There might be no other restaurant in Las Vegas as universally loved as Lotus of Siam. Odd that in a city synonymous with high-end dining, a small unassuming Thai restaurant, located in an off-Strip and decidedly seedy stripmall would be a destination for food mavens all over. I heard of them years ago from rave reviews on eGullet.org, an internet forum dedicated to food and frequented by industry folk, insiders and serious foodies. Since my initial visit, it has become a guaranteed stop on every Vegas trip - a feat indeed since I prefer to check out new places everytime.
The service at Lotus is top-notch. The servers know the dishes inside-and-out (amazing since the menu is close to 8 pages deep) and are more than happy to make recommendations to the neophyte diner. I'll admit that I've only started experiencing and appreciating Thai food over the last 2 years, but growing up in the Philippines, I definitely have a developed palate for Southeast Asian flavours.
Dishes run the gamut from "Chef's Specials" to appetizers, curries, desserts and everything in between. They're served traditional Asian family-style - and each platter satisfies 4~6 people (depending on your appetite). Prices are fair - expect to pay $20-$25 per person and to be waddling in ecstasy out of there. Something I noticed they changed is they no longer ask what level of heat you would like on the dishes. I've never had any issues personally - I actually find their "medium" to be very mild, but be forewarned and you may want to ask your server for advice. What you're about to read through is a conglomeration of meals over 3 separate visits.
In the appetizer stage, we have nam kao tod (crispy rice with sour sausage, scallions, chili, giner, peanuts and lime juice). The rice is very crispy, think Rice Krispies cereal except with actual flavour, and had an unexpectedly high heat quotient. Some of my table mates had to step off after 2 servings due to the heat, but me being Captain Crispy, I polished it off easily. Flavour profile is definitely in the dry-hot and sour range.
Golden tofu is quite self-explanatory - we ordered it mainly to compare with the Chinese style. It had a good texture: crispy outside with a decent bite to the innards, but tasteless. The accompanying sweet and sour sauce was SE Asian style, sweet yet subdued and thick.
No visit to a Thai restaurant would be complete with pad thai. Full disclosure? This was my first time trying pad thai - just never interested due to its obsequiousness. This dish wasn't to my liking - there was a powdery texture to it, which I'm going to guess were pulverized peanuts, which left an odd sensation in my mouth. The flavour was... odd... sweet and sour, yet something I couldn't put my finger on. My friends told me it was definitely a "different take" on the Thai tradition.
I'd be hard-pressed to call this next dish an appie, as the "yum nuah salad" (thai beef salad) was stacked with thinly sliced marinated rib-eye that could easily fill a man up. The beef had a medium heat to it, which nicely paired with the cool and crisp tomato wedges, thick cuke slices and lettuce on the salad. A light dressing of lime juice mixed in with the beef juices pulled it all together.
What Asian meal wouldn't be complete without rice? An order of pineapple fried rice yields a surprisingly sparing amount for $11, but a little goes a long way. We paced the portion out through the entire meal, and we weren't left wanting more. Cooked with yellow curry powder to give it a yellow hue, the rice is stocked with shrimp and chicken, with pineapple chunks giving it a nice moisture and sweetness - helping it pair with the spicier aspects of our meal. I'd recommend an order of this everytime!
The garlic prawn is my all-time favourite dish here and along with the fried rice, have become standards for me. The large tiger prawn is shelled, but left connected at the tip of the tail, then deep fried together! It's then sauteed with a mild-heat dry garlic-pepper sauce (similar to the Cantonese "ju yim") and is eaten whole - shell and all! This was the first time I realized you could actually eat the shell! And eat it I did, and addicted to it I am! Changed my life. At $21 a dish (~8 pieces), it's certainly not cheap, but worth every penny.
Continuing along with the "Chef's Specials," this is sea bass on drunken noodle - deep fried, topped with chilis and fried basil, on a bed of flat rice noodles. The fish was cooked PERFECTLY. Beautifully crisp shell, and mind-bogglingly moist meat. I'll say this once, and I'll say it again - only Asians know how to prepare fish properly. Then came the second part of the fun - fried Thai basil = crack. If you've never had it, Thai basil has a stronger bite to the more common Italian basil, so frying it truly intensifies the flavour. If you've never fried basil before, I highly recommend you try it (sage is a great one too!) At $24, an absolute runaway success of a dish.
Look kids! It's meat! I'm still very much a short-rib whore so we definitely had to order their braised short rib with panang curry. Curries are Lotus of Siam's bread and butter - they do them incredibly well. The panang red cream curry is no exception - it was smooth, flavourly-confounding with a very mild-heat. The short rib (which was quite tender) was persona non grata here - it was the curry's show. I very much licked the plate. Clean. In public. And regret nothing.
As if the panang wasn't awesome enough, the "musaman curry" is even better. A very smooth curry with a stronger coconut milk presence, the musaman was something you dollop in your mouth, close your eyes, and enjoy the dreams. The tomato content is reminiscent of an Italian rose sauce, but the addition of a whole host of aromatics take it beyond anything Italian cuisine could be capable of. Barry gleefully licked this bowl clean.
I've never been one for Asian desserts, but on this last trip, our server was quite the charming fellow, and Barry was experiencing what could be delicately termed as a sweet tooth - so we ordered a sampler platter. They don't actually have a sampler, but our awesome server was more than happy to make it happen. From left to right, deep-fried banana roll, fresh Thai mango with sticky rice, and homemade coconut ice cream.
The banana roll was good, but nothing special. A familiar iteration of a SE Asian standby. The fresh mango was a welcome treat - if you've never had fresh mango from SE Asia, you've never had a mango. They're far far sweeter than the South American varietals available here, and a much smoother meat - none of that gross stringy stuff. Growing up in the Philippines, I've had some of the best and sweetest in the world, and I look forward to my mom's annual visits if for no other reason than she brings me a few lobes everytime (I love you mommy!) The rice pudding was a nice pairing with the mangoes - subtle sweetness with a delightful perfume of coconut. The coconut ice cream I was most curious at (I looooooove coconuts... but not the water... just don't... can't explain... don't ask) - it had the texture of homemade, and a good punch of coconut flavour without climbing into cloying-sweet-bomb territory. It was a pleasant way to end a great meal.
Drooling yet? I assure you - it wasn't necessarily easy typing this review up - remember every sense and taste from these meals has been an existential torture device for me... and left me checking for Vegas flight prices every few minutes! So as you can imagine, Lotus of Siam has my highest recommendations for Vegas eats. If you're local, give Maenam on West 4th a shot - Chef Angus An makes the best Thai food in Vancouver by far (and I'm not just saying that because he was my instructor at NWCAV).
Reservations are highly recommended if you plan on visiting during the lunch rush, or during prime dinner hours. They offer an all-you-can-eat buffet during lunch which you are advised to avoid. Located at a strip mall on A5-953 East Sahara Ave, watch out for the small neon sign or you will miss it. There's a ridiculous amount of free parking if you have a car, otherwise, take a cab.
Seriously worth it.
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