Irvine | Can’t Claim to Be the Best Thai Without a Thick Menu 📘🔥

I usually don’t go to Thai restaurants often—the menus tend to be too similar, with the same “choose your curry, choose your meat” format. It hardly feels like eating out. Then I recently discovered Chiang Rai. Their menu is packed with unique dishes spanning both sides of the paper, so I knew it was worth a try. Surprisingly, I ended up visiting three times in just one month and still haven’t tried even half the menu! Papaya Salad + Midnight Fried Chicken 🌟🌟🌟🌟 Served on a big bamboo tray with green papaya salad, fried chicken wings, and sticky rice. The salad had classic flavors, and the chicken wings were juicy. A solid starter! Fish Cake 🌟🌟🌟 Not my favorite. The fish cakes were thin and lost their texture after frying. The herbal seasoning was strong, but the fish flavor was missing. Khao Soi | Soft Shell Dried Noodle 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 Highly recommend the dry-fried version! High-heat frying really brings out the spice flavors—savory with a hint of fermentation. Eat it while it’s hot; it loses magic as it cools. Beer Cheek Curry 🌟🌟🌟🌟 A curry rice version. The beef cheek was tender with a nice chew. Less intense than the fried noodles, but still satisfying. Beef Tongue Curry 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 A must-order! Diced beef tongue was incredibly springy and crispy. The curry was slightly sweet and very approachable. Poo Kari 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 Another standout! Soft-shell crab with egg and curry—the eggs made the curry rich and creamy. Perfect with rice. Branzino Soup 🌟🌟🌟 A citrusy, lemony spicy-clear soup. Good for cutting richness, but the fish wasn’t very tender. Moo Sham Chan Tod 🌟🌟🌟🌟 Deep-fried pork belly with sweet and sour sauce—a calorie bomb! Marinated like Chinese salted pork, thick-cut and fried almost like tonkatsu. Great if you don’t mind the fat. Shrimp Omelette 🌟🌟🌟 Just okay. A Thai-spiced omelette with pepper-seared shrimp served over rice. Skip if you’re not craving it. Bamboo Chicken 🌟🌟🌟 Tasted like American Chinese food—fried chicken in sweet sauce with fermented bamboo shoots. The bamboo had a ramen-topping vibe; not really my thing. Fried Banana Ice Cream 🌟🌟🌟🌟 Coconut ice cream with fried banana—the banana is mashed, wrapped in spring roll skin, and fried. Another calorie bomb but totally satisfying! 🏠 Chiang Rai 📍 608 E First St, Tustin 💲 $40-50 per person #Irvine #IrvineEats #IrvineLife #ThaiFood #LAFood #LosAngeles #Foodie #ThaiCuisine #MustTry #SpiceLovers