck). When I walked in at about 5:30, the place was empty, save for two staffers. While I was trying to decide, though, she took two calls and someone came in to pick up an order, so they're obviously getting some business. It took me a while to decide what to get, and when I finally put my order in, I had a chance to ask about their affiliation with Tuptim.

The woman I spoke with is the co-owner of River Kwai, along with her husband. Her brother is the chef at Tuptim, and their uncle used to run it, but he has recently retired. Her brother is making some changes at Tuptim, and is now open for dinner, but will eventually be open for lunch as well. She then noted that she is open for lunch and dinner 7 days a week, and said that she can do this because they have 3 chefs in rotation (though she commented that means that she and her husband are there all day/every day). I asked if she was starting to see a lot of business for both meals, and she said yes, and that she is one of the only ones in the area who is open for lunch on Sundays. She also commented that considering that most residents of the area tend to be away until Labor Day, that she had been pretty busy today. My guess is that many people felt like I did today; it was too damn hot to cook and the idea of some spicy food was a good one! Little did I know...

I ordered the red curry with green beans and kaffir leaves, and chose to have it with chicken. When she asked how spicy I wanted it, she said my choices were no spice, mild, medium or hot. I know that I enjoy the heat in Thai food, but I also know what a low tolerance I have for it, so I asked for mild. I am CERTAIN that what I got was medium. There's just no way this was mild! It was tasty, but almost difficult for me to eat. A cold beer helped, but honestly, I thought I might not be able to eat it. What I really needed was a Thai iced tea! That aside, it was fresh, there was a lot of chicken, and in addition to the string beans, there were also a few snow peas and sliced red pepper. I would certainly say they were using good ingredients.

I will definitely go back and try other dishes, hopefully when I can go with a few other people and get a better sampling! And maybe one that's not quite so hot. Thankfully I did have the foresight to bring home a small cup of Applegate Farms' sugar free raspberry/vanilla swirl--that really helped put out the fire!

Interestingly enough, there were people waiting to get in to Porcini (another restaurant in the strip) when I pulled out of the parking lot. I don't know anything about that restaurant--does anyone here? I just always think it's sad to see people flocking to something ordinary when there's something so authentic in the same location. My $ .02.

Btw, I don't know if it was mentioned earlier in this thread, but they are BYO. And I thought the prices looked reasonable; my dish was $8.95. And I have leftovers. Which of course, will only get spicier...

[kimmyb72]

porcini is awsome! they have a broccoli rabe and bean soup that is incredable.

[Rachel Perlow]

Is that the pizzaria looking place to the right of River Kwai, or is there another restaurant in that strip that I didn't notice?

[GoodEater]

The pizza place on the right is called Soprano's (A very good Jersey pizza place name indeed). Porcini is located on the extreme left end of the plaza. It's windows are usually completely covered with drapes from almost the top to the very bottom of their windows. Porcini is another "new" (new for me I mean) place I will have to check out.

FYI: I had one slice at Soprano's one time and it was OK. Much better pizza around the corner at Linwood Pizza (Next to the Appolo flag place and Office Depot on Route 46 West.)

Edited August 30, 2004 by GoodEater (log)