[MSP] Krua Thailand Restaurant

[Brad Ballinger]

On Saturday night, my wife and daughter and I went to Krua Thailand Restaurant on University Avenue, just west of Western, in St. Paul’s Frogtown neighborhood. There are many good Asian places in the area, and I would add this one to that ever-growing list. In full disclosure, however, it is operated by my sister-in-law’s sister-in-law (more detailed: my wife’s brother’s wife’s brother’s wife).

I was a bit unsure as to how much our 14-year old daughter would enjoy it since she usually isn’t ultra-adventurous. If there is a vegetable in a dish that is not lettuce, tomato or a jalapeno chile, she remains skeptical. But she was willing to give it a shot.

Her demeanor changed slightly when she didn’t find anything on the menu that resembled the nearest thing in her experience, Chinese. Our daughter enjoys Chinese food, but that consists of getting as many of the battered and fried items from the steam table buffet that she can. Nothing like that here. But there was a noodles dish to which she could add shrimp, and that seemed to work. Of course, we add to ask for no bean sprouts or even green onions. The fried egg remained, and she gave it a quizzical look, but ate it anyway. Afterwards she said, that she like her food very much and wants to go back.

Onto the restaurant description. The dining room is quite small, seating no more than 20-24. There is a deck on the east side of the restaurant, but on this night everyone was inside. The menu has about 120 items. I’ve never understood why Asian restaurants have such extensive menus. And this one wasn’t categorized by beef, chicken, pork, etc. with the same dishes underneath each protein ingredient heading. This was categorized by appetizer, soup, salad, noodles, entrée, stir fry, dessert. Nearly every soup, noodle, and stir fry item had a choice of beef, pork, chicken, shrimp, fish, or mock duck. Somewhat unique to this restaurant, every menu item comes with a picture. Most every item is less than $10.

I ordered a soup – a tom yam variety that had some coconut milk, those mushrooms that look like dark collapsed umbrellas (I don’t recall their name right now), Thai basil, coriander, and I went for the shrimp option and medium spicy. In a word, it was fantastic. And my daughter loved the broth mixed in with rice. My wife ordered a stir fry with mock duck, Chinese broccoli, the same mushrooms, Thai basil, and some other stuff. She enjoyed it immensely. We did not order dessert.

So our daughter can’t wait to go back. Neither can we. By the way, I thought about not mentioning this restaurant to anyone. A google search came up empty. But it’s more important to get the word out to keep the place in business (and not just because I know who the owner is).

[MSPD]

A google search came up empty. 

←

Thanks for highlighting a place like this. I like to hear about the lesser-known places.

Perhaps a significant FYI: the restaurant is Krua (with a K).

[ronnie_suburban]

Perhaps a significant FYI:  the restaurant is Krua (with a K).

←

I've amended the title of the thread accordingly.

=R=

[Brad Ballinger]

A google search came up empty. 

←

Thanks for highlighting a place like this. I like to hear about the lesser-known places.

Perhaps a significant FYI: the restaurant is Krua (with a K).

←

Thanks. My bad.

Edited to add: And a google search for Krua Thailand returns plenty.

Edited August 30, 2005 by Brad Ballinger (log)

[edsel]

I ordered a soup – a tom yam variety that had some coconut milk, those mushrooms that look like dark collapsed umbrellas (I don’t recall their name right now), Thai basil, coriander, and I went for the shrimp option and medium spicy.  In a word, it was fantastic.

←

I think that those are straw mushrooms

I ate at Krua Thailand this evening (thanks to seeing your post). I had the hot and sour fish soup. I think it's called Thom Yum Pla (?) It has Thai basil, kefir lime, lemon grass, galangal, and chilis. The fish soup has oyster mushrooms rather than straw mushrooms. The fish pieces are cross-sections of the whole fish, unboned. They're fried before going into the soup, so the outside is crunchy and the inside moist. Very tasty, but a challenge to eat with chopsticks.

Nice restaurant, great food and very friendly staff.

[Brad Ballinger]

I ordered a soup – a tom yam variety that had some coconut milk, those mushrooms that look like dark collapsed umbrellas (I don’t recall their name right now), Thai basil, coriander, and I went for the shrimp option and medium spicy.  In a word, it was fantastic.

←

I think that those are straw mushrooms.

←

Yes, that's exactly it. The link you provided is broken, but I knew as soon as I saw the words "straw mushrooms," that those were the ones I had. Love 'em.

[ronnie_suburban]

Yes, that's exactly it.  The link you provided is broken, but I knew as soon as I saw the words "straw mushrooms," that those were the ones I had.  Love 'em.

←

The link is repaired

=R=

[John Braise]

They have this sun-dried pork appetizer that is freakin' awesome. Not exactly the most healthy option on the menu, but holy pork is it good.

[deltadoc]

Their Papaya Salad (Thai Style) is awesome, one of the best dishes oriental I've had.

I think we also had #82 which I think had just a bit too much cilantro in it for our tastes.

I think we also had a pork dish with Thai peanut sauce which was very tasty.

I'll pass on the coconut though. They chop off the husk of a whole coconut, top it, and stick in a straw. Very very sweet for my taste.

The shrimp appetizer with hot sauce was very very good. I asked if I could get it with both available sauces (hot, and sweet & sour) and they gladly obliged.

doc