HUNGRY BOY Thai Cafe’ — Restaurant in Fountain Valley

Summary: Mediocre food (somewhat lack of Thai flavor), affordable price, cozy interior, friendly staff, fast service.

I decided to visit Hungry Boy Thai Cafe due to my craving for Thai cuisine, since I was in the area. Upon entering, there were menus on the shelf to grab and seats for waiting. After reviewing the menu and knowing what I wanted, I proceeded to the cashier station to place my order. My order consisted of a Tom Yum with tofu, pad see ew with beef, chicken satay, and brown rice paired with Thai basil chicken.

The Tom Yum was quite different from other places. It featured unexpected additions like cabbage and tomato alongside the requested tofu. The flavor profile was intriguingly sour, spicy, and very heavy, in contrast to my expectation of lightness.

However, the pad see ew left me somewhat underwhelmed, as it seemed to lack the distinctive Thai essence I was hoping for. I couldn't help but wonder if it was prepared without a wok, as the characteristic wok-infused flavor appeared to be missing.

The chicken satay and Thai basil chicken are the only highlights of my meal -- after being letdown by the two previous dishes. Their flavors are well balanced, and paired nicely with the rice.

I would say their price is very affordable. No additional fees for using card, which is a huge...

I lot of things going on. First, I love how simple the menu is. I think this has a lot to do with how fresh each dish tastes. I appreciate when a restaurant decides to do a few dishes really well versus have dozens of choices. All of our Thai favorites made it on the menu.

Second, love the packaging! Each dish is perfectly portioned into a bowl. I like picking up dinner and lunch for the next day. The bowl fits perfect in my lunch bag.

I’ve tried 5 dishes so far and I can’t decide which one I like the most, they are all winners. So far I have had Pad Thai with tofu, Tom Yum soup with chicken, Spicy Basil Chicken, Panang Curry with tofu, and Chicken Satay.

Aside from having all their seasoning/spices on point, the other difference I noticed is they use a lighter hand with cooking oil. I didn’t realize how much of a difference it would make until I had Hungry Boy.

Keep being...

This is a no frills very basic Thai restaurant. They tried to make their menu have a step by step approach to ordering which was honestly confusing at first if you're used to going through the large and varied offerings of traditional Thai restaurants searching for familiar names like Panang curry, pineapple fried rice, etc, but once you crack their system you'll decipher how to order a very basic and simple pad thai, fried rice or soup. Choices are very limited, but the food is decent and edible. Food is served on paper plates, and you use plastic disposable utensils. I saw this place receive high ratings out of Thai restaurants and figured I'd give it a try. Now that I've tried it I'll go back to one of the other thai restaurants in the area and probably pass on...