Grain River Asian Bistro: Red Curry, Pad Thai, Thai Iced Tea

Thai Iced Tea

 Last night my husband I had dinner at Grain River Asian Bistro to celebrate our first month of marriage. Yay! We learned about this restaurant from a Tucson Foodie article about the best Thai places to try in town. What caught our attention the most was that they offer vegan meat in addition to tofu. The setback is that it is way way way north! I think we drove 30 miles down Oracle and it was in a random shopping center, but we had the restaurant to ourselves!

Pad Thai with Vegan Meat

Our favorite dishes to order at Thai restaurants are usually red curry and pad thai, so that's what we got. I usually like to try the Thai iced tea when I get the chance. At Grain River, I guess they mix whipped cream in with the Thai tea mix. I'll admit it was kind of weird. It made it more like a dessert than something to drink with my dinner. Both the red curry and pad thai dishes tasted different from usual. I wanted more coconut milk flavor in the curry and I like the pad thai more sticky and sweet.

Red Curry with Vegan Meat

A staff member from the restaurant came over and thanked us for coming in all the way from the downtown area. She then began to explain that younger diners usually like more oily Thai food. She said that they do more steaming of the ingredients and they try to include more vegetables. I agree that many Thai restaurants serve more oily dishes, so I guess I felt good knowing that this restaurant prepares their dishes in a healthier fashion. I still missed the creaminess of the red curry and the sweetness of the pad thai. I almost forgot to talk about the vegan meat, a dehydrated soy protein. It was okay. I think it would be better marinated before hand, but sometimes it's hard to make that stuff good since it is so spongy. I'll have to try one of their Chinese or Japanese dishes next time. The dishes were in the higher price range around $12.50 a plate and around $16 for a Bento box. So if you want to go for a nice cruise through the city for a healthy Thai dish and friendly staff, then Grain River is the place to go.