Fast Fiction

We’ve been ordering from Rambutan Thai since they opened last year, since they’re just down the street.

I love their food, love their presentation and they deliver quickly. The dishes are a nice balance of spice, flavor, quality ingredients and portion. They’re packaging is pretty good too, served in reusable plastic containers that are sturdy enough to eat off of, instead of re-plating for eating at home.

Last night we took a walk down the hill in the waning heat to grab some dinner inside for the first time.

Rambutan is on Sunset Blvd. just past the Silverlake Blvd. underpass in an unassuming stripmall, next to the ultra-packed super-trendy Pho (which can cause parking problems). The interior is lovely. Maroon silk upholstered walls, bar in the back, comfy seating that’s not too close together.

We started with Soju drinks. I had a white dragon which is Soju and white cranberry juice. I think it needs a little lime. The Man and Amy got a Mosquito Bite, which is a mojito made with Soju with a little sugar cane garnish. Robin had water.

Our appetizers (‘cuz I was hungry!) were the spring roll (basil, carrots, cucumbers, tofu in a rice wrapper - my favorite), crab rolls (a little salty and tough) and garlic shrimp (yum!).

Everyone ordered a salad. It was hot and no one wanted hot/spicy food at the moment. But I’ve tried lots of other stuff there. At the moment my favorite is the Ba Mee - angel hair with grilled chicken. It’s very light and the chicken is always done to perfection.

The oddest part though was when we ordered the drinks, mine and Amy’s were brought right away. The Man had to wait for his Mosquito Bite. Everyone else seemed to get their drinks in the room but him. It might have been a full eight minutes before he got his. I’m not sure why. Then when our food came, the server brought out the first two salads. Then mine. The Man sat there salad-less - another full five minutes before they brought his out. It’s not like we came in and were bitchy or anything. Heaven knows during our kitchen upgrade we were ordering once a week, they should be grateful for our support for five months straight.

Other than that, the food was great and the ambiance relaxing. The music seemed to be taken straight from my iPod (Portishead, Massive Attack, Air, Hooverphonic & Moby), the lights were very low (making it hard to read the menus ... I’m getting old). When we finished and left, we found that it must have cooled off a full 20 degrees, which was a relief, considering the hike of five flights of stairs up the hill back to the house.