Thai One On: Ruen Pair Thai Cuisine

Ruen Pair in Thai Town

I found out that there's good reason why I don't go to Thai town often, because to get there in Friday evening traffic means a good 40 minutes of bumper to bumper traffic through Korea Town, with the scent of a billion Korean Barbecue joints wafting through the air. I swallowed hard and tried to concentrate on the bumper in front of me. It was tough, but I eventually made it to Ruen Pair Thai Cuisine. So let's get to our review.

Ruen Pair in Thai Town

First up is the famous Papaya Salad. It's a good size and the shredded papaya is quite refreshing on a hot day, but I felt like it was a little light on the tangy dressing and crunchy peanuts. More flavor, I say! Anyway, this was quite appetizing and I was ready for more...

Next up is soup. This is the Tom-Yum-Goong.
This was quite impressive as a hot pot of shrimp, mushrooms in a red spicy looking broth came to rest on our table, flames shooting out of the top. This was pretty loaded with shrimp and was not as spicy as I thought it'd be, though it did have a good kick to it. I'm not very used to a sour soup so this wasn't my favorite of the night, certainly impressive looking, though.

This is the Chicken Pad Prik King.
This might be the star of our show tonight, it's chicken sauteed with red curry paste, green beans, and lime leaves. The green beans were fresh and had a great texture to them, the spices were dead on and the whole thing fit together perfectly.

Below you will see the garlic sauteed vegetables. I distinctly remember being told it's watercress, but it sure looks like on-choy to me. Maybe it's the same thing and my Engrish is just bed.

This was also very well put together.

It's clean and the service was prompt. I had my water refilled more than enough times despite the spicy soup. It's not a date place, though, so feel free to bring friends and family here for get-togethers. I hear they're open uber late, until 4AM, so maybe it's a whole other kind of place at that hour.

I had the waitress recommend all of our dishes tonight, but now I wish I had looked over the menu more closely. It seems like she gave us a very mainstream list of dishes, not knowing I like my food hard-core and deviant.

Items to try next time: Raw crab in spicy lime sauce, Duck stew, fried morning glory. (Seriously, how the hell did I miss THAT!?)

Parking in the plaza is convenient and inexpensive at $1 an hour for valet. The whole plaza is made up of Thai restaurants and I think Palms / Thai Elvis used to be here before they moved. Oh, I miss Thai Elvis, I'd sit through 40 minutes of K-Town traffic for the King.

Ruen Pair in Thai Town
Ruen Pair
5257 Hollywood Blvd
Hollywood, CA 90027
323.466.0153
Photos by KevCheng for LAist.