Dee Daa
I used to work in NYC, but now I don’t. Writing restaurant reviews when I worked in NYC was easier because I could write up cheap lunches, which happened more often and added on the pounds, but that’s another story. Anyway, I was working in NYC today, so I went back to old habits and tried a new place for lunch. The restaurant, Dee Daa, is a stone’s throw from Grand Central and claims to “ bring a little balance to your day. It’s a mix of zen and zest. Food that tastes great and makes you feel good. Service with a smile without a long wait. That’s what we’re all about.” My opinion is they did a good job on branding mediocre, yet tasty Thai food… If you put your Thai restaurant in midtown and are willing to pay up on rent, come up with a fancy name, and invest in some branding/artwork and cool signage, it’s an invitation charge $7.50 for rice with a few pieces of clicken that should cost $3.50.
Nevertheless, Dee Daa was crowded and seemed to do a good business. Service was friendly as they promised. While take out is their thing, it seemed wasteful to serve everyone, even those dining in, with those white plastic takeout containers. Also, while they displayed calorie counts on the menus and I picked the dish with the lowest calorie amount (under 400) I got the impression every dish started and ended with lots of cooking oil. That may have been the reason I tasted lemongrass thai rice the entire afternoon.
Rating:
Food – 5/10
Ambiance – 7/10
Service – 7/10
Category:
Food Type – Thai
Style – Casual
Price – Moderate
deedaa.com
155 East 43rd St (b/t 3rd and Lex)
646.396.6500
Aura Thai Cuisine
Upon entering the Thai restaurant named Aura, I wasn’t sure when I would see the Aura. It wasn’t in the Lincoln Tunnel approach outside…
And it wasn’t in the mismatched and cracked artwork on the walls.
When I started eating the food, the aura came through… Do you see it in the pic below of my Thai Iced Tea?
In all seriousness. You don’t go to Aura for ambiance. You go for better, more authentic Thai than you get in all the wanna be Thai places around the city. The lunch special is particularly a good deal – even after they crossed out a few of the offerings on the menu. Everyone starts out with some dumplings or shumai (depending on the day). I found the vegetarian dumplings to be tasty… I tasted mushroom, vermicelli noodles. I wanted to ask more about what was inside, but the waitress didn’t look ready to engage in that conversation.
The Aura PAD KEE MAO with chicken, vegetables and fresh basil in a spicy chili garlic soy sauce was so much better than the Thai noodles I order on the East Side ( I wonder if they deliver across town?). The heat came from a variety of colorful peppers (not just a squirt of Sriracha sauce). I ate every bite.
When I got a chance to research the name, Aura, I actually found out that my hunch was only slightly correct. Turns out “the fusion cafe is actually named after the matriarch of the Watanasuparp family, Nora; hence, NAURA.” According to the Aura’s website, “this minor misnomer is intentional and welcomed, though, because the eatery evokes Thai aura and flavor into every dish.” One can assume that the Watanasuparp family owns the restaurant.
Aura or not, you can count on high quality Thai at reasonable prices.
Wanna go?
Rating:
Food – 8/10
Ambiance – 5/10
Service – 7/10 (fast but abrupt)
Category:
Food Type – Thai
Style – Casual
Price – Reasonable
Address/phone –
462 Ninth Avenue (Bet. 35th – 36th Streets), 212 971-8530
website- aurathaicuisine.com
menu – aurathaicuisine.com/menu.html