I am on a constant lookout for cheap Thai finds, and another one opened along Granada St. in Greenhills. This street is notorious for having the record of the most promising restaurants closing down in less than a year’s time. With difficult parking space, a view of bumper-to-bumper traffic, and a sign that you can barely see when you are driving down the street, Thai Dara is determined to break this “curse” with authentic Thai dishes at affordable prices.
Owned by a Thai Chef who manages the restaurant but delegated the day-to-day cooking to a Pinoy cook, Thai Dara has most people raving about their Thai soups. The rest of the menu is at par with most of the cheap Thai places around. If you are craving for Thai food in the Greenhills area, this is the place to eat.
Thai Dara Menu
Starters & Soup, Family Style | Noodles, Rice, Desserts, Beverages | Budget Meals
Tom Yum Seafood (P229) – Famous Thai spicy soup with chicken, mushroom, lemongrass, galanga and kaffir leaves.
The Tom Yum soup is best eaten when it is hot. It has a spicy-sour flavor that is not too rich and not too oily. You can determine the quality of a relatively inexpensive Thai place based on the Tom Yum they serve. Really good.
Thai BBQ Chicken Budget Meal (P99) – Thai Marinated half chicken with sweet & sour sauce and Rice.
Budget Meals are available every weekday for lunch. You can taste the herbs in the chicken, which is cooked well. Not bad.
Pad Thai (P199) – Sweet, crunchy noodle with chicken & shrimps, tofu, radish, dry shrimps, beansprout, green onion and peanuts.
The Pad Thai, though, is overcooked — the noodles are wilted and a bit oily. You’ll notice that this was cooked in a Pinoy “halo-halo” sauteed style.
Sweet Sticky Rice & Mango (P99)
The rice used is poor in quality. It feels like you’re eating actual rice with sugar on top, and the mango is your ulam.
Thai Iced Tea, Lemongrass Ice Tea (12 oz – P45)
This is the usual milk tea we Filipinos have grown to love.
Overall, it is better than most of the cheap Thai restaurants out there with a bit more authentic Thai taste. Check it out and let me know what you think…
Thai Dara
Gilmore Avenue Granada St.
James Bon +632 568-0651
James Wor +63918 365-4250
Cash Basis Only
Anton Diaz
Founder, OurAwesomePlanet.com
Mobile: +63917-LOVEOAP (5683627)
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“Sweet Sticky Rice & Mango (P99)
The rice used is poor in quality. It feels like you’re eating actual rice with sugar on top, and the mango is your ulam.”
This literally cracked me up! LOL just imagining the kanin and ulam concept on a desert is hilarious! LOL
Thanks for sharing this as I always pass by this resto which opened months ago…hopefully i can find the time to try them out, except for the sticky rice 🙂
HI Anton,
You can try:
MUANG THAI RESTAURANT
494 Banawe Street Sta Mesa Heights Quezon City Metro Manila
Phone: +63(2)7418696
-> not your budget meal thai resto -> lets say middle range. -> BUT the food is good.
-> The thing that i didn’t like though was there version of Phad Thai.
-> and they have this shutdown period of 3pm – 530pm
Eating Sweet Sticky Rice and Mango is just like eating suman with manggang hinog. This is not a totally new concept to Pinoys. I have seen a lot of people eat mangoes with suman.
Anyway, the authentic Thai sweet sticky rice and mango I have tried in the past has the sticky rice cooked in coconut milk so it has a natural sweetness – not sugary kind of sweet. Again, just like the suman if you don’t eat it with sugar.
There are some variations wherein the sticky rice is simply steamed and then topped with coconut milk.
Isn’t Pad Thai suppose to have wilted noodles and to be a bit oily? After all, it is fried noodles. I think what gives it it crunch are the peanuts and bean sprouts that are added only after the noodles have been fried.
hi anton,
you can also try Chariya Thai Kitchen along N.Garcia, this used to be the place of SOMS, a corner away from Cucina Reposo. =)
Hi Anton,
I was supposed to suggest you try CHARIYA’S THAI KITCHEN but Chey already mentioned it. Ü The place serves authentic and reasonably-priced Thai dishes, run by Chairya Thaikupt… a teacher of Thai cooking at Gene Gonzales’ culinary school and her brother Jok Bhamornsoot, who used to be a chef at the Four Seasons hotel in Bangkok.
