Chang Thai: Thai/Lao Cuisine in San Pablo

Here, and the next two, are photos from a recent visit (7/2/18). Above: Rice Ball Salad, with fermented pork.

Squid Salad.

Tom Kha, Thai Coconut Soup.

Squid Salad, spicier version. Squid cooked to perfection.

Khao Soi with chicken and egg noodles.

Khao Soi. Very rich coconut-based broth.

Papaya Salad, Thai style. 

While waiting for traffic on 80 to die down, Robin & I went to Chang Thai the other day. We just had a couple of dishes, and this first one, above & below, is about as perfect as a Squid Salad could be. The squid was clearly fresh, and cooked to the ideal texture. Thinly sliced carrots, red bells, red onions, cilantro, mint, tomato and ginger accompanied the squid, dressed in a lime juice and fermented fish sauce dressing which was both bright and balanced.

Pad Kee Mao, aka Drunken Noodles. Pan-fried wide noodles with vegetables, we chose chicken for the protein. Not the char on the noodle below: no doubt the sauce caramelizing and reducing in the pan, it gave the noodle a slightly crunchy mouthfeel, in nice contrast to the noodle's inherent soft buoyancy. A couple of simple dishes, really, when you think about it, but also more than the sum of its parts. Chang Thai is definitely one of the few restaurants around operating at the top of their game, and still providing great value.

About a month ago, Robin & I started discovering these Thai/Laotian restaurants in Contra Costa County, mainly in El Sobrante, Richmond and San Pablo. We'd been to Chang Thai once before and were quite astonished in a good way. We had their Thai Spicy Sausages, which, if memory serves, we paired with their Lam Tok, and something else we can't quite remember, though I think it was their Thai Basil with rice dish. Nothing we've had yet tastes like your standard Bangkok-style Thai cuisine. The sausages, so vivid a memory from our first visit, are definitely a Laotian touch, sour pork infused with lemongrass.

Tom Kha. A very, very intense version of the classic Thai dish, a coconut milk soup with mushrooms, scallion, galangal (a type of ginger common in SE Asian cuisine), lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves and cilantro. I've never tasted this flavor, greater than the sum of its parts. Amazing.

Overhead shot of the Chicken Larb, another Thai standard, but this one with Lao accents, such as the roasted rice powder which adds a new texture to a dish already brimming with contrasting mouth feel. Delicious.

Pad Kee Mao: pan-fried flat noodles with onion, tomato, red bells, cabbage, thai basil, Chinese broccoli & pretty sure we chose chicken. Same exact dish that closed our meal at Sue's Kitchen a few nights ago. Both versions just amazing, but very different in key respects. This one had a lot more vegetables, which we appreciated, cooked perfectly. Perhaps needless to say, not only was this dinner masterfully rendered, but inexpensive too (each dish less than $8). 

Chang Thai Cuisine

2229 Dover Ave.

San Pablo, CA

510-235-9999