Takeout Revisits - Village Kitchen and Chaba Thai

Recently, the Missus was craving Pidan....unfortunately, the dishes the Missus were craving were from places over a hundred miles away, so "sorry Charlie" it wasn't happening during the middle of the week......

So, we had to make due with what we could get. Which was takeout from Village Kitchen and Chaba Thai.

Here's the kicker for online ordering from VK......they never let you know when the dishes are ready; at least they don't let me know.....I've tried calling in the past, but when I don't speak Mandarin, they hung up on me! Then, when I arrive, the young ladies working basically just ignore me....except when the woman who used to work at Kangxi is Coming is there, she still remembers me and is always so friendly. The things I do for the Missus....

Anyway, here goes.....

Village Kitchen:

I basically ordered the the usual suspects.

The La Rou with Cucumber Skin wasn't very spicy this time around....actually, I've found that all of our dishes in this order were really mild.

Though the crunchy and nice palate cleansing flavor of the cucumber skin came thru quite well and the La Rou was fairly smoky. The dish wasn't as greasy as on previous visits.

The Chou Dofu; Stinky Tofu Stew was a lot milder than usual.

The Missus had one bite and turned it over to me........She already thinks that if I can eat chou dofu without blinking an eye it's already kinda wimpy....and so, this was obviously perfect for me? The dish lacked the standard spice and for some reason the tofu wasn't very savory-funky; just kinda mushy.

And finally, the Eggplant and Green Chili with Preserved Egg. I didn't order this the last time I did takeout, because on the visit previous to that, it was so terrible. Here's what it looked like on that fateful takeout sojourn:

Thankfully, this time around it was back to the status quo.....

Not as greasy as usual and the Missus enjoyed it; which is the main thing.

Honestly, it's not Hunan Chilli King, but it was fine in a pinch.

Village Kitchen
4720 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92117

Chaba Thai:

As for the other stop....yes, the Missus wanted something from that, ahem "Chubby Thai" place. I ordered the same two dishes. Take out here is pretty much on the mark during my previous visits.

   The Spicy Basil Chicken with Century Egg was quite good this time around. In fact, it was the best dish of the night by far. Good spice, the minced chicken was moist and surprisingly tender; the pidan intact with an excellent texture, slightly toothsome out layer, creamy yolk, with the slightest funky-ammonia finish. I agree with "FOY" Si O that the spicy basil dishes here are inconsistent. I'm just happy we ended up on the positive side of the equation on this visit.

Sadly, my favorite dish here; the Khao Kluk Kapi with Honey Pork was not very good.

    You can tell how dry and tough that pork is by the photo. The rice didn't have enough shrimp paste and was under cooked with some hard grains in it. Bummer.

Chaba Thai Kitchen
8010 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92111

Well, at least the Missus got Her pidan fix and with the price of gas these days we didn't have to drive to the SGV and Hollywood for Her fix!

Happy Monday everyone!

Comments

[kat]

at least the missus got her fix.

[Som Tommy]

I agree that the Krapow Gai is not consistent here.

[Kirk]

She did indeed Kat!

I lucked out I guess ST!