Restaurant Review – Amazing Thai

Amazingly Mediocre Thai Food

  I apologize that it has been so long since we have published a restaurant review,  We have been meaning to get out to a new restaurant for a while but could not find the time or energy to go beyond our usual haunts.  I had been promising Mi Jung that we would go out for Thai food and begin searching the internet for a restaurant that would make a good blog. My research lead me to Amazing Thai in the Hannam-Dong area of Itaewon which was given good ratings and boasted a Thai chef.  So off we went to Itaewon via the Blue 110B to the stop right after the Firehouse.

   The restaurant is large (Especially by Korean standards) and takes up the entire third floor of the building.  The restaurant is very clean, spacious and decorated with traditional Thai artwork.  Besides the tables shows here, there are also private rooms along the side for large groups or private functions.

 For starters, we ordered the Thai Basket, which is a mixed appetizer, and Mi Jung ordered a bowl of Tom Yum Goon a Spicy prawn soup with lemon grass.  (Thai Basket pictured below.).

The Thai Basket includes the Satay Gai (Chicken Satay with peanut sauce.), Poh Pia Tod (Fried spring rolls with plum sauce.), Goon Shupaeng Tod (Deep friend prawn tempura.), and Tod Man Goong (Deep fried prawn cakes.).  The platter comes with a trio of sauces, peanut, plum, and sweat and sour.  The appetizer was good and was a nice variety.  However I found that each of the offerings to be rather bland!  It definitely did not have the kick and flavor that I have come to expect from Thai food!  I knew we were in for a rough ride when Mi Jung announced that her Tom Yum Goon tasted just like “Kimchee Stew!”  Tom Yum is not supposed to taste like kimchee anything!  The restaurant also did the cardinal sin of sin of serving the appetizer along with the main course.  Even though this is all to common here in Korea.  I find it annoying! So beware, be sure to specify that you want the appetizers served first.  I do not knock restaurants here for this as I understand that is the norm in Korea.

Our main dishes were Pad See I Gao (Pictured below.  Now I have had Pad See-Ew before in Thailand, and at the time we made light of the fact that it sounded like the famous Chinese-Thai serial killer Se-Eu-E.  As I understand this thai dish was introduced to Thailand by the Chinese, it tasted almost exactly like the Beef Ho Fun that we really enjoy from Ho Lee Chow.

One of my favorite dishes from Thailand is Pad Kraproa, which is a spicy ground pork dish with basil leaves.  This is usually a wonderfully prepared pork dish with just the right amount of spice!  The favor here once again fell flat,  I was really disappointed.  Additionally the pork was not ground, but cut into bite sized triangles.  I again compared the presentation to a pork dish we had at Ho Lee Chow.

No Thai meal is complete without rice, in fact traditionaly rice is the most important part of a meal in Thailand and it is considered polite to eat a bite of rice first, before partaking in the beef or fish.  Mi Jung chose the Khao Pad Kraprao Goong, which is Fried rice with prawn and basil leaves. 

Mi Jung enjoyed the food, but did not feel that it was anything special.  I agreed with her, especially since I have been to Thailand so many times and no how wonderful real Thai food can be.  It really shocked me that this restuant has time and time again gotten such good reviews.  When I could only see giving the food about 3 stars.   The location was great and easy to get to, and the restaurant was very clean, and well decorated and it’s size would definitely help on those busy weekends in Itaewon.   However, I could just not get over how mediocre the food was!  There was no flavor or heat that would make me identify it with Thai food.  To me it tasted more like average Chinese food.  I don’t think we will go back, and I would not recommend anyone go out of their way to try Amazing Thai. 

Address –
83-134 Hannam-dong, Seoul

Phone # –
02-796-7377

Directions (Easiest) –

Take Subway line 4 or line 6 to Samgakji Station and use way out # 13
Walk up the street to the Korean War Memorial bus stop and catch the blue 110B bus towards Itaewon.  Get off 1 stop past the firehouse.  You will see the Amazing Thai sign.

Directions (Subway Only)

Take Subway line 6 to Itaewon Station and use Way Out # 4.  Continue down the street for several blocks into Hannam Dong (10 Minutes).  You will pass the Line Friends building, and the firehouse before arriving at Amazing Thai.

You can also get take out delivered using shuttle delivery.
https://www.shuttledelivery.co.kr/en/restaurant/menu/270/amazing-thai