MALAI THAI
Dive in and fi nd something delicious at this new Long Beach restaurant
I
I stumbled across Malai Thai rather by ac-
cident. Driving through Long Beach, I noticed
the sign. “Wait a minute,” I muttered, “what’s
that?” It hadn’t appeared in any of my research. I
thought: Maybe they’re new?; or, maybe they’re
just not online? Either way, Thai sounded good,
and I was up for some blind exploration.
It was around 7 p.m. on a slow Sunday eve-
ning. I opened the door to a small room with a
service window to the kitchen, a cash register
and a small table or two. My companion and I
were greeted by a sweet, diminutive woman of
perhaps 60 or 70, who I can only assume was
Thai. She said “hello,” smiled ear to ear, and
led us gently to the adjacent dining room.
Or, should I say, dining rooms. There were
three of them. Each was small and sparsely dec-
orated, save for a few cross hatch wall hangings
and a traditional fan. The tables and chairs were
so unadorned they might as well have been
found at a conference center yard sale. My
companion and I were the only diners, and a
IHZPRPHQWVDIWHUZHVDWGRZQDP\VWLFDOÀXWH
music cued up on the stereo. The temperature
inside was brisk, and the place settings without
knives. I looked across the table at my compan-
ion and raised my eyebrows, as if to say: What
are we in for?
The menu was numbered and voluminous. It
included appetizers; soups; salads; two pages of
specials (18, incorporating mostly seafood and
duck); a page of 13 fried rices (available with
fried tofu, chicken, pork, beef or seafood); and
DSDJHRIQRRGOHVQLQHDQGFXUULHV¿YHDOVR
ZLWKFKRLFHRISURWHLQ'HFLGLQJZDVGLI¿FXOW
I asked the host/waitress what she might
recommend and quickly it became clear: She
spoke little English and understood less. “This
very good,” she said, pointing to the “Seafood
Lover” special, the one dish on the menu with
a large, color photograph corresponding. It
showed a smorgasbord of calamari, shrimp,
scallops and more. She said again, “Yes, very
good.” I still needed a moment, and happily she
VKXIÀHGRII
After pouring feckless over the multitude, I
¿QDOO\ KDG WR MXVW VHWWOH RQ VRPHWKLQJ$QG ,
did: the Roasted Duck Curry ($17). My com-
panion went with the aforementioned Seafood
Lover ($18), and we added a calamari appetizer
($8).
A few short minutes later the deep fried cal-
amari arrived, stacked on a small plate, drizzled
with a sweet and sour cream sauce and looking
more like onion rings. They were heavily bread-
ed and peppered, and the meat inside was ample.
The meat was also suspiciously uniform, and I
wondered if it came processed and frozen.
14 | June 11, 2015 | coastweekend.com
The same couldn’t be said for the abundance
of stir-fried oceana on the Seafood Lover plate.
It was teeming with vegetables and fresh-tasting
scallops, swollen clams and shrimp, all covered
in a salty, savory clam sauce, and topped with a
small cut of breaded salmon, which was lightly
crispy, almost candied on the outside, with soft
SLQNLQQDUGV,WZDVD¿QHFDUHIXOFURZQ
The Roasted Duck Curry was served steam-
ing hot. It was sweet, with a very manageable
spice. The duck was slow cooked and extreme-
ly tender. Succulent and thick, the texture was
almost beef-like. The duck was rich, satisfying,
and there was loads of it — some with the skin
on, and some with it mostly separated. Mixing
in the bowl were bell peppers and pineapples,
which were welcome explosions of tropical
sweetness. Being recently chopped and added
to the broth on order — rather than included
in the slow cooking — enabled the fruits and
Our main courses, served
with white rice, were enough
for two full meals apiece.
Photo by Mouth of the Columbia
The Seafood Lover special at Malai Thai teems with vegetables and seafood.
veggies — particularly the peppers — to retain
their utmost character and crunch.
To our order I added Phad Thai to go, not so
much because I yearned for it — our main cours-
es, served with white rice, were enough for two
full meals apiece. I got the Phad Thai because I
feel like it is often a go-to order for the uninitiated
or less-adventurous. I got it with chicken ($11)
and when it came to open the styrofoam contain-
er the next day I was staggered by the weight:
It must’ve been a pound and a half, minimum.
Most of that was noodles, with a good helping of
mouth
OF THE COLUMBIA
COAST WEEKEND’S LOCAL RESTAURANT REVIEW
Story and photos by THE MOUTH OF THE COLUMBIA • mouth@coastweekend.com
Malai Thai
Rating:
509 Pacifi c Ave. S, Long Beach, WA
360-642-2275
HOURS: Open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day.
PRICE: $$ – Entrées range from $10 to $18, portions
are ample to extreme.
SERVICE: Gracious but, with little English, not able to
explain/understand much
VEGETARIAN OPTIONS: Vast, with tofu options and
myriad of dishes.
DRINKS: Coff ee, tea, soda, no spirits.
chicken, some eggs, a few bean sprouts, peanut
crumbles and a scallion or three. It looked rath-
er monochromatic, and tasted much the same:
a very simple, bland Phad Thai. As much of it
still sits in the refrigerator, it feels like enough
for at least three meals. Were there a college in
Long Beach, it’d make perfect dorm room chow.
The rest of us, though, would be better served by
the curries, whose taste, variety, complexity and
look will be surer to please.
And really, that’s about all I can tell you
about Malai Thai without procuring a transla-
tor. Well, OK, I can take a few shots in the dark:
I recon the place is new. A scant presence
online, including recent inclusion by the ag-
gregators seems to suggest as much. It seems
to be a family business — I witnessed what
looked like three generations at work (or being
babysat). A member of what appeared the mid-
dle generation helped run our food (which ap-
peared promptly), but spoke no better English
than the host. Despite the language barrier,
graciousness prevailed. And to that end: Intent
goes a long way.
I suppose the same goes for the perspec-
tive diner: If you’re looking to be taken on a
hand-held tour of Thai food or need to make
a complicated order, Malai Thai might not be
the place. But if you’re willing to take a chance
on discovering something delicious — as I did
with the Duck Curry — then dive right in.
KEY TO RATINGS
poor
below average
good & worth returning
excellent
outstanding, the best in the
Columbia-Pacific region
