Thai by Thai
August 6th, 2011
This post is actually about the third time I have visited this restaurant in Sterling, Virginia. Thai restaurants are a dime a dozen around here, and most of them taste about the same. I order the same thing almost every place I go – red curry with chicken. So when my wife Teresa suggested we go to her favorite place for lunch, I thought, great, I like curry, let’s have at it.
That was the first time I tried the restaurant. You go up to the counter, order your food and sit down. It’s a lot like Panera. So the first time, the curry was fine, but a little dissapointing. Definitely not the best I have had. Not the worst, either. But nothing special. My wife had the Pad Thai (which I usually do not order because I love Thai curry so much) and I tried it, noticing it tasted better than most Pad Thai, a lot of fresh flavor going on there. The second time we went, I tried a spicy chicken dish I can’t remember the name of. It was also fine, and I appreciated the authentic flavor, but it was very heavy on the fish sauce and not as spicy as I hoped for.
The third visit was different. We started with Teresa’s favorite thing at the shop, the fried tofu with sweet peanut sauce.
The tofu is fantastic. It’s crispy and crunchy on the outside and moist, piping hot, perfect tofu on the inside. For the entree, Teresa suggested I try the Kai Raberd or “exploded egg.” I wasn’t too sure – all I could picture was an egg on a plate – but she insisted it’s a customer favorite and her co-worker is obsessed with the dish. So I gave it a shot – what did I have to lose?
It turned out to be the right thing, and now I, too, am obsessed! It’s actually got quite a bit of meat which is soaked in a spicy-sweet thai sauce. Underneath it all is a fried egg with a runny yolk, which breaks all over the rice, chicken and sauce. In short: it was great. One of the best Thai dishes I have ever had. Now it’s all I want to order! (Well, the tofu, too.)
We also tried these shrimp roll things, which made a better photo than a meal. (they were fine, but a little plain)
So definitely try out Thai by Thai if you are in the northern Virginia area. The Kai Raberd and Pad Thai are a step above the usual and, I think, the best things to order here!
Thai by Thai
46930 Cedar Lake Plz
Sterling, VA 20164
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Hi Jon, my name is Or. I work in this restaurant about 1 year (especially in Thai by Thai Fairfax location) and I just found this page by random. It’s make me very surprise when I see your picture! How can you made food look a lot better than I saw everyday (LOL). I post this just to tell you that I like your photo very much!!
And actually, I’m graduate from Photography Major from Thailand (even if I’m not a good photographer
), but I want to be a real photographer someday. If you have time to go to Thai by Thai in Sterling again, I’m almost work in every Tuesday in Sterling, but I’ll go back to Thailand in about 5 weeks. If you go there, we may can talk about photography 
This is my old photograph http://www.fotologue.jp/keus1 and if you have Facebook you can add me by e-mail keus1@hotmail.com
At the bottom line, I really want to say, I like your photo very much!!
That’s so cool that you found my post! I can’t believe it… haha. We go to both locations. It would be fun to talk about photography… I will let you know next time we are planning to go! Thanks so much for your nice comments.
Oh wow…that all looks great! For taking photographs at the restaurant, you did an amazing job. I think my wife would have run out the door in embarrassment! I didn’t realize you were in Northern VA. It’s been years, but I grew up in Springfield, had my first real job at Hechinger in Burke and had friends in Reston! Although I didn’t appreciate it as much as I do now, the breadth of places to eat in the whole DC/MD/VA area is staggering compared to what I have now. You have also made me hungry…I’m off to eat!
Thanks Mike. Wow, we have a lot more in common than I thought! (besides our superior taste in beer)
Oh how I <3 that fried tofu!!!