Restaurant: Pailin Thai
Location: 5621 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028. (323) 467-7715
Date: May 13, 2019 & June 29, 2021
Cuisine: Northern Thai cuisine
Rating: Great Northern Thai — highly recommended
So the Hedonist Thai Tour continues with this fourth stop (3rd for me) at well known:
Pailin Thai — in Thai Town of course, a slightly better part of it too.
The interior is still very mom and pop — and small — but there is actually a bit of decor.
The husband runs the front and the wife the back — and they were mobbed, leading to slow initial food production rates. But they more than made up for it in quality.
The menu.
Pork Satay. Grilled marinated pork marinated in thai herb and coconut milk. Served with peanut sauce and cucumber salad.
Fried Chicken. Winston LOVES this fried chicken — and it was very good — and very fried.
Northern Style Sausage. Full of flavor.
A different Style Sausage. Even moister, almost like the crocodile sausage I had last year.
Spicy shrimp ball. In sweet and sour sauce. I loved these little fellows.
Pork Larb (6/29/21) — delicious with great balance and lots of limey acidity.
Larb tod. I had assumed this was like normal larb, but no it’s deep fried larb! Pretty awesome actually.
Cucumber Salad (6/29/21) — sweet and tangy.
Roast Duck Salad. With lemon grass, mint leaves, onion, and curry paste.
Pork Jerky (6/29/21) — incredible flavor and soft texture.
Beef Jerky (6/29/21) — chewier than the pork.
Chicken Feet Salad (6/29/21) – a bit warm, nice texture and flavor.
Raw marinated shrimp. Really juicy slow marinated shrimp with a spicy green chili sauce.
Raw marinated Thai blue crab. Same prep as the shrimp above, but with crab. A bit similar to Korean raw crab, and just as delicious. You have to crunch through the shells and suck out the meat.
Beef tendon soup. A delicious savory and sour beef soup.
Papaya salad.
Khao Soi. The traditional Northern style egg noodle chicken curry “soup.” I love this dish and order it whenever I see it. Love it. Love it.
Manilla Clam Curry Paste. Pretty much clams in Thai basil. Delicious sauce. Lots of flavor.
Spicy frog leg curry. Yummy yummy, kermit in my tummy.
Tom yum goon. Shrimp with mushroom in hot, spicy, and sour soup. We couldn’t resist.
Seafood Soup (6/29/21) — Tom Yum with all sorts of seafood.
Pad see ew. Pan fried rice noodles with egg, black soy sauce.
Napa cabbage pork. Just like in Europe, pork and cabbage seems common in the east — like in China too. It’s delicious either way. Nice crispy texture on the pork.
Green curry with beef. Delicious too. Not as killer hot as Jitlada.
Roast Duck Curry (6/29/21).
Prog pow squid with Thai curry, onion and chili.
Glass Noodles with Beef (6/29/21).
Crispy Pork Belly with Stir Fried Veggies (6/29/21).
Preserved Egg Stir Fry (6/29/21).
Egg Plant with Pork Stir Fry (6/29/21).
They have bags of house-made crispy chicken and pork skins you can take out or use to top your food.
Crispy chicken skins. Salty and delicious little snacks.
Some gelato by me:
It doesn’t even look like a gelato, but trust me it is — Almond Amaretto Truffle Gelato — Amaretto Zabaglione (egg yolk, amaretto, and sugar custard) Sicilian Almond gelato base with stacked layers of house-made Valrhona Almond Amaretti Ganache — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato –#SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #Valrhona #almond #amaretto #amaretti #cookie #ganache #ChocolateTruffle
Pineapple Ginger Sorbetto — Fresh Pineapple infused with Fresh Ginger — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — nice little ginger ale like kick — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #pineapple #ginger #GingerBeer #sorbetto
Burnt Basque Cheesecake Gelato — Milk steeped with Tahitian Vanilla Beans and Valencia Orange Peels and then blended with Cream-cheese and Egg Yolks, layered with house made “burnt” Caramel and topped with house-made Caramel Brittle, finished with the torch! — created by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #basque #cheesecake #caramel #brittle #orange
Overall, Pailin Thai was one of the best places on our Thai Tour. Writing about it after all 6 (5 for me) I thought it was maybe tied with Jitlada, and the best of all the new Northern Thai places we tried in this set. It was super tasty with a wide variety of dish styles, consistent winning execution, friendly (if somewhat slow) service, mom & pop atmosphere with a touch of style, and loads of interesting unique dishes like the raw crab and shrimp.
Our second visit (6/29/21) confirmed that Pailin is a great place. Nearly every dish was fantastic. Tons of variety and flavor. This is a but cut above above average and one of the best Thai places I’ve been.
Highly recommended.
