We met friends for dinner at Le Moose Crepe Cafe this weekend, after they suggested it. I was skeptical of how this Thai food would be, but the friends (who had had takeout a few times) assured me it was good. I was very pleasantly surprised! While the menu of Thai items is fairly generic, the execution of every dish was well-above average, and the serving sizes/value were great.
Shared:
• Appetizer sampler, which included various deep fried snacks: curry puffs, sliced sweet potato, shrimp rolls, egg rolls and onion rings. The batter on the sweet potato and onion rings was somewhat tempura-like, and everything was perfectly fried – crispy and not greasy. The shrimp rolls (which were long pieces of wonton wrapper filled w/ small amount of shrimp) were just OK, but everything else was way better than expected. Whoever is running the fryer in the kitchen is doing things right.
Beef Noodle Soup: Dark broth, thin noodles, pieces of beef and large beef meatballs that seemed potentially homemade. Plus pieces of Chinese broccoli. Very good and big enough to share between 4 people.
Mango Salad: Ordered this with shrimp. We were expecting green mango, but instead it was yellow, fairly ripe mango, plus lettuce and mint and shrimp. This was refreshing, though I might try another salad next time as the mango itself didn’t have a ton of flavor.
Green Curry w/ Chicken. Marked on the menu as being level 2 spicy (as opposed to the other curries which were Level 1). Very good flavor, and just the right amount of spice for me (one friend found it too spicy, though). They did not offer us a choice of having it be less spicy, fwiw.
Crab noodles – Noodles stir fried with vegetables and crab meat. Comforting and well executed, I preferred them to the similar dish at Chai Thai in Oakland.
We sat outdoors (they only have 3 outdoor tables) but indoors was packed with diners. They also have crepes (including some crossover Thai-fusion crepes) and they looked pretty good. Might try one for dessert if I return.
This is the type of place where I get the sense that there’s a very good cook lurking back in the kitchen, and if I paid attention to the specials board, there might be more gems on the menu. Curious if others have tried it!
