A Thai Place that Knows Its Vegan

Thai House
1227 Alpharetta Street
Roswell, Georgia
770-993-1688 / 643-1687

• Food: 4.0
  
• Service: 3.5
• Ambiance: 4.0

Thai food is one of my favorite ethnic cuisines, with its aromatic spices, plentiful vegetables and tofu, and delicious curries. Further, it's a cooking tradition that uses no milk, butter, or cream. Seems like you could just order vegetables and tofu, and you'd be vegantastic, yeah? In some perfect vegetarian alternate universe that I'd like to visit someday, you'd be right. But, in this universe, Thai cuisine uses fish paste, oyster sauce, or shrimp paste in almost every dish. (snap!) At some restaurants, even the vegetable entrees may not be free of fish paste, because it's not considered "meat." I'm always the annoying customer saying, "No fish paste, no...." I hate being that customer, don't you?

But have no fear, dear readers, I have found for you a solution to this problem and once again, it lies OTP. The magic here is that Thai House and its staff know what the words "vegan" and "vegetarian" mean, so if you order off the vegetarian menu, you won't get any hidden fermented sea creatures. I went last week with my family, and we tried quite a few dishes. Thai House has a really nice atmosphere, lots of woodwork, and servers who are patient and knowledgeable. They allowed me to make all kinds of special requests, with no problems whatsoever.

We started with a Vegan Tom Yum soup, delicately spicy and light. As far as the entrees go, we tried the Thai Green Garden (an assortment of green vegetables in a brown sauce), the Green Curry, the Spicy Noodles, and the Rummit, which is vegetables and tofu in a spicy basil sauce. It's not the most spectacular Thai food I've ever had, but it is really good if you're up for a drive and you want to be sure it's vegetarian.

Let's start with the good stuff: the Thai Green Garden and the Rummit were both flavorful; I especially enjoyed the Rummit, because I am ridiculously partial to basil. These entrees had full, well-seasoned sauces, and plenty of vegetables and tofu. The tofu at Thai House is exceptional, creamy and smooth. I've not yet had a bite of the over-fried, tough variety that is so popular at other Thai joints.

However, the Green Curry and the Spicy Noodle were forgettable. While the Green Curry was too sweet, the Spicy Noodle seemed to have almost no flavor at all. The sauce used with the Spicy Noodle tasted weak and anemic; the starchy rice noodles stamped out the sauce's flavor almost entirely. More vegetables would have helped in both dishes, but I would say the recipes need work. Stick with the dishes that are just vegetables and tofu, and you should be golden.

All in all, this place is great because they care about vegetarians and vegans; I've been burned before by restaurants telling me a dish has no fish sauce one time and telling me the opposite another. I like that I can trust Thai House, and most of the food is tasty and high-quality. I don't want to oversell it, because it's not the best Thai food in Atlanta, and it is a long drive. But Thai House is very good, if you know what to get. And if you need to be sure it's vegetarian, it might be the only option.

Have you had found any Thai restaurants that you love? Have you been burned? Share your experiences with atlanta vegan!

Rummit: Vegetables and tofu in a spicy basil sauce at Thai House