SEA Thai Bistro

S.E.A (Southeast asian cuisine)
75 2nd Ave
Bet E. 4th & 5th St
New York, NY
(212) 228-5505

Reservations: Not necessary. First come first serve because of the size of the restaurant.

One of the many SEA thai bistro restaurants in NYC, I chose this one because it’s in the village which is where I wanted to go. I’ve heard many good things about SEA, well the brooklyn restaurant anyways, and I thought to try it myself. I’ve always wanted to go to a thai restaurant that is trendy and chic with a friendly atmosphere and SEA is definitely the place to go. The location that I went to isn’t that big really, and it gets pack real quick, look:

Courtesy of Kimberly who has the guts to flash my camera over her head. Of course we were sitting by the front of the restaurant.

As we came into the restaurant, we were greeted by a very cute and friendly maitre’d who accompanied us to our seats. I didn’t that spot because I felt really cramped and claustrophobic so I asked him to change our seats and he was very nice about it and let us do so which was very nice of him.

So we got the menus and was in no rush to order, which I like as well. More points more points! For drinks we started off with:

Drinks:

Lychee Thai Ice Tea
Price: $2.00

Verdict: This is a very sweet decadent drink with coconut milk, tea, sugar and lychee. There’s only a hint of lychee flavor, but it’s good enough. For $2, you can’t lose! Plus the sodas are the same price too, so you might as well give this a try.

Recommended: Yes

Pomegranate Mojito
Price: $5.75

Verdict: A very bitter drink, but it also has the crisp minty after taste from the leaves. Kimberly had one sip and she was instantly buzzed.

Recommended: If you want that buzz, take a sip. Pome is too bitter and thick for me, but if you’re a fan of pome, give it a whirl.

Appetizers

Summer Roll with tamarind sauce, peanut and smoked tofu
Price: $4

This dish was actually recommended on SEA’s website so I decided to give it a whirl since I wanted the thai version of the summer roll since I’ve tried the vietnamese one. The difference between the thai and the viet rolls is that this roll is smaller and that the material inside is completely different.

Verdict: As Jeff and I said, it tastes interesting, we just can’t phrase it into words. It is not the best tasting roll I’ve had nor is it the worse tasting roll I had. The peanut sauce was good to go with, but it did not taste anything special, it has a very calm healthy taste.

Recommended: I can’t say I loved it but I urge you guys to try it and tell me how it taste.

Martini Crispy Shrimps w/basil tomato sauce
Price: $5

Verdict: Oh my god this tastes extremely good. I did not know it was shrimp until Jeff told me that that it was because it look like chicken tenders from a distance. This was sweet, like it had a hint of coconut and it was nice and crispy.

Recommended: Yes, absolutely. I cannot get enough of it.

Entrees

Grilled Thai Spice Salmon
grilled salmon marinated with chili, garlic, served with sauteed mixed vegetables
Price: $14

Verdict: Kim ordered this dish and I had a sample of hers. I didn’t like it too much because the salmon tasted pretty fishy, which unfortunately was not covered up by it’s surrounding vegetables. Need ginger I guess. But Kim seem to finish her plate within 5 minutes, so I figure it is a good sign.

Recommended: Kim says yes, but like me who’s not a fan of seafood, I wouldn’t really want it. Try it, it’s one of SEA’s specialty dishes.

Chu Chee Crispy Fish
crispy salmon with chu chee coconut sauce, zucchini, carrot, snow peas
Price: $11

Verdict: I’m not a fan of seafood and especially with curry so I can’t really say if this is good. I can say that this tastes better than the salmon one because the fish is fried.

Recommended: If you’re a seafood fan and you want a light meal, this is the thing for you.

Volcanic Chicken
with stir-fried napa cabbage, carrot, zucchini, snow peas
Price: $11

I love this dish, mainly because I chose it. Because of my slowness, I fail to capture the flame that engulfed my chicken, way cool. All my dinner neighbors were in oohs and ahhs. That’s right people oohs and ahhs all you want cause it is wayy cooler than your pad thais.

Verdict: The chicken tasted very succulent, tender, and has a hint of sweetness that makes me want to scream in pleasure. Never have I had a chicken this good in a thai place this good. BUT some of the vegetables tastes like crap cause it soaked up all the alcohol that contributed to the fire, hence making it bitter. See without the alcohol the veggies would have tasted pleasant.

Recommended: Yes!

This is what I didn’t like:

Such tiny riceballs of rice. Look like the size of my chest, kidding, but really I want separate bowls. Next time I’ll ask for it.

But all else aside, I loved this place and would highly recommend it. I had a lot of fun with my friends and my friend Kim wanted to pick up this waiter:

But, he told her that he was gay but he will still take a picture with her. How sweet.

Rating: 4/5

Moment of the night was when Kim said this while looking at the menu:

“What are these numbers that are next to the dishes?”

 

Ahh, I love this girl, hehe. The answer is, “They’re the price of the dish”