My visit to Thaihey was quite refreshing, not just the food and drink, but the sheer number of good ideas evident in their new kiosk at White Star Market. Those kiosks are only slightly larger than a food truck, so it is always a challenge to condense a menu to fit the space, fit in with your neighbors, and also compete with them for customers that share a dining hall and parking lot. The first innovation of Thaihey was to bypass the ordinary and offer Thai food not available at the other Thai spots in BR. The small tasteful shrine at the cashier station was nice, and the tablet with an illustrated menu slideshow was brilliant.
The ideas did not end with sales and marketing. I’ve never seen shrimp rolls built the way Thaihey does them, wrapping a whole shrimp in a won ton with spices and a bit of vegetable, and it is pure genius to make ice cubes from the same tea you are serving them in so the tea doesn’t dilute as the ice cubes melt. The woven bamboo tableware and stoneware dishes are a really nice touch as well. Now it would be easy to characterize the menu as street food, but it takes a little more coin and a little more time to prepare than street food. Especially the red curry fried chicken dish named Gai Todd Prik Gang that comes with a shredded papaya salad laced with cashews, and sticky rice with a powerful salty/sweet sauce on the side for dipping. The chicken is fried to order so it takes about fifteen minutes to prepare. But I was fine sipping my Purple Palmer, a butterfly pea flower and lemongrass tea spiked with lemon juice and simple syrup and snacking on the previously mentioned crunchy shrimp rolls while I waited. Worth it. The whole chicken thigh was cooked perfectly all the way through and still very juicy. Crisp papaya and cashews, and the sticky rice was actually sticky, easy to pick up with chopsticks and dip in the sauce without falling apart. The flavors were fresh and different, but not so strong as to overwhelm, and if they were strong, they were served on the side like the dipping sauce. The Purple Palmer drink was a bit on the sour side, but I really liked that. Can’t wait to try some of the other teas and one of the curry noodle dishes next time out. Thaihey certainly adds a lot to White Star, which is gaining a well deserved reputation for introducing Baton Rouge to exciting new concepts.
