I'm just going to assume "Tom Yum Thai" is the name of the guy who invented it. |
Now, I'm very weak when it comes to tolerating heat in foods, so for the experienced, or the hot sauce enthusiasts, this probably wouldn't make you bat a lash. But for those that aren't, this packs quite a little punch. Even for me, it wasn't overboard to the point that I needed to frantically drink cold liquids to extinguish it, but it did make me wait a little bit between bites just to let the tongue naturally cool down. The effect was a little worse for my wife (who, ironically, is a hot sauce junkie), as she coughed and started chugging on some kind of beverage right away, only to continue her coughing fit for a little while afterwards. So I guess it's not just me after all.
Once you get passed that, you're met with a...sour taste. Again, I wasn't really expecting that. My wife, who hated it, said it tasted “spoiled”, but I didn't think the taste was that offensive. It reminded me of a soup that I had at a Chinese buffet once, a comparison that's rather poor to use because, a.) I don't remember what it was (maybe it was called “hot and sour”?), and b.) I hated it. I thought this stuff was a lot better than that (I could easily finish this), but it's still not a flavor profile that really interests me.
On the plus side, it's only a dollar, and you really do get a decent amount of broth and noodles for the price, so it can't really hurt to give this a shot if you think it might be your thing. It just wasn't really mine much at all.
Overall: 5/10. It's edible, and it's $1, so that should be enough to entice those on a very tight budget, but I just didn't like the flavor of this much at all. It starts off pretty spicy, which caught me completely off guard, and then settles down into a weird, tart sourness that I also wasn't prepared for (I had no idea what Tom Yum Thai was going into it, and I have to confess that I still don't). It didn't appeal to me much, but I didn't have problems polishing off the whole bowl. I also like the weird, thin rice noodles that they use here, which don't have much taste, but add an interesting texture. I don't tend to get noodle bowls very often, but as far as Thai Smile goes, I'll be sticking to the sweet onion varity if I ever want another cheap snack.
No comments:
Post a Comment