Aroma Royal Thai Cuisine, Franklin Park

Thai food... the fun and unique marriage of spicy, sweet, salty and bitter. When it's good, it's realllly good, and when it's not, it's still kind of good. Lucky for me cousin J and Dad had BOTH been telling me about Aroma Royal, and I have now seen the light. This is hands down some of the best Thai food I have ever eaten. Somewhat elegant, but completely delicious, it is not to be missed.

Over my last few visits there I have enjoyed several of their dishes (I have tried not to re-order any one thing so that I may provide you with a variety). This is a highlight of my favorites so far (and I will be sure to update as I re-visit... I don't want any of you to miss a bite!) I am also including a 'steer clear' dish or two so that you don't waste your time ordering sub par eats.

The first thing I ever ordered at Aroma Royal was the chili garlic fried rice. Wow. You get to add your choice of protein (shrimp, beef or chicken). I went with chicken, and it provided a nice, calm contrast to the serious flavor in the rest of the dish. It was spicy and garlicky, and so so SO fragrant. There was something that was providing an unexpected (but really delightful) toasty crunch. Upon some inspection it seemed that there were some fried up garlic and onion pieces. A totally welcome addition, these provided some serious textural contrast and warm rich flavor. I thought this was awesome.

Next up on my greatest hits list here was the Tom Yum King soup. A shrimp based broth filled with so much flavor it almost makes you dizzy. Lemongrass gives it that tart bite, earthiness from all of the mushrooms, the shrimp broth and three huge shrimp give it a sweetness, and there is a good amount of heat (so don't ask for it 'spicy' like i did the first time... OY! FIREEEEEE! 'medium' is hot enough and if you have a delicate palate you'll still get a huge wallop of flavor when ordering 'mild'). My Dad truly believes that Tom Yum soup is the cure to whatever ailments you may have. The spice cleans out your sinuses and warms up your guts, wakes up your brain and fills you up. It's the Thai twist on medicinal food... consider it the new Jewish chicken noodle! Super tasty and a really generous portion.

One of my 'don't bother' dishes would have to be the Aroma beef salad. The beef was a bit chewey and the dressing was a bit off. There is lime juice and mint atop this dish and the combo just wasn't working for me...it almost tasted bile-y. I know. Ew. It was also super heavy handed with the onion, which took it to a bitter and angry place. If you're in the mood for salad get the simple Thai salad... its clean, fresh and delicious, with a sweet and salty peanut dressing and strips of crisped up tofu. Skip the beef salad. Seriously.

The emerald Pan Dan leaves are a real treat. The presentation is lovely... they look like little presents wrapped up and piled on a plate. Basically what it is is succulent chicken and spices wrapped up in the Pan Dan leaves and then thrown into the frier. The leaves get crunchy but the chicken on the inside just gets jucier and jucier. When they bring it to the table they will remind you that THE LEAVES ARE NOT FOR EATING! (Yes I tried it despite the warning... not tasty) You unwrap your little package and a perfect little piece of chicken plops down on to your plate, ready to be dipped into the sweet and spicy sauce that comes on the side. The chicken gets crazy tender... falls apart on your fork, and literally explodes juices of happiness into your mouth. Yum. ohhhh yum!

The Lard Nar is my next 'eh' dish, but it may be my fault. They give you the option to order crisped egg noodles or flat rice noodles and I went the crisp route. While the mixture of vegetables and shrimp that the dish came with were lovely, the noodles were really inconsistent. Somewere super crunchy, almost to the point of being inedible, but some were soggy and not at all crisp. I feel that if I had gone the flat noodle route I would have had a better over all experience, but I won't find out as I turned myself off to the whole concept.

Last but oh so certainly not least is the Pad See Ew. This is the best dish that I have had at Aroma Royal, and I cannot live without it now. A very respectable portion of stir fried flat noodles, topped with a protein of your choice (I've now had it with shrimp and beef) and what the menu calls Chines broccoli, but what I call leafy greens (not sure if it's spinach or what). The greens are a little bitter, the sauce is a little sweet, theres garlic and those crunchy onion bits that I mentioned before, and some heat and some salt and its just soooo good. The green onion really makes each bite pop and the noodles are artfully cooked and give you a serious mouthful of happy. If you have to order ONE thing at Aroma Royal Thai Cuisine, this should be the dish. It is the true epitome of Thai cuisine, the delightful merge of all taste sensations and a true culinary experience. Get this. You'll be glad you did.

Once again, this place is really easy to miss (seems like a trend with my reviews, eh?) It's stuck in a strip mall on a major road, but don't let that fool you. The food is awesome, the service is attentive (overly so at times!) and it's actually really nice inside. Lots of artwork and deep colors provide a really great ambiance. Also, there are specials! Every day for lunch all rice or noodle dishes (even the Pad See Ew) are half price! Every Wednesday ladies eat half price. Every Thursday students eat half price. You can't beat these deals with a stick!

Aroma Royal Thai Cuisine

3175-3 Route 27 South

Franklin Park - 08823

732-422-9300

Elements Asia, Lawrenceville

iEatDC and her husband J came to visit us recently (Life long foodie friends... could I BE any luckier?) As happens when old friends come to visit, we immediately got schnockered on copious amounts of delicious wine. While there is no issue with this (we are all consenting adults!) it did limit our options of where to dine (can't be driving after drinking... that's a no-no!) Luckily Matt and I live within walking distance of a great place that was worthy of our foodie friends. Elements Asia is another local gem hidden away in some random strip mall... Easy to pass by, but hard to forget once you've gone. The menu features Chinese, Japanese AND Thai cuisine... something for everyone!

