We have presented a wide assortment of dishes on our menu from each of the Southeast Asian countries. There is no reason why you shouldn’t select an appetizer from one country and entrees from others countries; their flavors and textures are all compatible.

The King of Thailand once asked His Royal Chefs to duplicate some of the dishes he had eaten while traveling in the northern provinces. The chefs were unwilling to carry out His Royal wish because they thought it beneath the King to eat peasant food. So instead, the King brought in native Chefs to prepare the magnificent cuisine to which he had taken a liking. Even today, the Chefs of Bangkok are relegated to serving the tourist trade, while Chefs in the flow of northern province refugees, bringing with them the knowledge and revival of the original dishes, are setting up new ethnic restaurants that are gaining popularity among the Thai people in Bangkok.

Southeast Asian foods take more time to prepare than most American dishes. We do not prepare any dishes ahead of time in anticipation of what our guests might order. We do cut, slice, and dice ingredients ahead of time and keep those ingredients in the cooler, but the actual cooking is done, with very little exception, as your order enters the kitchen. We do this in order to retain freshness, appearance, and flavor of our dishes. Our success and reputation attest that our approach is one that produces consistent quality. Consequently, please be patient. Your enjoyment and our reputation are important to us.

Finally, we have worked hard to attain our distinguished reputation of serving only authentic high quality Southeast Asian foods. We will not take the path that other Thai restaurants have taken where emphasis is mostly on presentation, and where food quality, portion size, taste, and authenticity plays a secondary role. Call us purist if you like, but that is the way it is, and that is the way it will remain.

We thank you for your patronage. If you have enjoyed your eating experience at the Southeast Asian Restaurant, please tell your friends about us. Better yet, bring them with you the next time you visit.

 

Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Burma make up the mainland portion of the sub-continent known as Southeast Asia. This vast tropical region is located south of China and east of India across the Indian Ocean. Its closeness to China, as well as the spread of Buddhism from India, has greatly influenced Southeast Asian cooking. Since its land is more fertile than that of its neighbors, a wider variety of herbs, spices, and vegetables are available year round. Consequently, the many flavors and aromas of this unique cuisine have no equal.

 

Each Southeast Asian country has its own cooking style and dishes. Some are the same dish by a different name. In addition, each has its own name for its neighbors dishes. On our menu, we attempt to credit the country from which the dish originated.

 

Quick frying, barbecuing, steaming, stewing, and roasting are important in the preparation of Southeast Asian cuisine. In some instances, more then one method is employed in the preparation of a single dish. Our kitchen is equipped to handle all of these techniques.

We serve only authentic dishes, whose recipes I personally collected while stationed in Thailand during the Vietnamese War. I ate at the open air markets three and four times a day, and I have eaten at some of the finest restaurants in Bangkok. I tell you, with no malice in heart and no doubt in mind, that the foods that are served at so many other ‘so called’ Thai restaurants here in the United States are modified to the point that their offerings are no longer recognizable to the native Asian. What you order here at the Southeast Asian Restaurant is as authentic as any meal you would order by the same name in Southeast Asia.

A typical Southeast Asian meal consists of rice and at least three other dishes. In Thailand and Burma, curries are present at most meals. In Laos, sticky rice is the rice of choice. Sticky rice must be eaten with the hand to be fully appreciated. Vegetables are present at all meals throughout the region, as are soups. Meats are rarely consumed in large quantities, but are present at most meals. The meals in the mini banquet section of our menu are typical offerings in a family setting throughout all of Southeast Asia.

Welcome to the Southeast Asian Restaurant

Happy Eating,

Joe and Chanthip Antonaccio

Oh, by the way: those letters and numbers near each menu item are codes.
The letters tell you which country the dish is from, the numbers how spicy hot the dish is… 0=not hot, 3=very hot.