I’ll admit, I was a little bit surprised when I learned that Thaiphoon served Thai, as I thought that would be far too obvious, but as I would soon find out, subtlety is definitely not the goal of this downtown Palo Alto restaurant.

Before I delve into the experience of the food, I would like to comment on the overall atmosphere of the restaurant. The venue is not very large in size, which provides for a more intimate dining experience and emphasizes the cuisine as uniquely Thai rather than an approximation by a restaurant chain. To create the illusion of space, the restaurant has glass windows in the front, which also allow people inside to enjoy the Buddha fountain outside. I am by no means an expert on any kind of architecture or interior design particular to Thailand, but I did notice many motifs of Buddhism and Eastern Asian architecture present, both of which have heavily influenced the culture in Thailand. In general, I felt as though the restaurant provided some cultural insight into Thailand without being overbearing or distracting to the patrons.

Waiting for my food, I had only a very weak idea of what exactly I to expect; I suppose I assumed that the food would be similar to Chinese cuisine but I was quite pleasantly surprised to find that it wasn’t. While reading the menu, I noticed that a lot of the food included chili powder or something else that gave the food a distinct spicy taste. I found this quite interesting, so I ordered the Pad Thai noodles and chicken dish, which was prepared with chili powder, broccoli, green onions, bean sprouts and peanuts. This intriguing combination of ingredients was sure to yield a memorable dish, although I’ll admit to being a bit skeptical about actually liking it.

In actuality, I loved my food. My dish was impeccably prepared, all ingredients sautéed an pan-fried to perfection. What struck me the most about this food was the chili powder and how it added a powerful yet not overwhelming additional flavor. I could definitely detect hints of the food preparation methods used in India. After this experience, I researched Thai cuisine and found that the food is famous for balancing the taste elements of spicy, sweet, sour, salty and bitter. In my opinion, this makes a lot of sense in the context of the culture of Thailand, particularly Buddhism, which is fundamentally concerned with balance in one’s life. In the future, I plan to further investigate the culture of Thailand in order to more fully understand the role of food in that country.

Although I am hardly qualified to pass judgments on what is “good” in terms of Thai cuisine, as I have had very few experiences with it in my lifetime, I would strongly recommend Thaiphoon to anyone who is interested in Thai or simply enjoys trying new types of food, as the menu provides quite a variety. The subtlety of the cultural architecture and design of the restaurant are just enough to create an atmosphere which allows customers to focus on their experience of the food.