Samosa Week Goes To Thailand: Chicken Curry Puffs With Cucumber Sauce At Bangkok Garden

When all the contestants are fried, the dipping sauce can carry the day.

Samosa Week went to Thailand for Bangkok Garden's curry puff appetizer, and the first note was the sweet, cucumber-flavored sauce.  The sauce, which comes with chopped onion and sliced jalepeno, certainly distinguishes the Columbia restaurant from Indian joints.

But the curry puff actually makes the "best samosa" list on its own.  The filing was a puree of chicken, potato and herbs.  That's as much flavor as an Indian samosa with the same profile of spiced, but not spicy.  Even more impressive, the pastry was perfect.  Crunchy and thick like an Indian samosa, but dry to the touch.  There is so little grease that it almost looks baked.

The Thai samosa is not a crazy pick.  I was surprised when I first read about curry puffs on Good for the Palate, but Bangkok Garden delivers on all three dimensions -- filing, pastry and sauce -- and contrasts the fried puffs nicely with fresh, lighter stirfries.  It's a new kitchen since the place was sold earlier this year, and definitely one worth visiting.

This is part of the Samosa Week -- a celebration of savory pastries from India and beyond.  We're highlighting the best of Howard County's fried appetizers in all kinds of flavors.

Bangkok Garden 9 in Columbia

Choo-Chee Goong and Pad-Mah-Kuer-Jae

Bangkok Garden 9 can serve food delicious enough that it's worth make sure that they get things right.

The Columbia restaurant has been a local attraction for years, and we have gone twice since it was sold earlier this year and added the lucky "9" to its name.  Thai food makes for happy evenings -- in no small part because it was part of our early dates and our honeymoon.

Bangkok Garden can deliver.  When it's on, the food is light and punchy.  The sauces are so delicious that I wanted extra rice to spoon it all up.  We have wiped out an appetizer and two large plates of food because it's just too much fun to box up.

Sharing a bunch of courses is important because you can sample so many different flavors in a Thai meal.  You could start with larb -- the cold salad made with minced chicken, lime juice, fish sauce, and herbs.  Or you could flip around to curry puffs -- a fried, flaky pastry like a samosa, stuffed with pureed chicken and pastry and served hot with a cucumber sauce.

Bangkok Garden Sold, But Not To Tara Thai

Bangkok Garden has been sold to folks who will take over the Columbia restaurant and change the name, but not to "Tara Thai," according to a comment from Vida.

First the bad news. I've confirmed that the Columbia branch of Bangkok Garden has been sold. I went to the Bethesda location for dinner this evening and spoke with the owners. I was told that the new owners of the Columbia location are Tarin Thai, (not Tara Thai- sorry about that), out of Virginia. According to the previous owners, the new owners have been granted the right to use the Bangkok Garden name for about 6 months; after that time, they will have to change the restaurant's name. 

 Now for the good news. Bethesda isn't that far away. . . .

Anyone know more details?  I see a reference to a Tarin Thai on Yelp, but that Herndon restaurant is described as closed.  When people were reviewing, they focused on a Thai buffet.  Thanks to Vida for the update.

Bangkok Garden and the Thai New Year

Bangkok Garden in Columbia is the only local entry in a "Thai Restaurant Week" sponsored by the Royal Thai Embassy from April 13 to 19, 2009, according to the WPost.  The article says restaurants will serve special menus of holiday foods, and they'll offer free samples of fresh Thai fruit like mangoes, litchis, rambutans, etc.

See this Chowhound post for more information about Thai New Year festivities.

Bangkok Garden in Columbia

Because I already have a Thai restaurant on my favorites list, Bangkok Garden had to pass a test with me. It did. This casual Columbia place captures the flavor of Thailand, and I'll go back to taste some more.

(Update: Bangkok Garden was sold in 2011.  It appears to be a totally new management, and the name will change during the spring or summer.)

Next time, I'll pass on the larb, which didn't have the flavor of the appetizer at my favorite Bangkok Delight. But I'll drive for the massaman shrimp curry -- an orange-tinged curry made with coconut, peanut and the delicious spices that make Thai food so delicious. We ate shrimp and chunks of avocado, then asked for extra rice to just cover with curry and spoon up.

Both the massaman and the green curries tasted like authentic Bangkok. The vegetables in the green curry were spectacular. The chicken didn't add much, so try a vegetable curry to enjoy the perfectly-tender eggplant and bamboo shoots.

Bangkok Garden is a casual little place. Large glass windows. The decor is an 80s flashback that looks like the set for The Wedding Singer -- luminous black tables, jewel tones, and then strangely out-of-season tinsels and Christmas decorations. They offer karaoke with huge spotlights. A perfect place to go shine.

If you like Thai, definitely check out Bangkok Delight or click for a working list of the best restaurants in Howard County.

Bangkok Garden

5810 Robert Oliver Place

Columbia, MD 21045

410-992-9553

www.bkkgarden.com

NEAR: This is in the Oakland Mills village center. This is off Stevens Forest Road north of Broken Land and east of Rte 29.

Bangkok Delight: Thai in Columbia

This is the one place that I can actually say tastes authentic.

Our honeymoon in Thailand was the only trip in which I came home without craving some familiar American food. Bangkok Delight captures the feel of Thailand -- from the pretty paper umbrellas hanging from the ceiling to the mango with sticky rice that we eat every time.

Start with chicken laab -- minced chicken dressed with lime juice, celery, red onion and herbs -- or one of the lemon grass ("tom yum") soups. Those capture the Thai flavor that balances salty, sweet and sour flavors and takes special advantage of lime, herbs and sometimes hot peppers. A first-time visitor will enjoy a chicken or pork satay -- skewers of meat served with a peanut sauce. The adventurous will savor spicy yum salads -- beef, chicken, squid other choices mixed again with lime, spices, celery and scallions.

Then order whatever entree looks good. You're choosing between noodles and rice dishes, picking different curries or stirfries, and deciding whether you want veggies, chicken, pork, fish, etc. Everything has been delicious, and there are specials that extend Bangkok Delight from a basic joint into a creative restaurant. Squash dishes, soft shell crabs and special curries. This kitchen wants to impress you, and entrees from $11 to $20 make it easy to come again and again. It's also great takeout, especially the noodles and curries -- most surprisingly the brown curry that we only tried recently because, well, it was called "brown" curry and "ruby," "red" or "green" sounded more appetizing.

Again, my post about the mango sticky rice.

(Update: My thoughts on Bangkok Delight have changed. For a while in 2008, I thought it was the best restaurant in Howard County. But I have been disappointed several times in 2009. There are comments below from The Minx, who was really disappointed in November 2009. I really don't know what has happened.)

If you like Thai food, go check out H Mart or check out (literally, from the library) "Thai Food and Cooking" -- the cookbook that I carry around the H Mart.

(If you want Thai, many other people -- including a handful who disparage Bangkok Delight -- swear by Bangkok Garden in the Oakland Mills Village Center. Check out a note and see the address is below.)

Bangkok Delight

8825 Centre Park Drive #A

Columbia, MD 21045

410-730-0032

http://www.bangkokdelight.com/

NEAR: The Giant off Rte 108 just west of Howard High School and east of Rte 29. Bangkok Delight is in the shopping area just north of Giant. Look for the Burger King on the corner.

(I promised myself that I wouldn't write many negative comments, but the Mexican restaurant next to Bangkok Delight is one of the worst that I have ever eaten. Eat at Burger King first.)

Bangkok Garden

5810 Robert Oliver Place

Columbia, MD 21045

410-992-9553

http://www.bkkgarden.com/

NEAR: They're in the Oakland Mills village center.