Some Thai Restaurant Review: 15 Dishes to Try or Avoid

Some Thai is one of the restaurants given a Michelin Bib Gourmand recognition during the first release of Michelin Guide for the Philippines. In this blog post, we'll explore more about my general sentiments over these Michelin-recognized restaurants, and jump shortly into the dishes you have to try here in Some Thai.

Steering away from Michelin-restaurants

Following the release of Michelin Guide in the Philippines, a wave of interests ensued, and people started talking and swarming over these restaurants. I decided to steer away from them, primarily because I do not like queuing up for so long. Secondly, I had hesitations with the qualifications of the guide. Some of the restaurants felt overly exaggerated or just too hyped to be there.

Setting aside my partial disagreement with the list, and after months of allowing things to cool down, I've finally let myself to start exploring restaurants found in the guide. Simultaneously, I decided to make a project out of it by giving it a more explorative and scholastic framing, in a sense that I get to validate them against my personal standards and preferences. 

Some Thai's bright red interior in Podium branch

To kick things off, we decided to go for Some Thai to celebrate Father's Day, and we shall now be talking more about this restaurant. 

Trying Some Thai in Podium

Some Thai was promising right on the onset, with how simple yet striking their choice of design and interior is. I love the oriental feel to it while having this warm red overtone across the elements of the restaurant. It had a right mix of modern feel, striking a balance between looking chic yet not overdoing it to be intimidating.

🕛What is the average queuing time in Some Thai

As expected there was a long queue. When we arrived, there were already 15 names ahead of us, and that was just around 6:30 PM. We got seated at around 8:00 PM, for a total of 1.5 hours waiting time. Doing some math, that will be around 6 minutes (on average) per name ahead of you. So that means if you are above 10th on the list, prepare to wait for at least an hour.

15 Dishes to Try or Avoid in Some Thai

Serving time was unexpectedly fast, probably because we were able to hand over our advance order prior to getting seated, which I suggest you do as well. After we got our seats, appetizers arrived shortly after about 10 minutes. Main dishes arrived 15 minutes shortly after that (for a total of 25 minutes from the moment we got seated). 

Here are the dishes we personally got to try that night. From this list, I'd let you know whether I'd like you to try or avoid them. 

Starting off with the 1️⃣Papaya (left) and 2️⃣Pomelo (right) Salads✅, both of which are great appetizers for the fruity-type. The vinaigrette is infused with some spices that give the salads their sweet-sour tang that effectively jolts the appetite.  

These next two appetizers sound similar on paper, both are spring rolls. The other one is fresh (left), while the other is fried. Although my photo may have exaggerated my dislike over its presentation, the 3️⃣Fresh Spring Roll (left) ✅is what I recommend. The ingredients are indeed fresh, as you'd hardly taste anything off, and they are able to harmonize the flavor very well. You may skip the 4️⃣Fried Spring Roll (right)❌. Although it's fairly okay, I just needed it to be more appetizing in presentation.

Moving on to the main dishes, we start off with the 5️⃣Khao Soi Chicken (left)✅, my personal favorite for the night. It was as good as I remember having it for the first time in Thailand. The chicken is fried to perfection, and the sauce has this playful curry taste that blends well with the chicken and the noodles. It's a classic dish made well! While the 6️⃣Chicken Satay (right)❌ was tender and great, I'd say you may skip this in favor of the Khao Soi. It's fairly well done as well, but pretty straightforward, so you may want to just reserve your calories for the latter.

Another set of noodles are the 7️⃣Dry Tom Yum Noodles (left)✅and 8️⃣Shrimp Pad Thai (right)❌. The Dry Tom Yum is my second favorite dish for the night. It had a bountiful selection of seafood that really gave the dish visual and sensory (i.e. taste) flair. The noodles also captured the essence of tom yum, spicy and playfully tangy. Meanwhile, I had high hopes for the Pad Thai, since it's the beacon, representing Thai food. However, it falls a little flat with the imbalance in it. Flavor-wise it was great, but it had less noodles than expected, and more of the fluff. It's still forgivable, but it's going to be a skip for now, when compared to other dishes we tried.

We move on to the meat, like literally, and start off with the 9️⃣Thai Fried Chicken (left)✅and 1️⃣0️⃣48-Beef Short Rib Curry (right)❌. I initially thought of skipping the fried chicken when I saw it, but when I actually tasted it, I was blown away. It was playfully crispy and marinated pretty well. Each bite gives that umami garlicky taste giving it so much character. There is likeness to the chicken in Khao Soi, so you may want to just pick one of the two. As for the short rib, I generally liked it in terms of the taste, but it falls short in terms of the presentation. For a dish that exceeds P1,000, I feel like there should be more it visually, and it just didn't meet my vision. It's also pricey comparing with other dishes, so I'm giving it a skip.

Another set of meat, we have the 1️⃣1️⃣Squid Krapao (left)✅and 1️⃣2️⃣Thai Glazed Crispy Pork (right)❌. Similar with the Dry Tom Yum Noodles, the squid krapao came with hefty serving of seafood. It was also rightly seasoned with savory sweet sauce. However, I suggest you only go for either and not both the Dry Tom Yum and Squid Krapao, so that you can have a good variation. Now, for the crispy pork, while it was tender and balanced, I find it relatively plain compared to other dishes. You can easily mistaken it for a lightly sweetened liempo, hence I'd say you may skip this one, and try other dishes instead.

Winding things a little bit, we now go to the rice. We got to try the 1️⃣3️⃣Pineapple Fried Rice (left)✅and1️⃣4️⃣Crab Fried Rice (right)✅. Both of which are excellent, and I can say that you cannot go wrong with any rice selection here in Some Tome Thai. 

As for the dessert, we only tried the 1️⃣5️⃣Mango Sticky Rice✅, which was really good. Straightforward, but it captures what is needed out of the dessert - rightly sweet, sticky and refreshing mango on top. A great way to end the night!

Some Thai in a nutshell

Connecting my dining experience with what I had in Thailand, from a couple of visits there, I'd say that Some Thai indeed qualifies as authentic. Dishes we had for the night are able to capture the specific spices alluding to each of the respective dishes. I also feel that it deserves its Michelin Bib Gourmand status, given how well the concept translated from the interior down to the plate. Overall, I highly recommend this restaurant, and I'd say that it deserves the hype. Just be prepared to queue up, especially on weekends. Other than that, enjoy the food here in Some Thai!

🏆Top 3 Favorites: (1) Khao Soi Chicken, (2) Dry Tom Yum Noodles and (3) Thai Fried Chicken

❌Least 3 Favorites: (1) Shrimp Pad Thai, (2) Thai Glazed Crispy Pork, (3) Fried Spring Rolls

Some Thai

📍12 ADB Ave, Ortigas Center, Mandaluyong City, 1550 Metro Manila

No reservations allowed, only walk-ins