Somtum brings flavors of northeastern Thailand to Eagle Mountain
An array of dishes at Somtum Thai & Lao Food in Eagle Mountain. From top left, Thai Fried Rice, Dumplings, Pad Thai, Massaman Curry, and Fresh Spring Rolls.
Desserts at Somtum Thai & Lao Food include the Mango Sticky Rice, top, and Ice Cream Sticky Rice.
The Fresh Spring Rolls at Somtum Thai & Lao Food in Eagle Mountain.
Dumplings at Somtum Thai & Lao Food in Eagle Mountain.
The Massaman Curry at Somtum Thai & Lao Food in Eagle Mountain.
The Pad Thai at Somtum Thai & Lao Food in Eagle Mountain.
The Sticky Rice with peanut sauce at Somtum Thai & Lao Food in Eagle Mountain.
The Thai Fried Rice entree at Somtum Thai & Lao Food in Eagle Mountain.
Somtum’s happening in Eagle Mountain.
We paid a visit to this new restaurant on Friday night and absolutely loved the experience. Not only does it deliver on the promise of delicious food, it also brings some much-needed dining diversity to the greater Eagle Mountain area.
Somtum Thai & Lao Food opened its doors just over five weeks ago in the City Center portion of Eagle Mountain. The first question inquiring diners may want to know is: Is it worth making the drive out there, even if you don’t live in the area? The answer to that is a resounding yes.
The restaurant itself is not very big. There looked to be seating for around 30 people inside, with a couple of nice larger picnic-style tables mixed in with smaller tables seating two or four. But don’t let the size of the establishment affect your perception of the quality of its food offerings.
First of all, as the owner, who was manning the front desk, noted offhandedly, the restaurant has become quite popular in the early going with local residents opting for takeout orders, rather than dining in. After we received our food, we could see why. The portions for each entree were of a great size, and well-packaged, which would indeed make for a convenient dinner at home where everyone can mix and match various orders.
But, right from the beginning, we enjoyed our dining-in experience. The owner was extremely friendly and talkative, gladly taking several minutes to describe in detail each dish that we inquired about and also offering suggestions and background based on our likes and queries. Additionally, he turned around his computer screen and showed us quality photos of each dish, so we could get a great pre-visual of what we were selecting.
We ordered items from several different areas of the menu. For appetizers, we selected two options: the dumplings, and the Fresh Spring Rolls. These were definitely both worth it. The deep-fried vegetable and chicken dumplings were a perfect texture and complemented nicely by a sweet and sour chili dipping sauce. The Fresh Spring Rolls were a revelation — but be forewarned there is a limited supply of them throughout the day. Somtum makes five orders in the morning and five orders at night, to help guarantee their freshness. As it turns out, our Friday visit happened just after the night order was handmade, so we were lucky in that respect. We were also fortunate because these rolls — featuring moistened rice paper filled with rice noodles, lettuce, carrots and cilantro — were exquisite.
For my main entree, I went with the Massaman Curry, and I was delighted with my selection. With a choice of chicken or beef (I opted for the former) along with thick carrot slices, potato chunks, cashews and a sweet peanut sauce concoction, the Massaman Curry was most excellent. I also poured it over the accompanying portion of rice that comes with the dish, which bulked it up even more.
Others in my party opted for the Pad Thai, and Thai Fried Rice entrees. The Thai Fried Rice, we were told, is a popular choice at the restaurant and features broccoli, carrot slices and onions along with the rice. The Pad Thai was also a solid choice with the noodles and sweet sauce including bean sprouts, green onions, peanut crumbles and a lime wedge.
I was also highly interested in the Coconut Soup — but we had way too much food already as it was. Quite a bit of our meal made it home for leftovers the next day. That did not prevent us from trying out the two main desserts: Mango Sticky Rice, and Ice Cream Sticky Rice. We highly recommend both.
The Mango Sticky Rice is cool to the taste and has slices of mango laid atop the delicious sticky rice. The Ice Cream Sticky Rice features two scoops of vanilla ice cream atop a mix of heated sticky rice. The owner suggested letting the ice cream melt into the sticky rice mixture before eating. Sorry to say, our group did not have the patience for that. With two hungry boys diving their spoons into the two scoops of ice cream, it was every family member for themselves as we all recognized there would be no ice cream left in the time it would take to melt.
Dining at Somtum Thai & Lao Food was a fun experience, and not only left us with some favorites to revisit, but also some new dishes to explore on future trips to City Center.
SOMTUM THAI & LAO FOOD
Where: 1388 E. Eagle Mountain Blvd. Suite A
Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday to Saturday
Prices: $5.99-$12.99
Info: (801) 789-2008, somtumthaiandlaofood.com