Jitlada Thai

Last week, SH and I went to Jitlada Thai in the heart of Thai Town, and wow, I loved it!! I had read so many reviews about it in Chowhound, Eater LA, and the LAist, that I had some really high expectations when I went there, and they definitely did not disappoint.

I met up with SH for lunch, and the restaurant wasn't that hard to find. It was in a strip mall off Sunset, and I found a parking spot pretty easily. It wasn't that big of a parking lot, so maybe SH and I just happened to go there when it wasn't very crowded. The minute I stepped in, I felt like I was immediately back in Thailand again. The decor, the atmosphere, and even the smell instantly brought me back to the days where my family and I would visit that country nearly every year.

The service was great there. From the beginning, our waitress was really nice and informative, and she ended up advising us on what to order. The menu is HUGE there...I don't think I would've been able to pick a dish if I hadn't read all of those reviews beforehand. SH just ended up asking the waitress for a suggestion, and she recommended the Southern Curry Beef. I ordered the Catfish salad, and I had to get the Tom Yum soup with shrimp. That soup is like my test of whether or not I feel like a Thai restaurant is truly authentic. I used to eat it all the time in Thailand, and my family and I would always order it at our favorite Thai restaurant in West LA. I've tried this soup at so many other restaurants before, and it more than often disappoints. Maybe my expectations are just too high.

The soup came out first. The picture on the left is a bit deceiving though because we had actually eaten two bowls of soup before I took that picture....but just imagine how that must've looked when it was full! It was delicious and exactly like how I remembered it should be. One of the restaurant owners came out to see how we liked our food, and she told us that the herbs in their food are fresh and not the powder that other restaurants used. It was a bit sour and spicy, and full of shrimp, herbs, and mushrooms. The picture on the right depicts the soup a tad better than the one on the left since you can actually see the ingredients in this picture and not just the pot that it came in.

SH's Southern Curry came next, and it tasted like nothing I've ever had before. It's not the wet curry that most people are used to, and I guess they must really rub the curry powder and herbs into the meat to get all of the flavors to meld. Our waitress had warned us that it would be really spicy, but SH agreed to try it because she likes eating spicy food. When I first took a bite, I was waiting for the spiciness to hit me after the warnings from our waitress. It was so odd though because it doesn't hit you right away. You're chewing it in your mouth, taking in all of the different flavors, and then about five seconds later, the spiciness hits you, and you feel a little like you're about to die. Or maybe like your stomach is going to hate you in about a few hours. It was really good, but way too intense for me. Even SH had problems eating it! She kept on trying to eat the meat quickly so that the spiciness wouldn't quite hit her right away. They brought out a plate of fresh vegetables to go along with the meat, and when we asked why, our waitress told us it was there to calm our taste buds and relieve it from the spiciness. After eating as much as we could (I think SH ended up eating most of it), we finally asked the waitress on a scale of 1 to 5 in terms of spiciness, what would it be? SH and I had already agreed that it was probably around a 4...but it was actually a 3. Jeez, I'll probably try that in a 1 or 2 the next time I go. (Yes, despite the fact that I nearly killed my taste buds with this dish, I'm willing to try it again.) It's funny though because midway through our meal, an older white guy sat behind us and ordered the same thing. He reassured the waitress that he could REALLY eat spicy things, despite our warnings (we felt a little compelled to tell him how spicy this dish actually was). Of course when the dish came, he couldn't handle it and had them dilute it so that it wasn't so spicy. Ha. We told him it would be too spicy....I'd think coming from 2 Asian girls that the warning would be pretty legit but I guess he didn't believe us until it was too late.

My catfish salad came out around the same time that SH's curry did, and it was pretty good. I was really intrigued by the thought of this because I had seen pictures of this dish before. It doesn't look like you can actually see the catfish because it's been dipped in this batter and somehow fried in this crazy way. I can't explain it, so I'll let the picture do the talking. The catfish came out on top of a bed of sliced mango, peanuts, and this sauce that reminds me of Vietnamese fish sauce. Despite it being fried, the catfish didn't feel that greasy as it was rather fluffy, and it went really well with the mini salad below. I enjoyed the dish, but I couldn't always taste the fish in the salad. At times, it felt like I was just eating something crispy and fried, without a hint of fish (if that makes any sense). That would be it's only drawback, but overall, I enjoyed the dish.

I can't wait to come back here. It's good food, good prices, and great service---what more can I really ask for? The menu is so extensive though that I need to do a bit more research on this place and figure out what I'm going to order next.