Category: Thai Restaurants

I guess the weather's warming up a bit since the Missus said She was craving Sovereign. It had been a while since my last post and though the Missus refused to catch the trolley there, we thought we'd check to see if we could find some decent parking. Which, for the Missus meant north of K Street and West of 15th Street. I will say that it looks like things have been cleaned up a bit in the area since my last visit and after finding parking on Island, between 13th and 14th we weren't accosted by folks like on my previous visits to the area.

We arrived at Sovereign and the place was doing some decent business at 330pm on a Sunday. We were given a nice table and looked over the menu. Our old favorites were there as well as a couple of items that caught our attention. Two of the items we'd had on previous takeout visits; which I hadn't posted on; the grilled chicken tail and the sour Lao sausage, both of which we enjoy weren't available.

We started things off with the Crispy Pork Belly ($14). We had enjoyed the spicy pork belly on our previous visit, though the rest of the dish wasn't to out liking. We thought just having that pork belly might work out well.

And man, were we right! It doesn't look like much, but the thick slices of pork belly was wonderful. The skin crisp and crunchy, the fat melted away to a wonderful, rich velvetiness on your tongue. The sauce, which wasn't overly sweet or spicy helped to cut all the swine-a-licious goodness adding some balance to each bite. Though I don't think it would reduce your Cardiologists bill. Talk about a guilty pleasure.

The other new dish didn't fare as well, the Crispy Chive Cake ($14). I really didn't know what to expect.

The coating was more hard than crisp. The filling was what seemed like a combination of overly gummy-glutinous, sticky rice and chives, of which more was needed for flavor. This was really bland, even with the sweet-savory sauce provided. Man was it chewy…..this reminded me of pan fried mochi. It really needed a savory boost in flavor.

From here it was our usual go-to dishes.

The Hat Yai Fried Chicken ($24).

Crisp skin, tender flesh, the shallots add a nice pungent-sweet-crunchy layer to the dish. Nice mildly sweet-savory flavors from soy sauce-fish sauce-sugar. Always a favorite.

The Missus's favorite vegetable dish is the Stir Fried Eggplant with Basil ($14).

Tender eggplant, I think more Thai Basil was needed this time around; but the dish has always been a favorite of the Missus.

And of course, the Thai Sausage ($13).

Still our favorite in San Diego, crisp casing, tender pork filling, studded with herbs, with a slight spicy "kick" to things.

As you can tell, we enjoyed this meal. And while Sovereign doesn't provide that spicy "Issan" or Lao heat we enjoy, we have dishes here that are favorites of ours. And while there's still some environmental grittiness to the area around the restaurant, it seems like things might be changing for the better in the area.

And we found a new "favorite" dish to add to our typical order at Sovereign as well.

Sovereign Thai Cuisine
1460 J Street
San Diego, CA 92101

A few months back, I heard about a Thai Restaurant located in an office park in Sorrento Valley. I did some quick "Googling" (hmmm…is that an appropriate present participle?) and Thai Test Kitchen came up, located off of Lusk Boulevard, right down the street from Eurofood Depot. The place was fairly close by and they even open at 9am! A Thai restaurant! So, after returning from our last trip, I headed on over to grab an early lunch.

Thai Test Kitchen is located in the Sea View Corporate Center. Such an interesting location.

There's ample parking. The interior is a collection of posters, knick-knacks, with a certain charming kitschiness.

I took a look at the menu posted and have to say, the prices did give me some pause. I thought it was all in my mind, but when I did a menu check, in some cases Soi 30th was cheaper!

The young lady working was very friendly and when I mentioned the decor, she laughed and told me that they were previously a deli and coffee shop and decided to change course. They still do a couple of sandwiches like the BLT and also coffee. but now the focus was Thai Food. Things were going so well that they decided to open until 7pm on Fridays! Good for them!

I decided to try out the Crispy Pork with Basil ($15.49).

 No, your eyes aren't fooling you. That's a fairly small portion. The egg was crisp at the edges just like I enjoy it, but a bit over cooked for my taste as the yolks was hard.

The pork belly was quite good, crisp, yet fatty. I really liked the spice level; it was a bit too much for "CY" whom I gave a sample to, but I enjoyed it. Also enjoyed the green beans and the Thai basil flavor, there's hint of garlic, just enough sodium, with nice umami from fish sauce and soy. This was definitely not an "Ameri-Thai" dish.

The portion of rice was quite large in comparison to the amount of pork belly which consisted of 4 pieces.

Well, while the price to portion ratio seemed a bit skewed, I decided to return and try one of the pick-a-protein dishes and settled on the Eggplant with Basil ($12.99). The young lady recognized me from my previous visit. I asked her what protein would go best with the eggplant and she said chicken.

Like before, the flavor and heat were quite good…. perhaps I'd enjoy a bit more basil, but no complaints with the rest. On the negative side, the chicken was really tough and dry, the eggplant was not cooked the way I like it. It was too hard. I like a slightly crisp exterior with a creamy interior; this was solid all the way thru. Like before, there was quite a generous portion of rice provided.

