Try some Thai

I love Asian food. When you get past the american-ized dishes of general tso's chicken and random sushi rolls, Asian food features a ton of unique and fresh flavors. And while I'll always enjoy a good Chinese or Japanese meal, I think Thai might be favorite type of Asian cuisine. Good Thai is usually full or flavor, including various uses of nuts, citrus, and other spices and herbs, which make for some very interesting meals. So when I had a chance to try Thai Continental Cuisine a few weeks ago, I was very excited about it.

Thai Continental Cuisine is located in downtown Roanoke on Market Street, right across from the newly re-opened City Market Building. There's nothing flashy about the entrance and they don't really advertise, but don't let the exterior or lack of a marketing plan deceive you. The interior of the restaurant is very clean and the staff, who all appeared to be Asian, seem intent on creating an enjoyable experience by serving great Thai food. It's the type of place where your waiter might not speak in perfect English, which gives you confidence in the authenticity of the food.

Drunken Noodles

When we arrived for lunch around noon, there were a few open tables but the restaurant quickly filled up. It's obvious this is a very popular weekday lunch spot for all the people who work downtown. They offer a good variety of lunch entrees along with their regular entrees, soups, salads, appetizers, etc. and most of the lunch entrees are priced around $7-$9. All the entrees are also served with a small salad, making the price and value very reasonable. To start the meal, we ordered the pork dumplings as an appetizer. One twist I liked about the dumplings was the addition of fresh cilantro, which added another layer of flavor I wasn't expecting. While I had a tough time choosing my entree, I decided to order the Drunken Noodles with chicken - and I requested the dish be prepared with a mild amount of spice/heat. This dish was great! It was loaded with chicken and fresh vegetables (peppers, onions, tomatoes) and the Thai rice noodles were cooked perfectly. There was a good amount of spice, but not so much that I was unable to taste the rest of the ingredients. I'd highly recommend this dish, especially to someone who might be unfamiliar with Thai cuisine.

My only complaint about eating at Thai Continental Cuisine would be the amount of time it took us to eat there. As I mentioned, we arrived at noon and had a tough time making it out before 1pm. Although the servers were friendly, it took them a while to get our orders and our entrees seemed to be pretty slow getting to our table. I'm all about having freshly prepared food, but most downtown restaurants are really good about being able to move tables through in under an hour, which people need so they can get back to work. I'd think Thai Continental would be no different and we just happened to catch them on a slower day. It definitely wouldn't keep me from going back.

Thai food is so underrated. If you've never had it, you really should give it a try. I know there are a few other Thai restaurants in Roanoke and I look forward to trying them. If they are anything like Thai Continental, Roanoke is in very good shape.