January 15-21, 2004
food
Lotus Blossoms
It’s a little bit of an aesthetic shock, walking into Siam Lotus off Spring Garden Street. The pedestrian-unfriendly block is dark and largely deserted. Recently reopened after a 10-year vacation, the restaurant has been painted in glossy neutrals accented with crisp white bead-board. The carved wooden bar is crowned by orchid plants and flat-screen TVs showing kung fu classics. An entire wall of the dining area is devoted to a mosaic of colorful satin pillows. Even the napkins, folded like lotus flowers, are pretty -- almost too pretty to smear your lipstick on.
On the TV, Bruce Lee was hard at work. But clearly the real ass-kicking was happening in the kitchen. After admiring the environs, we got down to business sampling soups: the Siam Lotus, a lemongrass and lime-fragrant chicken consommé floating with pieces of chicken, shrimp and chopped carrots, and the much spicier tom yum koong with shrimp, lime leaves and lots of chili peppers.
The best appetizer was mieng caam, a street-food snack that consists of half-dollar-sized green betel leaves topped with browned shredded coconut, minced shallot, ginger, chilies, ground roasted peanuts, tiny dried shrimp and little bursts of lemon on the rind. You scoop these up and dip them in a dense sauce flavored with more coconut and shrimp paste, and about 10,000 flavors do a conga line in your mouth.
More predictable, the green curry, or kang kiow wahn, was no less impressive. Flattened pieces of chicken breast, in a creamy sauce with chili paste, eggplant, basil and coconut milk, were at once mellow and complex. Mahi-mahi in yellow chili paste sauce with nutty bamboo shoots, pineapple chunks and lime leaves was a spicier concoction.
The pad thai, which we ordered meatless, was disappointing. The sauce was overly sweet, and the noodles were sticky and undercooked to the point of crunching, though the fluffy chunks of tofu were light and delicious. The almost unbearably healthy but tasty steamed salmon on a bed of lemongrass, ginger, napa cabbage and celery was made more interesting by the addition of two pickled lemons that sat on the platter like round, plump bookends.
For dessert we tried the sweet sticky rice, served warm and topped with jiggly, pale green slivers of coconut custard dusted with sesame seeds. It looked odd but it tasted delicious. Add that to the list of delightful surprises at this restaurant that quietly, intently defies expectations.
Siam Lotus
931 Spring Garden St., 215-769-2031
Mon.-Fri., 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. and 5:30-10:30 p.m.; Sat., 5:30-11 p.m.
Appetizers, $3.95-$6.95; entrees, $5.95-$14.95
Wheelchair accessible. Smoking is not permitted. Reservations not necessary. All major credit cards.
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