Besides coffee, Seattle-ites seem to love the South East Asian cuisine. The ubiquitous Vietnamese pho joints and Thai restaurants provide excellent cheap eats for cheapskates like myself. As always, some are better than others, so here are the ones that are worth every lemongrass and basil.

Pho Cyclo , 406 Broadway East, Capitol Hill, has a very basic menu of pho, rice, and noodle dishes. Add an order of spring rolls to any of the entrees, and wash it down with a Vietnamese iced coffee to stuff yourself silly.

Than Brothers Restaurant, multiple locations, is a family-run chain of bare-bones pho only restaurants. Seat yourself, then choose between chicken, beef, or veggies to top off your bowl. If you opt for beef, you get to choose again from a long list of edible cow parts that include Vietnamese specialties like tendon and tripe. Pho’ Shizzle!

Kwanjai Thai, 469 North 36th Street, Fremont, is near the end of the main drag or North 36th Street in Fremont. It’s housed inside, well… a house. You might even feel like you’re a guest at the house. The menu is the usual pad thai, pad see ew. Seafood items are market prices so expect to pay more for those. For about $10, you’ll have a decent meal and plenty of cash leftover for a pint or 2 at the many nearby bars.

[photo by: Federico Mena-Quintero]

When Iben dropped me a line to head to Woodside for Thai food, I was somewhat disappointed at the choice of cuisine since I had dinner a couple days ago. He made a point that it’s imperative for us to show up by 6pm for dinner, and promised the most outstanding Thai food this side of Bangkok. So sure, why not? If for no other reason to drop by Woodside, good food is good enough for me to go. We got to the
Sripraphai a little after 6, and the place was already packed. It reminded me a bit of the old Planet Thai in Willy’B. The 1 hour wait for a table for 4 gave us plenty of time to peruse and drool over the extensive menu. It’s not just pad thai and red curry. We skipped the usual pad thai and curry and opted for a fried snapper (with the head attached), spicy beef kebabs, curried tofu, chinese vegetables, and shrimp noodles. You can get thai food almost anywhere in town, just not this kind of thai food.

[Sripraphai: 6413 39th Ave (Between 64th Street and 65th Street)
Woodside, NY 11377]
[photo by: foodite]