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Krung Siam
3755 Spring Mountain Road, Suite 102
Las Vegas, NV 89102
(702) 735-9485

Ordered:
Thai Tea
Pork Jerky
Tom Yum Goong
Chicken Larb
Papaya Salad with Shrimp
Yum Sam Grob
Sticky Rice
Mango Sticky Rice

Review:
Krung Siam is a brand new Thai restaurant currently occupying the old Satay spot on Valley View and Spring Mountain. It opened about 3 weeks ago. The kitchen is lead by a chef who I believe came from Thai Pepper and, before that, from Little Bangkok.

Cross streets:

Exterior:

See? Spanking new. If you’ve passed the Quizno’s pagoda on Valley View and Spring Mountain, chances are you’ve passed it. Being so uneducated about food off-strip, I told Iamme, “That is the chinkiest looking Quizno’s I have ever seen!” before I realized we were in the Asian part of town.

Once you get inside, the space is very large and cooling. I like the tall ceilings. The open floor plan and dark colors probably save them a bit on air conditioning when the weather gets hot.

Interior 1:

The space is really large! There is karaoke on certain nights, and the large tinted windows give you a nice view of that stretch of Spring Mountain (which hopefully will have more Thai restaurants to look at in the future!).

Krung Siam also has a large private dining area that is pretty much enclosed from the larger space. I would say it comfortably fits 30, maybe even 40 people. Nice to know if you’re planning a party with friends, or if you want to gather everyone for dinner during a Vegas reunion while still avoiding those awful buffet lines!

Interior 2:

As you can see, Krung Siam’s menu is still Thai Pepper’s. I don’t know if they plan to change this in the near future, but it would certainly give the place a greater feel of permanency.

New(?) menu 1:

Some edits were made since Krung Siam doesn’t carry a few items that Thai Pepper does. But I guess what that means is that anything on Krung Siam’s current menu is on Thai Pepper’s – make of that what you will.

New(?) menu 2:

We started off ordering Pork Jerky and Chicken Larb as appetizers.

Thai Tea:

Unfortunately, we don’t have a picture of the Larb. We kept eating our food and forgetting to snap photos first. Too bad because everything came out looking so sexy! But as you can see with the Pork Jerky, some things look even better partially dressed.

Pork Jerky:

The Chicken Larb was really tasty, and so was the Pork Jerky. For those who have never had Pork or Beef Jerky at a Thai restaurant (and I hadn’t up until then), the best way I can describe it is that it is very similar to Vietnamese Thit Kho. You see how the meat has that same caramelization all around it? The taste is salty, sweet, almost the same. The major difference seems to be that Thai Pork Jerky is a bit saltier and dryer. Perhaps there is a brine involved. I’ll have to ask around.

The only slight glitch that occurred was with our sticky rice. Our waitress brought out a tiny ball wrapped in plastic for the 5 of us. When we asked for more, she said that they had finished cooking sticky rice for that afternoon and would not make it again until dinner. They weren’t out of it or scared it wouldn’t cook fast enough to bring to us. They just wouldn’t make it. Too bad, because the Pork Jerky needed that type of accompaniment.

Next came our Tom Yum Goong. It was actually my favorite dish of the whole weekend.

Tom Yum Goong:

The Tom Yum Goong here was a sweet and sour broth swimming in tons of shrimp and tender straw mushrooms. I really loved how fragrant this soup was. The lemongrass, lemon leaves, and galanga slices formed a steam that was almost therapeutic to my senses; It honestly smelled that good.

My favorite part of the Tom Yum Goong was how the cook managed to meld such aggressive flavors together flawlessly. A lot of the time at Thai restaurants, you get soup that is totally off balance and dominated by one really strong flavor. Your soup may seem way too sour – downright acidic – or may be hotter than it is spicy. Not here! PLUS they don’t skimp out on the tomatoes, shrimp, and straw mushrooms.

Next came our Papaya Salad with Shrimp and Yum Sam Grob.

Papaya Salad with Shrimp:

Papaya Salad is such a staple at Thai restaurants. I sometimes overlook it because of this. How much can the Papaya Salad at Silk Thai vary from the one over at Thailand Plaza? In short, a lot. If you eat Vietnamese food and know how fond we are of our Papaya and Green Mango Salads, you’ll know that even this simple dish is impossible for some to perfect. At Krung Siam, I think they are pretty damn close to perfecting Papaya Salad.

The slivers of papaya were perfectly uniform. See how thin and slender those ribbons were? The absolute perfect width. The chili and lime juice balanced just right, as well. The shrimp was so tender, cooked to just the point of perfection and then chilled to maintain that texture. And the green beans, oh the green beans. Were they kidding me? Those green beans were so fresh that they tasted like they had been harvested that morning just before sunrise.

Aside from all that, I really liked how the shrimp were peeled right down to the tail! Very pretty, and no waste! People always toss away that very last bite of shrimp, but it is the sweetest! I am going to copy this method of shrimp peeling at home to encourage people to eat the whole thing.

Yum Sam Grob:

The Yum Sam Grob was another new dish for me. From the little I know, Yum Sam Grob is Thai dish which traditionally features 4 different types of crispy fried seafood, sometimes dressed in nuts, onions, and sliced celery. Deep-fried fish intestines, prawns, and squid are common. At Krung Siam, Yum Sam Grob is dressed up even more with a generous helping of soft shell crab. I don’t think this is typical, as most Thai restaurants don’t carry soft shell crab. So props to Krung Siam for taking that extra step!

Mango Sticky Rice:

Of course, we couldn’t leave this restaurant without a little dessert. We ordered Mango Sticky Rice and – man – it was even better than any other ones we’ve had! The little yellow pellets on top were mung beans, boiled then deep-fried. They gave such a nutty flavor. Our rice wasn’t too hot or sweet, and our mango was lightly chilled.

We don’t know if they are always this good, or if it was because we ate with someone who knew to order the right things. Since every dish came out extremely well, we will chock it up to skill and consistency – Consistency being one of the most difficult things for a restaurant to achieve.

We like Krung Siam because it features very authentic, no frills Thai food served up extremely well. It takes classics that can be glossed over, and turns them into super star dishes again. Rarely are we ever surprised by the food we eat time and time again. For us, Krung Siam really takes it up a notch. Their style of cooking is class all the way.

Rating:
8+ out of 10

Value:
$$