Thai Spice Brings the Heat

Often the best restaurants have originated–or remain hidden–within a humble strip mall.  The “hidden gem” gains a loyal local following despite an obscure location.  Restaurant Thai Spice in Indianapolis, Indiana is such a restaurant.

Upgraded from its “strip mall roots,” Thai Spice has recently moved to a larger freestanding building to accommodate the hungry demand of Indianapolis foodies, my sister and brother-in-law, Megan and Ben Tsai included!

Megan, Ben, Amanda, and I made the short trip from their home in Greenville to Thai Spice near the Greenwood Park Mall.  Thai Spice is surrounded by an assortment of all the predictable restaurants one would expect to find near any shopping mall in America—restaurants that have been designed with flashy interiors, corporate attitudes, and mediocre food.

Thai Spice makes the competition “feel the heat”  with a personalized look, warm hospitality, and incredible food.  The interior is warmly decorated with family-owned paintings of Thailand, pictures of the family’s children, scenes of Thai women dressed-liked-goddesses, and even personalized embroidered napkins to wipe that curry off your chin!

Service at Thai Spice is a family affair and the wait staff easily made us feel like a part of their family. Our server seemed like the long-lost Thai aunt that I never had– a trip to her house would undoubtedly result in a great time and extraordinary food.

The food is bravely spicy.  The spice level of the food is far too hot for any “corporate chain” restaurant.  At Thai Spice, however, Indianapolis Hoosiers are hungry for heat.  Fortunately for the weaker of spirit, the kitchen adjusts the spice to any heat level.  Not even I, a spicy food lover, dared to order my meal “very hot”!

One dish that my sister, Megan, often craves is the spicy tofu salad.  This salad features fried cubes of firm tofu tossed with scallions, carrot, tomato, cilantro, onion, and a high-intensity dressing of sweet vinegar and fiery red chili.  While eating this dish, the heat slowly builds around flavors of meaty tofu, crunchy fresh vegetables, and refreshing wafts of cilantro.  Now Amanda and I have begun to crave Thai Spice’s tofu salad, too!

For my main course, I ordered the hot and rich Masaman Curry with chicken.  I soon became entranced with the rich and silky creaminess infused into this curry by a healthy dose of peanuts, enhanced with a heavy-handed splash of coconut milk, and elevated with tangy tomato and Thai Spice’s signature red chili heat.  Fresh, crisp vegetables and tender slivers of chicken were suspended in this complex curry–it was accompanied by a bowl of steaming rice to soak it all up!

I always prefer the authentic feel and outstanding food of a  family-owned restaurant to the flashiness and impersonal feel of chain restaurants.  The food at many upscale chain restaurants can occasionally be very good, but it rarely achieves the greatness of a meal from a family-owned establishment.  Thai Spice, like many great strip mall eateries, provides authentic food and warm service that makes you feel that you are a guest in the owner’s home, and everyone knows that home is the place where the best food is prepared with the most love that can be found!