"You don't have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces - just good food from fresh ingredients."
Julia Child
Jasmine Thai Cuisine
Jasmine Thai Cuisine, at 355 Morro Bay Boulevard, is just as attractive from the outside as from the inside, with its purple window dressings loosely draped from one end of the restaurant to the other. The slate tile floors, and wood tables and chairs are appealing. Daytime dining is a particular pleasure because of the natural light; the lights are low at night. Fausto and I say dim the lights and don the reading glasses; we prefer the ambiance of low lumens. Whether you are dining alone or have twelve in your party, the Jasmine Thai Cuisine owners will accommodate you comfortably. We have always been greeted and seated promptly, with beverages soon to follow.
I have known friends who order dessert first because, face it, at the end of a meal they can't appreciate it as much. I often start with Thai Iced Tea, a sweet, strong, orange-colored tea. The swirls of half and half make it look like a smoky sunset in the tall glass. I wonder, is it still "an acquired taste" if it only takes one sip to fall in love with the flavor? I highly recommend that first taste, and if you don't like it, I'll help drink the rest.
We did order an appetizer called summer rolls. The pickled cucumbers and peanut sauce that accompanied them were exceptional; I wanted a whole bowl full. What was inside the rolls was disappointing, however. In a spring or summer roll, the crisp textures inside that wrapper are critical. Here's a revolutionary thought: forget the shrimp and fill the roll with bean sprouts, carrots, cut back on the noodles, and add the required mint leaves. Smother it in the peanut sauce and you're ready to say, "Korp khum mahk" which means, "Thank you very much."
The sautéed eggplant is my favorite dish, with the distinctive flavor of the black bean sauce, and garlands of basil ready to deliver flavor bursts. The plate is a palette of fall colors: Japanese purple eggplant, arcs of red and green peppers, and pinwheels of orange carrots. With pork or beef in particular, it is a tasty dish over a bed of white rice. Fausto was content with the Tom Yum soup. He doesn't usually make noises when he eats, but this soup was definitely slurp-worthy. I found the flavor hot and sour, as expected, but I wanted more variety and texture in the ingredients. [Thai soups typically arrive in the tureen with the bits and pieces of whatever contributed to the flavor. If you are savvy, remove them; I don't recommend that you try chewing on galangal (Blue Ginger root) or lemon grass stems.]
Fausto can usually pride himself on selecting the right combinations of dishes to complement each other. He was feeling experimental, hungry, and maybe a little over-eager in ordering the sautéed spinach. It was exactly as described on the menu, and made us realize that we should have planned more carefully. It is an art at a Thai restaurant to end up with plates that work together. Pad Thai or Pad See-ew noodles would have worked better, and we know from previous visits that Jasmine Thai Cuisine does a great job at these mainstays of Thai foods. Next time we will try the Honey Ribs, the Ka-pow, or the Param, which is a bed of spinach with your choice of meat or tofu, and Thai peanut curry sauce on top.
Jasmine Thai Cuisine
355 Morro Bay Boulevard
Morro Bay, CA 93442
Eat in; take out (805) 772 - 5988
See Menu
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