As I was leaving, the young lady handed me a card with a QR code on it. She told me to just scan, order, and pay…. then my order will be ready for pick-up. There's no upcharge.

So, deciding I needed to do one more visit, I did the QR thing and ordered the most expensive item on the menu, the Spicy Basil Duck ($20.99). Even though it wasn't the same young lady working on this visit, the woman working was every bit as friendly.

As you can see; there's quite a bit of rice. I really enjoyed the seasoning and spice again; the bamboo shoots were wonderful with the Thai Basil and savory components; nutty-anise goodness. The duck was a bit on the dry side, but the flavor was good, nice "duckiness" with a touch of sweet and assertive savory components.

 I really appreciate having a place like this fairly close by. It's definitely not "Ameri-Thai", though I do think the proportion of rice to dish is a bit skewed on the starch side and the prices fairly high for the portion size.

Still, the folks here are quite friendly and nice. I also like that they open early, since I often like to get lunch at 10-1030. So, I'll definitely drop by again and try some other dishes. So, I guess they "passed the Test"?

Thai Test Kitchen
10184 Telesis Ct.
San Diego, CA 92121
Current Hours:
Mon – Thurs   9am – 5pm
Friday             9am – 730pm
Closed Saturday and Sunday

Recently, the Missus and I decided to take a drive out to Point Loma to check out the new Jiaozi shop, Meet Dumpling. Unfortunately, the tiny shop with just 4 tables was full and folks were waiting in line. So, we needed to come up with a plan B. Luckily, Supannee House of Thai is in the same strip mall. It had been almost two years since we'd last visited, doing takeout during Covid and five-and-a-half since we last dined in at Supannee. It was prime weather for our Thai food fix. Plus, if I remember correctly, Supannee had also changed ownership since our last visit. So, we walked on in.

The place was nice and quiet. 

We ended up ordering four dishes from the really mellow and sweet young man working.

Back in 2021, "FOY" Si recommended the Nam Khao Tod from Supannee, which ended up being a winner. We had to order it for dining in ($14.99).

And it's still a favorite of ours here. The nice chunks of sour sausage. The crispy rice was also in crunchy chunks. The generous amount of ginger was tempered by the lime and the peanuts. I enjoyed eating this with the provided cabbage.

I'm not sure what got into the Missus, but She insisted on ordering the Satay Chicken ($11.99).

Supannee uses chicken tenders for this and man, this is so dry. We also tried just the chicken alone which was very bland. It really needed the peanut sauce which was also quite mild in flavor and overly sweet for our taste. I don't think we'll be ordering this in the future.

Another of favorite of ours here is the Nam Tok ($14.99).

While I still think that the dish could use more of the nutty roasted rice powder and the beef tends to be on the toothsome side; the meat is flavorful and the bright acidity from lime really highlights the dish. We also love the marinade.

We got the Grapow Pork Belly ($18.99) which we ordered spicy.

The Missus quickly poached the fried egg which was nice and runny in the center. This wasn't very spicy to us and we kind of figure that the heat level is adjusted for the customer base. We enjoyed the crisp green beans; the pork belly was fairly tender. We wish there was more Thai Basil in this dish as it could have used a bit more "umph" and was perhaps a bit too sweet for our tastes as well.

We didn't get our usual favorite on this visit, the Thai Sausage. We'll save that for next time. As of right now, Supannee stands as a solid #2 on our list of Thai Restaurants in San Diego. We need to get back out there to check out more places.

Supannee House of Thai
2907 Shelter Island Drive
San Diego, CA 92106
Current Hours:
Mon – Fri 1130am – 3pm, 430pm – 9pm
Sat – Sun 1130am – 9pm

And while we didn't get to check out the dumpling shop, Supannee did just fine by us on a rather hot day.

The recent warm weather has the Missus craving Thai food again. It seems that our options with regards to Thai Restaurants, whether to change in ownership or a not so great recent visit has been whittled down a bit. After a bit of probing, I found that what the Missus has really been missing is the food from Sovereign Thai, which presents its own set of issues. First off, the location is "interesting" and also presents issues with parking and also trying to get there before Padres games on off days. Over the last 3-4 months, the Missus and I have been using the trolley more; to get to places in Old Town and Little Italy for our date nights. So why not stretch it a bit and take the Blue Line to Park and Market, then walk the two blocks or so to Sovereign, right?

As we were walking to the restaurant, after having to resist a couple of "folks with issues", we walked into Sovereign which was empty.

I also realized that the Missus had never dined in at Sovereign! I wanted to say "hi" to Jumi, whom I've known since the days of Thai Papaya but she wasn't in.

We placed our order, three of our "standards" and one new dish to try.

The first item out was the Spicy Stir Fried Pork Belly ($19) an item from the "Specials" list.

The skin of the pork belly was still crisp when this was served; the flesh buttery and tender. Not very spicy though and really salty, the Thai Basil was incinerated and had lost a lot of the anise flavor.

