Pom’s Thai Restaurant Review
Maine’s known for its lobster, fresh seafood, and clam chowder — but ethnic food? Not exactly. Though seafood shacks are a dime a dozen, it’s rare to find a restaurant that serves cuisine from north or south of the border, unless you count Taco Bell (I don’t).
My husband Jeff and I didn’t hold much hope for Pom’s Thai Restaurant, an unremarkable space situated amongst a block of bedding stores and chain restaurants like Applebee’s and Ruby Tuesday’s. We were expecting a pale imitation of genuine Thai food — but we found a meal straight out of Bangkok.
Photo by Stu Spivack
Disregarding the unfortunate strip mall view, Pom’s interior is elegant and understated. The walls are painted a subdued olive shade, and several Thai paintings and other memorabilia tastefully adorn the dining room. Jeff and I were seated at a table on the side, and even though the dining room was beginning to fill up, the room was quiet enough to talk without raising our voices. We were seated immediately, and took a few minutes to look over the substantial menu.
We realized immediately that Pom’s Thai was not the sort of restaurant that corrupted Thai food to suit the unadventurous palates of American diners; instead, we found authentic, fresh, and affordable interpretations of classic Thai cuisine. We settled on curry puffs and chicken satay for starters, and beef with drunken rice noodles and a yellow curry for our main courses.
The appetizers were brought out within just a few minutes, still steaming hot. The curry puffs were crispy rice paper triangles filled with a delicious mix of potato, peas, and curry powder, served with a cucumber chutney. The chicken satay dish included four chicken skewers served with a peanut dipping sauce. The chicken, marinated in herbs and coconut milk, was incredibly tender, and the dipping sauce had just enough heat.
The main courses were even better. The yellow curry, served with rice, was a wonderful medley of chicken, red chile paste, yellow curry powder, potatoes, and melt-in-your-mouth pineapple chunks. The dish was sweet without being cloying, with enough heat to wake the taste buds up. The beef with drunken noodles featured soft chunks of meat mixed with flat rice noodles in a chili-garlic sauce, with fresh basil, broccoli, and an array of other vegetables. We split both dishes between us, and, though pleasantly full, we couldn’t turn down dessert.
For our final course, we split a dish called Fried Banana — banana segments wrapped in rice paper, deep fried, and coated with powdered sugar and honey. It was a light, sweet, not-too-decadent finish to a lovely meal.
Pom’s offers food for all kinds of eaters. For entrees, the diner can select the spiciness level (from one to four). There’s a large vegetarian section on the menu; additionally, all rice and noodle dishes can be prepared with tofu instead of meat. My husband Jeff is gluten-intolerant, and cannot eat anything containing wheat —†this is often a problem at restaurants, but at Pom’s, many appetizers and nearly all of the entrees were safe for him, particularly since many of the noodle dishes use rice noodles. Even the pickiest diner should be able to find something to enjoy.
Pom’s Thai Restaurant is located at 209 Western Avenue in South Portland, in the Maine Mall area. Its sister restaurant, Thai Taste, which serves an identical menu, is at 435 Cottage Road in South Portland. For more information, visit www.thaitaste.com.
Written by Kathy Hawkins on April 18, 2007
Filed Under Maine, Portland, Restaurants
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