台北泰 民生店 — Restaurant in Songshan District

I started this review intending to give this place four stars as it was recommended by family. Once I stated rating individual dishes, I realized only three stars are warranted given how I rated the individual dishes. That said, I would not object to returning given its reasonable price and pleasant dining environment.

Our party of six ordered the following nine dishes:

Steamed Lemon Fish (4 stars) - Tender flesh is the requisite essence of a delicious steamed fish. Aside from tenderness, a complimentary yet not overpowering sauce is critical. This particular dish met both of these criteria. It was not rated higher because the fish was presented with an apparatus to keep it warm. In so doing, the flesh that were not eaten within the first few minutes after the fish had been served became overcooked.

Fried Hashed Pork (3 stars) - Pretty decent as pork was infused with spice flavor. Its rating would be one star higher if it's not as salty.

Thai Satay BBQ Chicken (3 stars) - I'm being generous rating this dish as high as three stars primarily given its satisfactory flavor. My rating would have been higher if the chicken meat were more tender.

Moon Shape Shrimp Cake (3 stars) - Shrimp flavor came through and it was crisp on the outside yet tender on the inside. It would be rated higher if it was thicker and there were detectable chunks of shrimp inside.

Spicy Stir Fried Beef with Scallion (2 stars) - The sauce was dark which was a sign it was left in the pan longer than the optimal time. The beef had a pretty tough exterior which made it time consuming to eat. Not sure what the chef was going for in terms of texture.

Thinly Sliced Pork on Cabbage (2 stars) - This dish earned one star in my book with the pork being sliced fairly thinly. The second star was given to indicate the dish was acceptable.

Stir Fired Gracilaria Lemaneiformis in spicy sauce (2 stars) - The vegetable was overcooked and too much seasoning took away the unique flavor of this vegetable.

Green Curry in Coconut Sauce with Beef (1 star) - I am a firm believer that curry is one of the pillars of Thai cooking. I always ordered at least one curry dish every time I eat in a Thai restaurant. Unfortunately, this particular curry dish failed my taste test. Not only was the curry spice subpar, the flavor was very one dimensional as there was no trace of coconut, or any other flavor, to speak of. Furthermore, the beef was overly softened which resulted in the loss of both the texture and flavor of how beef should taste like.

Thai Beef Meatball Soup (1 star) - Very run of the mill. It is clear either the chef just called it in or it was done...

Delicious food and relaxing ambience. Far from authentic but a nice fusion of flavorful Thai inspired dishes. Portions are on the smaller side so great to try many dishes but value was good and pricing is fair. The Thai style roasted chicken was flavorful and the glaze on the skin was crispy and the sauce paired perfectly. The yunnan style beef soup was incredible, light, refreshing and delicious yet flavorful. The beef shank, beef flank and beef tripe inside was so tender and the bok choy, tomatoes, and thin ginger strips inside added so much flavor. The sauté cabbage in shrimp paste was surprisingly good as well. The moon shape shrimp cake, gold tomato tofu and Thai green curry chicken were okay, just average, but still good. Overall definitely worth trying and will be back...

We had a reservation for New Year’s dinner and we were given a sit immediately. Their second floor has a glass window which you can see outside the building. The sit we had is for 2. The service crew is very attentive to us. She gave us water and the menu. They also have English menu. We ordered papaya salad, green beef curry, ground pork with basil, thai chicken, lemon steamed fish, momo chacha, and unlimited thai rice (unlimited rice is 30ntd only!). The green beef curry and the papaya salad are the best. The green curry will give you comfort while papaya salad is so refreshing. Our bill is only around 1200ntd and we are already stuffed with our food. I highly recommend this restaurant for their comfort South east asian foods and very fast and...