Restaurant: Lum Ka Naad
Location: 17644 Ventura Blvd, Encino, CA 91316. (818) 616-2338
Date: May 22, 2017 and January 20, 2019 and various
Cuisine: Thai
Rating: Very good authentic Thai with a large menu
My friend Larry and I were going to try some hole-in-the-wall highly rated Thai place deep in the valley but they were closed so we ended up here at this larger more established Ventura Blvd spot.
The have Thai iced tea of course.
Beef Satay. Nice.
Duck Salad. Very salty, but tasty.
Pork salad. Kind of just a regular salad with spicy pork. Not exactly what I was looking for.
Tom Yum noodle soup. A noodle version of the classic sweet and sour Thai soup. Except the broth didn’t have the right flavor tone. I really like a good Tom Yum.
Tom Kha Soup. Coconut milk and tamarind. Delicious. Way better than the no coconut version.
Pickled bamboo with vermicelli noodles and vegetables. Very unusual flavor.
Crying tiger beef. This beef dish was great though. Very tender. Lots of flavor, particularly with the fish sauce.
Red curry with mixed seafood. The typical coconut curry. But it was very good. Nice and rich. Not particularly spicy but not overly sweet.
A kind of special chicken curry. This was a little hot and had a nice complex flavor.
Wrapped BBQ fish and sticky rice.
Unusual flavor to the fish as well. Lots of char taste.
Coconut sticky rice with mango. Delicious.
Overall, this was solid Thai. I’ve been around 10 times (often getting the same dishes though) and while it isn’t as good as the best Thai in LA like Jitlada or Pailin or Renu Nakorn this place has a big menu with both some Americanized stuff and a ton of authentic “unusual flavored” dishes. It’s way better than the generic lousy Americanized Thai places and is a solid B+ or A- (which is pretty good).