Thai Mama — Restaurant in Cranford

I’m enjoying the flavors and options from this recent addition to the Cranford area’s Asian offerings.

Their owner mentions they’ve come from running a restaurant around the Denville area, and it’s her Thai mother who’s running the kitchen!

I tried my usual go-to, the chicken pad krapow (spelled gapow on their menu), and it was great they were able to offer the ground chicken. **EDIT I’ve now been here 2x, and on my 2nd visit tried their chicken pad kee mao (drunken noodles), as well as their chicken larb - see photos!

For hot and spicy lovers, it seems they offer up to at least Thai-spicy, which I can believe as their medium Tom yum soup was causing me (and my admittedly aging stomach 😂) to break a very light sweat. I chose medium heat for the krapow because, well, I like a bit of heat but didn’t want to suffer unnecessarily today. Medium for the kee mao actually didn’t taste too pleasant to me, though I think it’s because the medium larb I ordered already satisfied my savory/heat craving.

And it was good!

I would order it again which I don’t always feel about the same dish from the nearby restaurants. (Maya Thai in Westfield was able to offer the ground chicken during a recent visit and that was good as well.)

Curry puffs seemed ok to me. I’m curious to try further dishes: their khao soi, pad Thai, their larb, and maybe their pulled noodle dishes too.

On my 2nd visit I tried their lychee Thai iced tea: too sweet for my tastes so I had to water it down but it was also nice as it was after a run.

Note that they have a small lot, fairly small interior, and some street parking.

Looking forward to...

Amazing little Thai spot with super friendly service and delicious food. I actually went there for the first time on a Friday for lunch and went back Saturday for dinner because it was so good! So far I've had the curry puff, dumplings, Thai tea, pad kee mao (drunken noodles) and khao soi gai.

Khao soi gai isn't super common on the menus of Thai restaurants I've been to and I wish it was! It was the perfect combination of savory, creamy, spicy, and tangy with a great mixture of textures. The chicken very literally fell off the bone and was amazingly tender. The drunken noodles are great, as many others have stated. I love when they get a bit of char on them, and the crinkle cut veggies are a really cute touch.

The spice levels are very approachable - as someone who's used to ordering medium spice at other Thai places (I like spice and I prefer to sweat a little with my meal 🥵), level 3 at Thai Mama seemed fairly tame and I could likely do the level 4. Though I'm sure if you asked nicely they could probably crank the spice level!

I will be coming back here...

This is our favorite restaurant. We have been to every Thai restaurant in the area, and this is the best. The food is fresh, high quality, and always consistent. They can offer every dish to accommodate my allergies because every dish is cooked fresh. A few favorites are dumplings, spring rolls, Red Currey, Fish, Drunken Noodles, fried rice. White rice and brown rice are high quality. Their chicken is always perfect. In other restaurants, the chicken is always dry, and no taste, but theirs is perfect. Sauces are the best. Thai Iced Tea is great too. They have the best service of any restaurant that we've been to. The name Thai Mama is because the mother is actually in the kitchen cooking. Perfectly clean restaurant. You can see into the kitchen, and see how clean everything is. Nice, comfortable atmosphere. The owner always greets you, and the staff is always pleasant and checking to make sure everything is to your liking. I recommend...