Saturday, February 20, 2010

Ruen Pair (Take 2)

Although most of my restaurant meals are with Charles or solo missions, I also love to eat family style with a small group. I don't find myself in such settings often, so I took matters into my own hands and organized a dinner date at Ruen Pair, which I've written about before. The lovely ladies who joined me were Delicious Coma, Eat Sip Chew, Weezermonkey and Wandering Chopsticks. We ordered a little bit of everything.

Ruen Pair papaya salad with raw crab
Papaya salad with raw crab: I loved this version. I've had raw crab a la Korean, but never in this dish (I usually order it with dry shrimp). We also opted for what the server called "Thai spicy," which indeed was fiery, but not as unbearable as you'd think.

Ruen Pair salty veg and ground pork soup
Salty vegetable and ground pork soup: I rarely order soup when we go out for Thai unless it is a noodle soup as the main course, but I always WANT to. My wish was fulfilled and I really loved the humble nature of the soup and need I even say how much I adore salty vegetables (i.e. pickled foods)?

Ruen Pair stewed duck noodles
Stewed duck noodles (ordered dry): Duck is my happy food and with the wide noodles, it was an enjoyable mix. We got them dry as it was more conducive to sharing. Thanks to Delicious Coma, who suggested we do so.

Ruen Pair green curry chicken
Green curry chicken: Not particularly outstanding, just a solid dish and a hearty portion, such that I was able to pack the leftovers up only to discover later that I left the box at the restaurant! The dream of a satisfying next day lunch shattered due to my absent-mindedness.

Ruen Pair fried pompano
Fried pompano with spicy chili dressing: My first time having pompano, which was not only tasty, but also had Eat Sip Chew exclaiming how cute the little guy was. Pompano is perhaps the Opie of the fish world.

Ruen Pair spicy chili dressing
And look at all that spicy chili dressing they bestowed upon us! It was comically awesome. And delicious.

Afterwards, we hopped over to Bhan Kanom Thai for some panchi and sticky rice. No pictures, but it is incredibly cheap and I recommend the place with both thumbs up. Thank you to my dinner dates for the fantastic company!

Ruen Pair
5257 Hollywood Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90027
(323) 466-0153
Cash only

Bhan Kanom Thai
5271 Hollywood Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90027
(323) 871-8030

7 comments:

Wandering Chopsticks said...

Thanks for letting me come along. It was great fun and delicious to boot!

weezermonkey said...

Funny, I liked the green curry a lot! Thanks again for organizing. Let's do it again. :)

Marie said...

Wandering Chopsticks: Of course! I hope to do another group dinner again soon, good times!

Weezermonkey: Oh, I liked the green curry, too! I just felt that although it was good, it didn't taste very different from other versions I've had before. Basically, it was what I expected from an authentic Thai place like Ruen Pair. :P I was happy to organize, it seems like the planning bug has bitten me again!

bagnatic said...

the papaya salad looks amazing and the fried fish looked like you guys took it from my parent's house. did you? jealous that i missed this one.

Gastronomer said...

Looks like I missed out on a damn fine meal. While you guys were slurping duck noodles, I was eating shitty Italian food on the Sunset Strip. Wah wah.

Anjali said...

Oh no! I hate leaving the box of leftovers behind.

Nice job planning -- I had a lovely time!

Marie said...

Bagnatic: Wish you could've been there!

Gastronomer: The Sunset Strip scares me, although yes, it was entertaining to watch people on the mechanical bull that one time I went to Saddle Ranch. :P

Anjali: I was majorly bummed about the inadvertently abandoned curry. So nice to see you... let's meet up again soon!