Bangkok-Tokyo: Spicy Peanut Chicken

To start off this blog, I thought I'd try a new dish at an old favorite restaurant.

Bangkok-Tokyo

2413 S Western St
Amarillo, TX 79109

(806) 353-4777

I came into Bangkok today for lunch. It was about 12:45, and the dining room was nearly empty. This place seats 36 when full, but I was one of about 6 folks eating at the time. My waitress was courteous and quick, getting my drink order within a minute of taking my seat. Of course I got water. As I looked over the menu, I was trying to find something that suited my mood today and was also something new. I've had the beef and seafood salad here, as well as pad thai and a few other things. So far, my favorite by far has been the seafood salad.

I settled on the "Spicy Peanut Chicken". The menu says this is a spicy dish (which I always like), with chicken, onions, bell peppers in a spicy peanut sauce. From the description, I'm thinking creamy peanut sauce, like you might find with some appetizers. I place my order, with steamed rice.

Bangkok is a pretty small little restaurant. The tables are fairly small, with most of the seating reserved to 2-person tables. They do have two big tables, each seating 8. My table was clean, the walls look a bit dingy, but not dirty enough to alarm me. The chairs here are comfortable, though I usually don't have to sit in them for extended periods of time. After a short wait of about ten minutes, my food arrives.

Upon first glance, I thought, "Wow, this is gonna be GOOD!". Presentation was wonderful. The green bell peppers contrasted well with the fire-red peppers. Onions and chicken filled the plate. I noticed the "peanut sauce" didn't look very peanuty. I did pick out some peanuts, but it didn't appear that the sauce was made with them.

I dumped my bowl of rice onto the spicy chicken, and mixed it around to get thoroughly coated. As I began to eat, the first thing that hit my palette was salt. This was a very salty dish, I think the sauce has way too much soy sauce. I'm not a fan of soy sauce, either. I think it's a fine ingredient, but think it should help build a sauce, not provide the backbone for it.

Besides the high sodium feel I'm getting, it's decent. I would figure it would be a bit more "spicy"....it's part of the name, after all. The only time I feel the slightest bit of heat is when I start chewing on one of the whole red-peppers. Most of the peppers themselves weren't hot, but one I got near the end gave a little bit of tongue-tickle.

While this wasn't a bad meal, I probably wouldn't order it again, opting to choose something else from the menu. The soy sauce was way too overpowering for me, taking away lots of flavor from the dish. I couldn't taste any of the peanuts, it just tasted like stir-fried chicken and was pretty bland.

Overall Rating: 42 (scale of 100)
Price $7.50 ($11 with tax & tip)