After being seated (and promptly opening some more wine) we came up with a game plan. We'd do two appetizers, two sushi rolls, a Thai dish, a Chinese dish and one side dish and just all go to town (sharing is caring people... I can't stress it enough! You get to taste a little of everything!)

For our appetizers we chose one from the sushi bar and one off the main menu. Our sushi bar appetizer was called Wasabi salsa and it was awesome. Cucumber matchsticks wrapped with either tuna, salmon or yellowtail and then topped with tomato, mango, and onion in a vinegar sauce. J and I particularly liked this... we both commented on how much we appreciated the contrasting textures and flavors. Soft, buttery fish over cold, crunchy cucumber. Spicy onion and sweet mango and tart vinegar. Rich flavors and light flavors working together to create one perfect mouthful. It sounds like an odd combination but it worked... it tasted clean and fresh.

Our second appetizer (which I forgot to take a picture of.... too eager to eat it! D'oh!) was an order of the Peking Duck wraps. They looked like pre rolled fajitas, and were stuffed with all of the fixins that usually come with Peking Duck.... Hoisin sauce, cucumber, and scallions. Rolled up in thin rice crepes they were each big enough to split in half... an order of two full wraps was perfect for the four of us. These were DELICIOUS. The duck had a bit of crunchy skin, making it nice and salty, which blended really will with the cool greens. The Hoisin sauce was deep and rich, a little sweet and a little spicy. I especially appreciate that they didn't slather it on too thick, as Hoisin has SUCH a strong (yet incredible) flavor. These could not have disapeared into our mouths any sooner.

After those delicious appetizers (and some more wine...we walked, remember?) we were excited to get to the rest of our meal. My pick for the night was the Autumn of Alaska roll. It had succulent Alaskan king crab and Tempura crunch on the inside, and was topped with salmon, then covered by thinly sliced avocado. All of this was served over a honey and black pepper sauce. It was AMAZING. The crab was none of that artificial crab leg nonsense... it was shreddy, salty, fresh, rich crab meat. The crunchies were nice, but not absolutely necessary. The salmon was crazy fresh and the avocado atop it was creamy. The real winner, though, was the sauce. Thick and sweet with a spicy kick from the black pepper, it was a fantastic substitute (or addition!) to soy sauce. We loved this. Tooooo good.

J picked our next dish... ginger chicken. This was delicious. One of their Chinese specialties, this dish had what we were all craving... flavor, crunch, texture. I know for a fact that I was pushing hard to get something with green beans in it (because I saw the lady at the table next to us eating them and they looked SO good), so this dish shut me up nicely. We all agreed that the ginger was not too over powering (so key in any dish with 'ginger' in the title), the chicken was cooked nicely, and the green beans were (as I suspected) perfect. Plus there was a lot of it... like a whole lot (which can be a bad thing sometimes, I guess, but not when its this tasty).

iEatDC picked the next dish, and it may have been my favorite of the night (we knew she was a true foodie, didn't we?) Her roll was called the Ivory Tower (my picture does not do it justice at all). It was ridiculous... unlike any roll I have ever had before. It was filled with spicy tuna, ginseng carrot, and arugula and then topped with potato crisps with a mini martini glass of ginger sauce for dipping.. sounds absurd, right? It was! The texture was unbelievable.. crunchy from the carrot and arugula, smooth from the spicy tuna... I have never had a roll like that. The ginseng carrot alone would have been special... it was sweet and almost tasted pickled in a way, but still so bright and colorful with a nice snap to it. The potato crisps were strange.. like having sushi and chips... it wasn't bad, just confusing to the mouth (in a fun, exciting way) Loved this dish. LOVED it. And it was so pretty.. I really must work on my photography skills...

Matt's pick was the Thai dish, beef Pad See Ew. This was also a hit at our table. The flat, fat noodles were perfectly cooked ... not gummy at all (HATE when that happens!) The beef was at a perfect temperature and there was a (welcome) surprise ingredient that we weren't expecting... tofu! It was lovely, and provided a nice change up from the beef. The flavors were spot on, the sauce wasn't too sweet and not too salty.. Matt was nuts for this. The only complaint would be that I was missing some of the heat that is typically associated with Thai food... was easily fixed though, as the waiter brought us over some suuuuper spicy hot sauce.

The fried rice was tasty... and plentiful. Nothing special. Just good, delicious fried rice. Oh! In addition to standard peas and onions there were baby corn in it... so ya know... that's kind of special! It was a perfect side.

Between the good friends, good wine, and good food it's pretty obvious that we had one hell of a night. Elements Asia is a real find, and their innovative dishes make every trip there a mini adventure (they make a spicy tuna pizza... yeah.. with mozerella and everything.. cool right? Oh and you should see what's in some of their more creative rolls... we played it SAFE!) It's so worth a visit, and there's something for everyone. People who like standard fare will be pleased with the list of traditional dishes while adventure seekers will want to try all of the wacky combinations there have to offer. Grab your fave foodie besties (it worked for us!), take the ride, and tell me what you think!

Elements Asia

www.elementsasia.com

Lawrenceville, NJ 08648

(609) 275 4988