Rice ($5) was then provided.

The rice was not fragrant and hard, like it had been sitting for a while.

The Missus and I looked at each other and wondered if coming here was a mistake.

But things were soon back on track with one the Missus's favorites, the Eggplant with Basil ($13).

While this was also slightly high on the sodium scale for us, ginger helped to cut things back. The eggplant had been cooked perfectly, first at first touch, then uber-creamy! The cilantro and Thai basil add a nice, one-two punch of sweet anise and citrusy-peppery-pungent tones to the dish.

Of course I had to get the Northern Thai Spicy Sausage ($12) which is made inhouse.

With the wonderful herbaceous tones, the "snap" of the sausage, the light filling with sneaky spice, this is my favorite version of Issan Sausage.

The Missus's favorite dish from Sovereign is the Hat Yai Fried Chicken ($23).

While it holds up quite well doing takeout and is even pretty good the next day; having it fresh to the table really highlites the wonderful moistness of the meat and the crispness of the exterior of the bird. As always, we love the fried shallots, the hint of sweetness with wonderful savory tones.

Overall, this was a nice meal. Strangely, we were the only customers in the place during our whole meal. 

As for using the trolley to return….well, I think going past America Plaza might be an issue for the Missus. 

I guess I'll have to drive down for takeout again in the future. Too bad, because this is by far our favorite Thai restaurant in San Diego.

Sovereign Modern Thai Cuisine
1460 J Street
San Diego, CA 92101
Current Hours:
Mon – Tues 5pm – 9pm
Wed – Thurs 12pm – 3pm, 5pm – 9pm
Fri – Sat 12pm – 930pm
Sunday 12pm – 9pm

Thai is usually a spring-summer kind of thing for us. But, upon returning from our trip "home", the Missus was craving some Thai food. We thought it would be nice to do some takeout from Soi 30th. We'd place our order then take a walk and pick-up our takeout on the way back to the car. Man, Soi 30th was pretty busy, but as usual the folks working were quite nice. We placed our order, then went for a short walk before circling back to pick up our food which was ready as I walked thru the shop's doors.

We got back positively famished and unpacked our order.

Something struck us right away, one of dishes was missing an ingredient, the dishes didn't seem as fragrant as what we'd had befor.

The Larb Moo Krob has always been a favorite of mine, but this was really disappointing.

I ordered this spicy but it was really mild, it lacked rice powder which adds a nice nutty flavor to the dish. The pork was hard and tough, not good eats. Man, this was really dry overall and it lacked savory tones….almost like they forgot the fish sauce. 

After the larb, I was kind of worried about the Chinese Broccoli (gai lan) with Pork Belly.

 This was a shade better than the larb, at least it had a bit more heat to it. The gailan was crisp and nicely stir fried. The pork belly suffered the same fate as the previous dish; it was hard. We were left wondering what was going on with the usually crisp and tasty pork belly.

The last item we ordered was the Chicken with Holy Basil.

   Well, the first thing the Missus said when I opened this was "where's the fried egg"? We had ordered and paid for the "fried egg option" but they forgot to put it in this dish. Bummer. And I wasn't about to drive all the way back to 30th street for a $1.75 egg. This dish needed more basil and the overall texture was on the greasy side. At least the chicken wasn't hard and dry as we'd experienced before.

This meal left us scratching our heads, as a whole we had enjoyed our meals from Soi 30th, so we weren't quite sure what was going on here. Perhaps it was just a bad day, but going oh-fer-three is not good.

Soi 30th
3442 30th St.
San Diego, CA 92104

I was a bit later than usual on one of my shopping forays to Nijiya. It was almost 11am, so I thought I'd get some lunch to go for myself. It had been over a year since I'd done takeout from Koon Thai and I thought it would be nice to have the Khao Karr Moo…actually my first pick would be the Pad Cha Pork Wing, but that hasn't been on the menu for a while. It must have been my lucky day; it was ten till eleven and Koon Thai was already open.

So, I just sauntered in, placed my order and paid my $15.50…..it had only gone up 50 cents since my last visit and then headed off to do my shopping. 

When I headed back to the restaurant, the young man working saw me thru the window and actually handed me my food on the sidewalk! Very nice as there were several people standing in line at the entrance of the restaurant.

I headed home and unpacked everything.

This actually looked a lot better then what I had last time. It looked much less greasy. I went and plated half the rice, which was fragrant if just a bit on the dry side, and the khao karr moo.

     The eggs were decently cooked, much better than the over-cooked boiled eggs I'd had last time. The sauce was nicely flavored, not overly sweet, good anise-soy sauce tones.

Like before, I wish there was a bit more preserved mustard greens as it really helps to cut the salt and richness of the pork leg.

As for the pork, even though there were some dry and tough parts and perhaps a bit too much fat for my taste, it wasn't bad at all. At least I didn't go hungry. Overall, it was better than what I'd had the last time, the price wasn't too bad, and I'll take that.

Koon Thai Kitchen
3860 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111