Fort Myers Florida Weekly

Siam Hut ranks among oldest, most reliable restaurants in the region

REVIEW



 

 

I can vividly remember by my first visit to Siam Hut shortly after it opened in the mid-1980s. I had been patronizing a small restaurant that served Vietnamese and Chinese fare in that spot. When I showed up one day, I discovered new owners serving Thai food, a cuisine with which I had only a passing acquaintance.

Some 22 years later, Thai food has long been among my favorite cuisines due, in large part, to Siam Hut and its owners Toy and Noi Bangthamai, who brought the fresh, bright flavors of their native land to the unlikely locale of 1980s Cape Coral and taught us to love pad Thai, curries, and flavors such as galangal and coconut milk.

After working my way through Siam Hut’s menu, I’ve eaten Thai food in Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Chicago, Hong Kong and elsewhere and have yet to find an establishment that does it better than Siam Hut.

PHOTOS BY KAREN FELDMAN Top: Shrimp ashore is one of Siam Hut's house specialties. Left: Kanom bieng is a Thai crepe filled with peanuts, shrimp, bean sprouts and shredded coconut served as an appetizer.

PHOTOS BY KAREN FELDMAN Top: Shrimp ashore is one of Siam Hut’s house specialties. Left: Kanom bieng is a Thai crepe filled with peanuts, shrimp, bean sprouts and shredded coconut served as an appetizer.


While the food has been consistently terrific through the years, the atmosphere changed for the better about seven years ago, when the Hut headed a few miles south of its original location to a larger, more conspicuous storefront just a couple of blocks north of Cape Coral Parkway.

 

 


Where the original was homey and comfortable, the current space has the feel of a well-to-do Thai residence, with ornate wooden walls, colorful print tablecloths and starched white napkins in the shapes of the

lotus or bird of paradise. Carved wooden musicians, bejeweled dancers and other objects d’art add another layer of Thai flavor to the experience.

Service is efficient and friendly here, delivered by a welcoming staff that rarely changes. And, by the way, the prices here make it possible to have a lovely, gracious meal for surprisingly little money.

As for the food, it’s hard to know where to start. I can say with certainty that I’ve sampled and enjoyed at least 90 percent of the menu. I’ve had quite a few dishes dozens of times and they remain perfectly cooked and seasoned time after time.

 

 


The curries are always well balanced with layers of flavors; the fried items are golden, crisp and devoid of grease. Another plus: the management takes taste preference seriously. Whether a dish is ordered ultra mild, Thai (five-alarm) hot or something in between, it comes out just

as ordered.

On my most recent visit, every

dish we ordered came out in a smooth,

measured sequence, perfectly cooked

and at peak temperature.

We began with a bowl of fragrant tom kha gai, a hot and sour soup mellowed with coconut milk, then studded with strips of chicken, galangal, lime juice and chili pepper (to taste); and kanom bieng, a tender crepe stuffed with shrimp, bean sprouts, ground peanuts and sweet shredded coconut. The crepe is served with cucumbers and cilantro in a vinegar sauce, providing a counterpoint to the sweet filling.

Both were great starters. (I’m also fond of the curry puffs, the Siam rolls, satay and goong gra boug, shrimp wrapped and fried in a spring roll.)

There are eight salads on the menu, all large enough to share. My favorite is the Chinese sausage salad, which features slices of the grilled slightly-sweet sausage served warm over a cool salad cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, scallions and lettuce dressed with lime juice and chili sauce (again, to taste).

For entrees we sampled two favorites: tofu with green beans and hot and spicy chili paste and a house special called shrimp ashore. The former contained squares of lightly fried tofu amidst tender-crisp green beans and onions with a chili sauce that had a moderate bite, just as we’d ordered. The other dish held about a dozen large fried shrimp with broccoli, cabbage, pea pods and carrots in a slightly sweet chili sauce that was totally different from the chili sauce on the tofu and beans.

There are a few desserts offered at Siam Hut. Over the years, we’ve enjoyed fried bananas, fried ice cream and sticky rice and mangoes (in season), but we rarely have room for it and this night was no exception.

I’ve heard people who don’t live in Cape Coral say they never have a reason to head west to what has become the county’s largest city. I’m willing to bet that one trip to Siam Hut will change that attitude forever.

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