Phad Thai Hinna: another Sunday buffet reviewed

We know how nice it is to have a nice buffet on a Sunday with the kids and this is why Stavangourmet has reviewed several Sunday buffets including Akropolis and Mikado.

This time, we went up to Hinna, next to the Viking Stadium (the new stadium) to try the Sunday buffet of Phad Thai Hinna. This restaurant is quite popular during the week and of course when there is a football match but this Sunday, it was quiet.

Sushi opening offer: 8 pieces for 120 NOK

Also, this restaurant is now starting to serve sushi and as an opening offer, the prices are quite low. For some reasons, my wife was offered to try two pieces (maybe because she is Japanese or maybe because they guessed we were reviewers) and she liked them which is a very good sign. 

Back on track here are some photos of the buffet:

The buffet costs 300 NOK per person and is free for children under 3. Coffee, tea and dessert are included.

The overall quality of the buffet was good, we particularly liked the thai soup (not on the photo but included in the buffet), which was a chicken soup with cream and Thai vegetables. It was particularly enjoyable as it was freezing outside (Stavanger weather...). The normal white rice was also better than on average in Asian restaurants in Stavanger and the spring rolls seemed home made and were nice too. The red curry was also quite good but beware it was spicy (as any good curry).

The service was good too so the only drawbacks are that this restaurant is a bit isolated (not so much to do in this area on a Sunday) and that the price is a bit high (but again, coffee/tea and desserts are included).

Naree Thai: Second review

Date of the meal: 19/08/2012
Number of people: 2 adults
Website of the restaurant:  http://www.nareethairestaurant.no/  (the website is in Norwegian but the menu is in English and Norwegian)

I have already reviewed Naree Thai here but we went there again tonight and I thought I should share our dining experience. If you read the previous review, you know that like this restaurant and I believe it is a great value for the money. Unfortunately, tonight, we were a bit disappointing with the food.

10. Fried Spring rolls, Thai style (home made) - 54 NOK

40. Clear noodles, pork, onion and shrimp with chili and lemon juice - 86 NOK

For the starters, we order some Thai spring rolls and a clear noodle salad. The spring rolls and the sauce for the spring rolls are home made, which is a good thing but we did not find them wonderful. The clear noodle salad was good but I would have liked it with a little more "lemony" taste. 

For the main dishes, my wife had Fried pork with mixed vegetables, I ordered fried Ba-Mi noodles  and we took some fried rice for our son (from the children menu).

62. Fried pork with mixed vegetables - 141 NOK

124. Fried Ba-Mi noodles with chicken, pork or beef (beef in the photo) - 84 NOK

The fried pork with mixed vegetables was not really good. The sauce was too much diluted (water) or had probably not been cooked for long enough.

On the other hand my dish was good. My wife tasted it and liked it too. It was the first time we ordered it but we will probably order it more often. I did not know what Ba Mi noodles were so I had to look it up on Google. Here is the answer if you don't know it either: "In Thailand, wheat noodles are also known as bami (Thai: บะหมี่). It is eaten mainly in noodle soups and in Chinese style stir-fried noodle dishes."

900. Chicken fried rice, Thai style, children menu - 46 NOK

The fried rice for our son was not a success either. Not so much taste, and too sticky in my opinion. My wife agreed on the taste problem but did not think the consistency was worse than usual. We have ordered this dish several times in the past and this was the first time we didn't like it.

Conclusion: today was a small disappointment. The clear noodle salad and the fried Ba-Mi noodles were good, the spring rolls were not bad but the fried pork with mixed vegetables and the fried rice were not good. As we have tried the fried rice several times before (also from the children menu, and every time with chicken) and were never disappointed with it, I suspect there was either some problems in the kitchen (fire not strong enough, for example) or the fact that the chef was on holiday (Sunday, August, ...). Let us hope that the quality of this restaurant will be back very soon.

Naree Thai, a cheap restaurant in Stavanger

Date of the meal: 13/05/2012
Number of people: 2 adults and 1 child (2 yo)
Order (number in parenthesis is the number in the menu): Chicken soup with lemon and chili (21), Fried chicken with cashew nut - lunch portion (450), Fried chicken with ginger - dinner portion (58), Beef fried rice thai style from the children menu (920)
Total price: 372 NOK (about 80 nok for a lunch meal, 140 for a dinner meal)

I was introduced to this restaurant by a Tunisian friend. He told me this was his favorite restaurant in Stavanger and I have to admit that Naree Thai is a good option, especially for people on budget.

The principle of this restaurant is to propose meals in two ways: the lunch portion for people who are not too hungry and the dinner portion more expensive but more voluminous. It is in my opinion a very good idea as it reduces the food waste and makes prices attractive if you are not too hungry. 2 comments about lunch/dinner. First, to avoid any confusion for people speaking abit of German, Latin or whatever language close to Norwegian. Dinner in Norwegian is "middag". This may be confusing for people thinking "mid-dag = mid-day = meal in the middle of the day = lunch" but that's the way it is. So "Lunsj" (pronounced the same way as in English) is lunch, and "middag" (pronounced as it is written) is dinner. The second comment is that normally, the restaurant only offers lunch potion for lunch (ie until 18 o'clock form Monday to Saturday and not available on Sunday) BUT my experience has shown me that they are flexible (could see many people order lunch even outside lunch time).

What I particularly like in this restaurant are the soups. Thai soups have incredible rich flavours and aromas due to the many ingredients used to make them. Notice that not all these ingredients are eatable (some roots, leaves or vegetables are too hard to be eaten). But again, these ingredients (even though not eatable) are essential to give the soups a good taste. Today, I went for the "Chicken soup with lemon and chili". For soups too, you have the choice between small and large portion. I would recommend the small portion if you are having it as a starter and large portion if you have it as a main or want to share it (1 large portion should be enough for 2 maybe even 3 people). This soup is really nice. Lots of flavour, a hint of lemon, a bit of chili, ... It was just a little bit spicy and I think most people could handle this level of spice.

My wife had the "Fried chicken with cashew nut", in lunch portion. She likes this dish and has it quite often. I am generally not a big fan of nuts in meals but I have to admit that in this dish, the cashew nuts fit pretty well with the sauce. Today, the dish was a bit more spicy than usual and for people not used to hot dishes, or who cannot eat spicy food, it would have been a bit too spicy (still I would not say it was impossible to eat).

I went for the "Fried chicken with ginger" in dinner portion (as you can see in the pictures, the dinner portion is more voluminous than the lunch portion). This dish was said to be a bit spicy on the menu and it was. The meat, the onions and the sauce was just a tiny bit spicy but the ginger bits were quite spicy. If you don't like spicy food, you would still have been able to eat it by just leaving the ginger. Other than that this dish was pretty good but not exceptional.
We ordered fried rice for our son. It was quite good and the portion was in my opinion just what we needed (not too much to avoid wasting food, and not too little so that my son had enough to eat).

All in all, I think Naree Thai is a very good option for people on budget. For low prices, you will be able to eat pretty good food, especially when it comes to soups. If you don't like or cannot eat spicy food, you should precise it when you order your meals.
Here is the link to the restaurant: http://www.nareethairestaurant.no/ and here is the google map of it: http://maps.google.no/maps?q=naree+thai+stavanger

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