_ Jitlada redux: _ larger Thai Southerner taste

curry soft shell crab

After our first time trying the Southern Thai menu at Jitlada (report here), we wanted to try a lot more dishes...so we needed to assemble several more people. Seven proved to be just right -- more than that can be unwieldy when trying to share lots of plates. We concentrated on the seafood selections mostly, and John said it was one of the best meals he's had anywhere lately -- and this guy eats everywhere. First Jazz brought us a little amuse (how do you say that in Thai?) of haw mok -- the steamed seafood custard was perfumed with kaffir lime leaves and filled with chunks of scallops and more -- a lovely start. Also on the menu were the wonderful blue crab salad, showered with lemongrass slices in a piquant, spicy sauce; fat steamed mussels in a delicate broth; amazing softshell crab curry, one of the milder dishes; zingy rice salad with a similar flavor profile to the blue crab salad, but sweeter and less spicy; clam curry with betel leaves which gave an earthy flavor to the soupy curry; a whole bass showered with fried garlic and a multi-layered chili sauce to go on top; and fishballs stuffed with egg in yellow curry sauce. fish balls in curry stuffed with duck eggs

This was the only thing remotely "wierd" that we ordered but it was actually great -- I was skeptical of fish balls since it seems most Thai restaurants use the bouncy, premade Superball variety; but Jitlada's seem housemade and cleverly formed around hardboiled duck egg yolks, served in fragrant curry sauce. John was a little disappointed that we ordered everything just slightly spicy, so he had them make their incendiary beef curry just for him, and we were all happy. raw blue crab salad

We were thoroughly stuffed, but couldn't resist the sticky rice and mango, which one of our party said was the best they've had; the fried bananas, which were crunchy bits of freshly fried pleasure unlike any lame versions you've had before; and housemade coconut ice cream, which in the Thai style is just coconut milk with no dairy.
This has got to be one of the most exciting, centrally located, reasonably priced dining experiences in the city right now, so don't miss it, and try some of the unusual Southern Thai dishes from the menu on the back page.