Food Review: Thai Drift restaurant offers presence this holiday season
The city of Orem, where you are never more than about eight blocks from good Thai food, is a wonderful place.
And it became slightly more wonderful once Thai Drift opened on the north end of State Street. Reasonable prices combine with sharp decorating to make this restaurant worth a visit.
The black furniture is new and beautiful, including a plush bench on one side of most tables. Thai Drift also had an elegant Christmas tree on display — unexpected, but welcome. The restaurant is well lit and feels cozy.
One nice thing about having so many Thai restaurants so close is that you can find small variations in the dishes that suit your tastes. This was the case with the Pad Bai Gaprow, a meat and vegetable dish seasoned with Thai basil. We ordered ours with beef, which was nice and tender, and the whole thing was more flavorful than similar dishes we’ve had.
The Massaman Curry here (made with a peanut and coconut sauce with potatoes, carrots and your choice of meat) is slightly thicker than others we’ve tried, and also a tad less sweet, but that may be just the kind of Massaman Curry you’re looking for. It’s one of our favorite dishes, and here it came with plenty of cashews and carrots. Thai Drift also serves curries made with pineapple and sweet Asian pumpkin, varieties which we hear are also tasty.
And, of course, we tried the Pad Thai, that standby of Thai cuisine with fried rice noodles, onions and roasted peanuts. The noodles are slightly sticky, often making a delightful, chewy wad on your fork. The dish is even better when sprinkled with a squeeze of lime and even more chopped peanuts.
All entrees come with your choice of steamed or sticky rice, and if you order anything with a sauce, we recommend the sticky rice. It clumps together in little balls that are delicious when dipped in anything. We finished most of the curry sauce that way. And it’s really fun to roll little balls of rice.
We also ordered an appetizer sampler, and the egg rolls and pork dumplings were delicious. The plate came with a selection of dipping sauces topped with chopped nuts.
If we had one complaint, it would be that our server was a bit inattentive. But you can’t argue with $8-a-plate Thai food that’s as good as any we’ve had.