Tuk Tuk — Restaurant in Houston

My family and I tried this newly opened Thai restaurant in Houston near the Medical Center. This is my honest review on the following items, etc.,

Inside: the restaurant was very clean, not overly decorated, very open and has plenty of light coming in from the outside, and have plenty of sitting.

Outside: there is ample of parking spots and easy to find.

Service: owners were very friendly and welcoming and answered questions we had.

Food: we ordered a couple of entrees, appetizers, and Thai tea and water. Most of our entrees we ordered with medium spice level.

Chicken egg roll and pork egg roll - we had requested for the egg rolls to be extra crispy and they came out perfection. Both eggrolls were filled with meat, no fillers. I do prefer the chicken egg rolls. Chicken satay - came in 4 skewers, chicken came in the traditional skewer and was moist and tender, and I absolutely loved the peanut sauce that came with the satay.. probably one of my favorite highlights. Moo ping - came in 4 skewers as well, it was charred beautifully and was tender, and it came with its own sauce, but I didn’t get to try it since I preferred the peanut sauce from the chicken satay. Shrimp Tom Yum Soup - my heart was so happy to see a lot of mushrooms and fresh shrimp (cooked of course) included with the soup. The broth was like a warm hug, but I would say I would like the temperature to be a little hotter. Spice level tasted mild to me but my spice tolerance is pretty high. Pag See Ew Beef - if I knew that we could add more noodles for an extra charge I would have. This noodle dish is one of my favorite and go-to Thai dishes whenever I go to one, so I will be very critical on this one. It was delicious for sure, but I was looking for the smokey taste that was missing on this one. Spice level on this one tasted mild as well. Pad Thai - it was a solid choice, you can never go wrong on this one. It had plenty of noodles and chicken. We also requested for the noodles to be put to the side and they honored this. Spice level on this one tasted mild as well. Crabmeat Fried Rice - I actually really enjoyed this one. I wish I was able to eat more of this, solid choice for sure. Spice level on this one tasted mild as well. Panang Curry Pork - (not pictured), another dish I wished I ate more of, it was another solid choice. I really enjoyed this one, creamy, and the spices were all there. Mango Sticky Rice - it was warm and not too sweet. It was a perfect dessert to have after all the food and the heat. It’s soothing and like a warm hug. Thai Tea - it was so good! You have to try it.

Definitely recommend and would love to come back to try the other items...

Family of 5: Fried spicy dumpling • Very crispy with a solid flavors. Spice elevates the dish Pork egg roll • the only thing we ordered that was mid. But don't get me wrong it's better than over 50% of egg rolls out there. Shrimp tempura • as fluffy and crispy as you'd want in a fried shrimp. Solid seasoning.

Entrees

Drunken noodles w/ Beef (Thai spicy) Authentic Thai levels of spice. Would highly recommend if you're chasing heat and Thai food is what you crave. The combination of sauce and rice noodles was perfect with the only recommendation is ask for extra noodles/meat if you want a larger portion. Only feedback is "more char on the noodle/meat" but that could be preference.

Pad Thai Beef (Thai spicy) I know this dish is traditionally not spicy so I don't hold it against this dish for not being as spicy as the drunken noodles, but it was still at a comfortable level of spice while maintaining the flavors of pad thai. Fantastic comfort dish if this is what you're looking for. Would ask for an extra lime for the noodles.

Red curry (Hot) This was "too spicy" for my wife and sister in law, but was a comforting warm for my Brother in law and I (we enjoy Thai levels of spicy). So take that what you will if you're looking for heat. The curry itself was the perfect balance of creamy and flavorful without being too overpowering. Definitely something for a rainy day or when you just need a pick me up.

Tom Kha (Mild) I am biased in that I do not prefer this dish normally, however it is prepared as authentically as I can gather. The galangal and lemongrass was fresh tasting while also being cooked to tenderness. Where you might find other Tom Kha's have almost "Woody" aromatics, theirs is how you'd almost expect your late grandmother to have served it. It can taste more like home with more spice but that's just me.

Atmosphere/Area

Depending on your background this place is a hole in the wall. There is a security guard that patrols and the area is low-key sketch. But if you look past that then this restaurant is the diamond in the ruff you've been searching for when it comes to Thai food. Centralized in the southern Houston area enough to fill the gap that "Thai Jasmine" left if you went there...

This place gives me delight for adding variety to medical center food scene. We checked it out for dinner, and we ordered Tom Yum chicken, spring rolls, chicken satay, hot basil, Thai tea and sticky rice with mango for dessert. All dishes contain fresh spices, and the ingredients tasted fresh. Tom Yum offered a sweet, sourish, spicy hot taste that was delightful for this cold weather. The spring rolls come out fresh off the wok, and it was crispy and flavorful with their dipping sauce. Chicken satay was tender and juicy and tasted great with their peanut sauce that cames with it. It is definitely a great variety of flavor for new food experience....