A hankering...

I found myself home alone for dinner tonight and with a hankering for Chinese food. I remembered seeing a new Asian restaurant in our neighborhood and decided to do what some people consider the unthinkable and check it out as a party of one.

The restaurant is called Gingerine Fresh Asian and, as it turns out, is a Thai restaurant rather than Chinese but I decided to give it a shot all the same.

Let me start off by saying the decor is cool. The walls are a wonderful shade of lemon and there are punches of green, purple and red thrown in as accent colors all around the space. The booths, tables and chairs are white, very modern and resemble modular furniture. Everything is crisp and clean and I found it a pleasant place to be. At one time the space was home to a Red, Hot and Blue barbecue restaurant and there is not a single trace of barbecue vibe left behind.

Okay enough with the pleasantries - about the food.

Before I go any further I must throw out a little disclaimer, I am not a Thai aficionado. In fact, my experience with Thai food goes no further than Tom Kha Gai (coconut chicken soup) and Pad Thai. With that said I have eaten much of both of these items and, when they are well prepared, I love them!

Since I had originally started my quest in search of Chinese food I had my heart set on an Egg roll so I settled for what I thought would be the next best thing and ordered a crispy vegetable Spring Roll as an appetizer. Boy was I wrong - that Spring Roll was the bomb! The vegetables and the shell were cooked perfectly. The only problem was I thought I was ordering a single Spring Roll and I was presented with three. Turns out a half order is available but the waitress did not offer up this information when I placed my order for a vegetable Spring Roll and an order of chicken Pad Thai. Yes, my party of one was presented with three vegetable Spring Rolls and a huge plate of Pad Thai.

About the Pad Thai. I'm sorry to say it was uninspired. I can't say anything bad about it - nor can I really say anything good. I guess tasteless would be the way to put it. And who wants to eat tasteless Pad Thai? Long story short, those extra Spring Rolls sure came in handy. There's even one tucked away in the fridge in case I come up with another hankering - for a midnight snack!