Amphai Northern Thai Food Club — Restaurant in Los Angeles

On our first visit so far (of many to come, I'm sure) we tried:

#21 Laab moo kua #13 Tum kha noon #29 Gaeng pak kaad #8 Sai oua #3 Kha nom jean nam ngiaw #1 Khao soi gai #14 Tum makhua #22 Kua nor mai #9 Som tum #16 Yum jin gai

Everything was comfort food deliciousness. My wife complimented the chef, telling her that several of the dishes nostalgically reminded her of her grandmother's cooking, down to the way the meat is chopped. The gaeng pak kaad, the kua nor mai, tum mukhua and the yum jin gai were especially conjuring happy memories for her.

For me as a non-native, pretty much everything was the best example I've had stateside, and really took me back to our time in Lampang, Phayao and Chiang Mai.

The laab tasted just like from the night market vendors in her home town (very good thing), only it was less saucy (which we like even better!)

The sai oua was incredibly herbaceous and fragrant.

The nam ngiaw was also very nostalgic for her and delicious for me, very similar actually to how she prepares it for us at home, except at home we eat it unapologetically (and unforgivingly) spicy.

Best tum makhua I've had, those smokey and caramelized eggplant notes are on point.

Wife enjoyed the som tum, and it was good, but I prefer my papaya salad flavor balance slightly different.

The chicken in the yum jin gai was fork tender and succulently juicy.

The only thing that didn't really do it for us was the khao soi. Actually, it was one of the best khao soi we've tried stateside, but there's this very specific restaurant in Phayao whose version of khao soi is our (seemingly impossible to find elsewhere) standard, so don't be deterred from trying it.

Definitely one of the diviest hole-in-the-wall restaurants I've been to lately, and I loved every second of it. But this tiny, 12-seat restaurant is worth the wait.

If you're looking for the taste like you were invited into a Northern Thai home by a talented...

THAILAND 🇹🇭 Eat the World LA review: For the longest time, the corner unit of this tight corner strip mall was occupied by Windsor Donuts, which eventually left and made way for what seemed like it would be Pa-Ord Express, a fast food version of the long-standing Pa-Ord Noodle which we all know and love. This lasted around a year or less, and just two months ago a new mother and daughter duo from Chiang Rai have popped up to open Northern Thai Food. The "club" was left off the English name, but since it is in there in Thai, we are going to use it. ° The cuisine in the north of Thailand uses unique ingredients like any region, and a quick perusal of the picture menu in the window revealed a lot of good dishes native to Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai that are not seen very often. This seems to be the main goal of the women, who are dedicated to making traditional northern dishes. In fact, I do not know if I have ever seen jor pak pung, a northern style curry with Ceylon spinach (pak pung) anywhere outside of the north of Thailand. Unfortunately this was not available on the day we stopped in to talk. ° The operation is tiny and has a small steam table, it appears that about eight options will be available on any given day. Everything promises to be very fresh because of high turnover and the rotating menu is exciting. For now at least, just about everything was $6.99 or less. I absolutely cannot wait to get back here and sample...

This place seemed a lot better when the entrees were 8.99 each and no forced gratuity. I visited tonight and was surprised to find two entrees (both sitting out all day) and sticky rice were 32 dollars. The room temp larb and spicy basil chicken were taken in the back, half-arsed thrown in a microwave and brought to my table. The temperature of the food was very uneven (hot on one side, cold on the other, etc). For the basil chicken, instead of giving you wings or boneless wings, the chicken is cut into really weird sections (likely cheap scraps from the supplier) that were mostly just sharp cut bones...but they still bread and fry it like its actual meat lol. You have no idea if meat is there until you try to bite into it. Charging $13 for that is criminal. The meat of both dishes seriously lacked both in quality and taste. To top it off, they add gratuity no matter how small your party and STILL expect you to tip. Unfortunately it seems due to the hype, Mark Wiems video and steady stream of customers this place has turned into just another LA restaurant playing "How much can we charge stupid Americans for 'ethnic' food?". The actual quality is terrible, they are now running solely on reputation. This place is clearly no longer about the food...its about how much profit the owner(s) can extract. Prime example of what happens when a restaurant feels like they no longer need to EARN your business. Well...