Ayada

Another thing that I will miss badly about New York- the amazing variety and quality Asian food. Dim Sum palaces, super spicy Sechuan, Cantonese and Tibeten, Korean, Malaysian, Vietnamese,and Thai, not to mention fancy-pants trendy temples of Sushi. I love them all fairly equally, but if I can find really great Thai place, I'm content with all aspects of my life. At least for 20 minutes.

I've had Thai food in France and I've been sorely disappointed. I need a break from pastry and creamy butter sauces at some point, but the Thai there never hits the spot. It's too bland- even with much begging with the kitchen staff, I find that it never gives the big kick that I'm after. I know that I need to take advantage of a good curry and freebase it while I have access it.

An unassuming storefront in Elmhurst is serving up some of the most amazing Thai dishes I've ever tasted.



Ayada Thai is worth the trip to far-away Queens (of course, you're lucky if you live nearby).

The windows declare it "the best" in multiple publications. As much as I hate speaking in superlatives, I don't think I would argue with their title.



The menu is huge, so we stuck with some basics- a garlicky hot papaya salad, a fiery jungle curry, and a tangy tamarind sour curry.

The curries were amazing and hot- they didn't puss around with the "thai spicy" thing. It burned like crazypants, but beneath all that spice, it always had a nice nuanced balance between hot and sweet and sour.



I almost never get desert, but I couldn't resist trying the pumpkin custard.



It was creamy and just a little sweet and perfectly encapsulated into a wedge of pumpkin. It was a real nice finish after all those chilies.

While I'm more likely to agree to a trip to Thailand to get Thai food than a 30 minute drive to Queens, I would highly recommend this place to all the spice junkies out there.