Here’s the exact address:
1776 N. Garcia (formerly Reposo) corner Milagros St. Makati City
Tel. No. 382-1616
Haha, I’ve been wanting to try this for a few weeks now. I was supposed to go earlier but backed out as I couldn’t find a review for it. Because of this, I’m more brave about checking it out, thanks Anton!
Speaking of promising restaurants along Granada, whatever happened to cucina gayuma?
I first ate in Thai Dara months ago and the Sticky Rice with Mango that I ate was really yummy. The sticky rice tasted like it was cooked in coconut milk. Hope they can change it back to when I first ate there. ;-P
i’m a longtime SOM’s fan still. glad they opened one near us at maysilo circle near the city hall of mandaluyong. willing to try this place on granada so i can compare. thanks!
have you tried Tuk Thai in san miguel avenue ortigas, just at the back of rufo’s? the food is really good.
Talaga? Sige Masubukan nga… thanks!
hello, sir. I had always been a fan of your blog (i just lurk around a lot, though)
yes, i would have to agree with Thes (the commenter before me), Thuk Thai is just at the back of Rufo’s along San Miguel Avenue. It feels like a hole in the wall carinderia, but the food is really good. One of my most successful first dates was in that place 🙂 so please do try it 🙂
ok, I will check this out
HI! I first tried Thai food in Khao Pad in Home Depot Ortigas. It was the well-known Thai canteen in UP before. I fell in love with Thai food after that. I then saw Thai Dara. Tastes much like Khao Pad although I guess it’s more “tame”. Khao Pad is really spicy and everything delicious. hehe. but with the convenience and price of Thai Dara, I think I must’ve eaten there for 3x a week last month. the bagoong rice is so masarap. we ordered that alone nung nagtitipid kmi. haha. lahat actually ng rice nila masarap. curry, ok din. and yng chicken na spicy. complete with liver sauce and sugar. the best! 🙂 for more intricate Thai dishes, 8 spices is good but expensive. sulit nmn kse ang sarap! also try Bananaleaf… asian cuisine pero mrami din thai dishes. d nga lng mshado authentic but its nice to eat without plates kahit masabaw ang curry. 😛
thanks for the pics here… i’ll repost them on my blog, can I? thanks! i won’t remove your name on them nmn. thanks!
Yes, thanks for the comment and feel free to repost.
Hi Anton,
Thuk Thai moved to Rockwell in Medical City. This is the favorite place of students in UA&P.
OK, we will check out Thuk Thai then around the Medical City area… salamat, Asunta!
Hi Anton,
Great, honest review! Have you tried Thai Dara’s other dishes? You might be pleasantly surprised. I love their basil chicken and panang curry rice – although the latter could do without the peanuts. I actually prefer this to 8 Spices in Il Terrazzo.
hi anton,
just ate at thai dara last night. the sticky rice with mango no longer has a sugary topping, but rather, i think it’s been cooked and topped with some coconut cream. so i think they did take steps to improve the food. 🙂
Thanks T for this feedback 🙂 I'm glad to see that they have improved na…
ate at thai dara last night too (remembered this review and thought of trying it out). not bad for an affordable and casual yet authentic thai dining experience. i have to admit though that i’ve tasted better dishes at 8 spices, penang hill, and banana leaf. pero ok na rin. the dishes at thai dara have a ‘lutong bahay’ quality about them — you feel like the one who cooked them is not some star chef but a warm and loving nanay. i liked the spicy chicken salad, it was at first refreshing and minty on the tongue, before the spiciness started to kick in. ingenious! the pad thai and spring rolls were ok lang.
Hi Anton!
was in thai dara a couple days for dinner. it seems like their food has improved a lot, i did my own review here: http://fashioneggplant.blogspot.com/2011/01/hole-in-wall-thai-restaurant-thai-dara.html
you should give them another try =)
http://fashioneggplant.blogspot.com
wow, I'm getting a lot of good raves about Thai Dara recently… thanks for sharing your link!
I also tried this recently in Kapitolyo and loved the pomelo salad, tom yum soup and pad thai. Good deal for the prices. Maybe you can try it again