The restaurant: Thai Orchid is a small spot tucked away in the idyllic and newly-renovated Strawberry Hill shopping center in South Charlotte. Since opening its doors in 1994, they have become a local favorite with a loyal following of regulars that have been going there for years, myself included. In the 25 years that it has been open, not much has changed other than the flooring and the wait staff. Consistency and a devotion to Thai flavors and foodways have kept them at the top of their game. 

 

The cuisine: Siam, as Thailand was then known, is rightfully proud of the fact it was the only country in Southeast Asia never to be colonized by a Western power. That national pride extends to the cuisine, a rich blend of disparate influences that result in the harmonized dishes that are now beloved all over the world. A riot of color and spices, Thai food is often a mingling of cooking styles from places such as Malaysia, Indonesia, China, Laos, and India that have been brought together and made wholly Thai. Eschewing simple tastes, Thai cuisine often hits all the taste receptors on your tongue at once, leaving your mouth swooning and wanting more.

 

Our must-order: I’m not here to talk about pad Thai. The carryout favorite has become one of America’s must-have dishes, and for some good reasons. However, looking elsewhere on the menu can bring you richer rewards as a diner. Eat family style and order a lot of food. Start with the appetizers: mee krob and larb. Both variations on a lettuce wrap: mee krob is a crispy heap of fried vermicelli noodles, fine-chopped shrimp and chicken, scallions, and water chestnuts coated in a sweet and sour sauce. Larb, though originating among the Lao and Hmong ethnic groups, is popular throughout Thailand and is a dish of minced meat, herbs, scallions, and fish and lime sauces. 

After the appetizers, go with the phig gai somran. It’s a truly unique dish consisting of deboned chicken wings stuffed with shrimp, vegetables, and rice noodles that are then both steamed and deep-fried, and served with a peanut dipping sauce. Next comes your two main dishes: pad prik pow and pad kee moe. Both are stir-fried wok dishes. Pad prik pow is the spicier of the two, with roasted chili paste at its core, accompanied by sautéed carrots, onions, mushrooms, jalapeños, and handfuls of basil, all of which is then drowned in a rich and spicy brown sauce that is perfect poured over fragrant jasmine rice. Pad kee moe is a popular late night snack for drinkers in Bangkok and is sometimes called “drunken noodles.” Wide flat rice noodles are cooked and then thrown into a wok with broccoli, onions, peppers, and herbs like mint and basil, then sprinkled with generous amounts of soy sauce, fish sauce, and oyster sauce. It’s an indulgent dish for a late night of drinking or dinner with the family. I also have to give a shout-out to the kaeng mussamun curry, a dish of exquisite heat and sweetness. 

Why we go: 25 years might as well be 100 in the Charlotte food scene. Restaurants come and go with startling regularity in the Queen City. It’s a pleasure to see a restaurant do so well year after year, as Thai Orchid does. They have a wider and deeper menu but less buzz than their flashier Thai counterparts throughout the city, but what they lack in attention, they far make up for in flavor, service, and consistent attention to the details that make dishes memorable. ‚—Travis Mullis

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