Located among the many burger joints and chain restaurants on Niagara Falls Blvd. is Saigon Bangkok, a Thai and Vietnamese restaurant offering patrons savory sauces and a casually romantic atmosphere.
This hidden gem in the mall district is typically packed for dinner, yet offers speedy and polite service. Customers coming in from the autumn dusk are welcomed to a crisply set, dimly lit table.
Between the two different kinds of cuisines on the menu, Saigon Bangkok's native dishes satisfy diners' wishes.
The traditional Jasmine Tea is a refreshing start. Then the range of hot and spicy soups are a good way to continue a meal. For the mushroom lovers in Buffalo, the Thai soup, Tom Khar Gai, is a good way to wait for meals.
Saigon Bangkok's Vietnamese seafood asparagus soup is also a popular appetizer and is comparatively mild to the spicier soups. Hidden in the milky white broth is a mellow seafood ensemble of lobster, shrimp, calamari and scallops.
Then comes the curry.
Complimentary rice comes with the Thai dishes jungle curry, Asian pumpkin curry and crispy eggplant. The expected rusty hues of the pumpkin curry explain the rich pumpkin and squash presence, both of which add a hearty seasonal flavor. The texturally similar jungle curry is different mainly because it has less pumpkin. Despite the lack of nuts in the dish, the curry with sauce has a distinct flavor of roasted chestnuts.
The creamy curries could vary in flavor depending on what combination of fresh vegetables are integrated. Lightly battered eggplant is incorporated nicely into the rest of the vegetables with a sauce.
The curry remaining in black clay pots at the center of the tables attract customers back for more, even after four filling courses.
Dinner can be a bit steep, with soups costing between $3 to $4 and entr?(c)es running anywhere from $8 to $15 depending on the type of meat ordered. If students' wallets are lacking enough cash, they can opt to go for lunch instead when many of the same dishes available for half the price.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
