There’s something about authentic Thai food that draws you into its labyrinth of flavours. One moment you’re bracing yourself for the heat, the next you’re sitting there panting away, breaking out into a sweat just looking at a vicious plate of seafood salad. It’s a constant cycle of falling deeper and deeper into their well of flavours – acidically tangy, ferociously hot and then the light buzz of sweetness. Every bite is so good that you think you’ve had enough, and just then you’re ready to get your next hit.
Just when we thought Dhaka had its fair share of Thai eateries – some good, some average and some just plain bad, in came Absolute Thai. Located on the second floor of a two storied building in Banani, you enter into this Thai haven after climbing a steep flight of swanky clear glass stairs that overlook an edgy water feature. Once you’ve entered the place, you’ll be quite taken by just how charmingly unpretentious the place is. There are neatly aligned couches and chairs, comfortable upholstered seats in a deep shade of royal purple and simple tables that are replete with formal table settings. For those of us used to the likes of Luams and its boisterous, loud décor, this place will make you feel like you’re stepping into a deliciously relaxing spa.
The best way to enjoy meals here is to casually stroll in, find a cool corner spot, tuck yourself in all nice and cosy, unbutton your jeans, let your belly fall loose and let the Thai feasting begin. And that is exactly how we start to dig into our meals after having visited the place several times before. Their menus are precise and consist of a short listing of soups, salads, curries, stir fried items, seafood as well as dessert. During lunch hour, most dishes are served for one and prices are extremely reasonable. For dinner, the same menu is kept, but every dish serves three and there’s a steep hike in prices, but it’s still fit for modest budgets.
Without much ado, we began with the iconic Thai soup – the Tom Yum Koong priced at Tk240. Served on a neat square bowl, for a while we didn’t have the heart to dip our spoons into this perfectly plated soup. Deep in colour and rich looking, it had luscious bits of prawn sticking out of the pool of soup, all flesh and provocation. However, as most good looking things go, it didn’t taste half as good as it looked. In fact, it seemed to be a disappointment of sorts since the soup lacked the balance of flavours a proper Tom Yum requires. While this alone may have had us in a particularly unforgiving mood, once we tried the Tom Kha Gai (chicken in coconut soup), a lot of our beliefs in the world was restored. Priced at Tk220, the sweet mix of complex flavours did everything for our palates that the Tom Yum couldn’t. It was so good that we wanted to completely forget that the Tom Yum ever existed – and that, is something that most Thai purists will never do, so imagine how perfect the soup must’ve been.
Once we were done lapping up the soup and the several bits of chunky chicken slices in it, we moved on to the salads. First came the Seafood Salad (priced at Tk530) and my God, did it make us just stop in our tracks and stare. This absolute beauty of a dish, was served in a mountain of greens and reds with big chunks of fish, squid and prawn. Just looking at it made us break into a sweat and one bite in, we kept going for more, unable to get enough of the playful mix of flavours. It’s mad spicy with strong accents of lemon and the breeziness of fresh seafood. It’s the kind of dish that will have Thai enthusiasts go wild.
We moved on to try the Appetiser Platter priced at Tk410 consisting of an assortment of fishcakes, spring rolls, prawn tempuras and wontons. The fishcakes were the best of the lot – light, fried well, spongy and went perfectly with the sweet chilli sauce. The spring rolls came in as close second, fighting for first place thanks to its crisp coating and soft veggie fillings.
The Thai feasting continued as we kicked off our main course with a Red Curry Chicken and a Green Curry Chicken (both priced at Tk535 each). These came in deep bowls and had the true aroma of Thai curries – they even looked deep and thick – just how we like them. The red curry was what really took the cake. From the very first bite to the last it was just bite after bite of rich loveliness with every flavour strong, but so put together. The red curry is probably one of their best curries, so much so that it even beats their green curry. The Sweet and Sour Chicken priced at Tk510 was a sweet diversion, with a light yet pungent sauce. A diabetic’s dream dish, this isn’t meant for just about everyone since not all of us are fans of the sharp sweetness this dish delivers. However, it still merited a couple of bites before we moved on to the more easily loveable Chicken with Basil Leaf priced at Tk475. Although none of the dishes could meet the beauty of the red curry, they were still worthy of a try, especially if you got tired of the red curry after multiple tastings.
To round off all that rice and curry feels, we dived straight into the Pad Thai. Priced at Tk560, the devotion of the chef was seen in the neat little way he served his Pad Thai. There was no sugary sweetness or dry density of the noodle – it had just the right accent of underlying sweetness with a balanced combination of lemon and fish sauce. The only downside of the dish is the inconsistency – some days you’ll get dry, chewy noodles, on other days you’ll get a fresh, moist mix. Let’s just hope they make it right the next time you’re there. If not, you can always ask for it to be changed. If the management seems reluctant to comply, there’s always the good old Foodbank to post a mad rant on. Or, you can always order another tall glass of their ever so refreshing Thai Iced Tea (priced at Tk150) to help douse your miseries. Rest assured, there’s barely anything that their iced tea can’t make right so chug down while you can.
By the end of our elaborate meal and drink, we sat there with unbuttoned jeans and moistened brows, feeling like everything had fallen into place and the world was made right. Draining off the last bit of our absolutely phenomenal Thai Iced Tea, we let the cool spa like feels take over us and waited for the heat of the dishes to escape. It felt like the perfect ending to a rice-rich meal, one that makes you want to curl right up and take that much needed Bengali nap we all love to indulge in once we’ve fulfilled our rice and spice fantasies.
Recommendations:
Soups: Tom Kha Gai (chicken in coconut soup)
Salads: Seafood Salad (Yam Ta Lay), Glass Noodle Salad (Yam Woon Sen)
Fish: Steam with Chili and Lemon Lime Sauce (Pha nueng Ma nao)
Curries: Red Curry Chicken, Green Curry Chicken, Massaman Chicken Curry
Noodle: Pad Thai
Drinks: Thai Iced Tea (without milk)
