Krua Sa Ros Chad is another family-style Thai restaurant that serves classic Thai food, yet dazzles the diners with its high-quality ingredients. Designed to look like a traditional Thai house, this place will make you feel like you’re having dinner with an old-fashioned auntie. But while the simply-decorated venue might not wow, the food surely will. Even a basic dish like hoy clang “disco” (blanched cockles topped with spicy sauce, B150) will have you singing. The Petchaburi cockles are fresh, well-cleaned and well-prepared with a crispy texture. The chu chee gung mae nam (river prawns in coconut curry, B800) is also impeccable and one of our favorites. The tender prawns are topped with coconut milk, yielding a rich balance of flavors. Another popular option is the gang kiew wan look chin pla glai (featherback fish balls in green curry, B280), for its incredible homemade fish balls—both chewy and flavorful. The curry, too, is potent and savory. Their pla chon naa savoey (fried sneakhead fish topped with sauce, B320) is certainly one of the best. None of that usually-muddy smell from the fish here, as they single out only the best snakehead fish in the market. The fish is soft and juicy; its batter is crispy; and it is accompanied with more than 10 kinds of herbs that are cut in small pieces—very refreshing and bursting with flavor. By the time you get to dessert, you’ll realize the place never seems to drop the ball. The look tarn loy keaw (sliced toddy palm in syrup, B40) is pleasant because of the very young toddy palm and light syrup. Our only real complaint is that the service is a little bumpy and the owner can tend to be like a salesman, pushing you to order dishes he recommends. Still, Krua Sa Ros Chad is worth the small pains and is one of the city’s best casual restaurants for its authentic home-cooked fare.
