October 11, 2013
Pagarung Thai
6200 Antioch Court (above the Safeway in Montclair Village), Oakland, CA
http://www.pagarungthai.com/Menu.html
Review date: October 2013

We tried to get to Pleasanton to run some errands and eat dim sum, only to be baulked by a virtual shutdown of Hwy 580 East due to a couple of accidents mid-day. As we had set ourselves in the mood for a lunch of Asian food, going back home to a protein milkshake or a sandwich just didn't appeal, LOL.

Managing to get off the freeway and reverse course, I remembered that one of the recommended Thai restaurants on Yelp was the small place in Montclair Village, just up Hwy 13 from our home. We zipped over and found a parking up the hill, and sat down in what was a very empty, if pleasant, little restaurant. 

Pagarung's location is a bit odd if you're not used to Montclair Village, being basically on top of, and slightly behind, the small Safeway. You'll find the entry off the upper level open-air parking lot. There's only a few parking spaces for the restaurant, which always seem taken, and Safeway doesn't like non-grocery shoppers parking in their lot. You're safest with street parking, or popping into the city-owned garage at the top of La Salle.

They have a nice lunch special menu, but we opted to order from the regular menu to try a wider variety of dishes. Carlos loves the Thai Tom Kha soups, and I'm always a sucker for stuffed chicken wings. 

We ordered the crispy calamari and stuffed chicken wings starters. Like most Thai restaurants, they assume Americans like it sweet and mild; both the calamari and the wings come with nam chim kai - the usual dipping sauce was all sweet, no chile added. I asked the waitress for the hot sauces, and out came the usual four-bowl assortment. A generous two mini-spoonfuls of the sweet-tart red chile paste immensely improved both dipping sauces for us.

The calamari is heavily scored, cut into small rectangles that curl attractively when fried, but the batter is too thick and crispy. Carlos commented that if they used this fried calamari in a quick stir-fry with a sweet-hot chile sauce, KFC gojuchang-style, it would be ideal. By itself, we found it too crunchy. You couldn't taste any squid with so much batter.

We divided on the chicken wings. Carlos doesn't like chicken skin, so he wasn't in love with these. There are two of the biggest chicken wings we've ever seen – literally almost turkey-sized. Boned out and lightly stuffed with a wonderful if loose stuffing of cellophane noodles, dried lily buds, tree fungus, carrots, moist minced chicken, and mushrooms, battered and fried, I was in chicken wing heaven. But the dish is massive for a starter – cut into four pieces, this one starter would work for four people. Otherwise, it's an entrée to itself for somebody who is really hungry. If you order anything else, even just a soup, share this with at least one other person.

We ordered the Tom Kha Goong, which is with shrimp. Sadly, an overdose of lemon – and we're lemon lovers! – made this too unbalanced for both of us. It's one of the worst versions we've had of this Thai standard. It doesn't even come up to the level that Sabuy Sabuy I manages, let alone Siam Bay and SS II, who both make superior soups.

Both of us agreed on sharing #19, the Spicy Noodles: wide fresh rice noodles stir-fried with chicken, cabbage, chile, and basil. It was nicely spicy, but as usual the chicken was overcooked, the cabbage minimal and tasteless. We'd rate this just average, and as Carlos said, the only Asian noodle dishes we really like are either Chinese or Japanese.

The tea was good – Pagarung uses the classic vanilla-scented tea, which Siam Bay sadly stopped offering. I love it, Carlos tolerates it but prefers his tea stronger and without flavoring.

I ordered a Thai iced tea, but as usual the spiced black tea is not brewed strong enough before being diluted with ice cubes and condensed sweetened millk. Siam Bay's version of this drink is far superior, not just to Pagarung's but everyone else's we have tried. 

Carlos called Pagarung "adequate – not exciting, but okay if you're in the neighborhood." I agreed...but I really do like those chicken wings!

Two people, lunch: two starters, one soup, one entrée, three beverages (they charge for tea although refills are free), with tip was $57.