★★★ Noodle Boat - Issaquah

Noodle Boat is a Thai restaurant in Issaquah, about 15 minutes east of Seattle downtown. I was in the area for business so I decided to drop in and check out their noodle soup: "Noodle Boat". The dish is a noodle soup variety from the city of Ayutthaya located north of Bankok. This dish is called "Guay teaw reau Ayutthaya" which translates to Ayutthaya style boat noodle.

The Soup - is a thick and richly flavored hot and sour soup. Imagine a tom yun kun soup just more sour, saltier and with even more intense flavors of the spices... then add a hint of curry and/or peanut sauce. To tell you the truth, I wasn't able to figure out the exact ingredients of this soup, all I can say was that I wish the dish came in a bigger bowl because I wished there was more.

The Noodles - are the Chantoboon noodles that you see in pad thai. This flat rice noodles that start out rather soft and can turn soggy real quick if over cooked or left in the soup for too long. The noodles are a great match with the soup but were a challenge to eat since it was buried underneath of lots of vegetables and toppings.

The Toppings - included your choice of meat, deep fried tofu, green onions, coriander, bean sprouts, and raw cabbage and carrots served on the side like a salad. All the toppings were great with the noodle and soup, but there was so much of it that I wish the bowl was bigger for me to organize them. I ended up eating most of the toppings first just to work my way to the noodles underneath.

Overall - a great Thai style ramen that I will be coming back for more. Issaquah might be too far for you to come just for a bowl of Thai noodles, but most Thai restaraunts in the Seattle area serve some type of noodles soup. Look for tom yun kun noodle soup in other places, which can taste quite similar to this dish.

http://www.noodleboat.com/