Thai Basil for lunch – Winter Springs

Day to day, I am always on the lookout for a place to go for lunch especially if there aren’t any leftovers from last night’s dinner. One of the most reliably tasty places that I have been to is Thai Basil. I’ve actually been here a couple times for lunch before and they have never disappointed.

Thai Basil sits behind Carrabba’s in a plaza on the corner of Tuscawilla Road and Red Bug Lake Road in Winter Springs, FL. Its menu features dishes such as the traditional pad thai, duck noodle soup, green curry fried rice all for under $7.50.

Inside, the restaurant has a elegant, magical feeling to it: huge framed mirrors line the walls creating infinite reflections of the dining area and long, sweeping purping curtains adorn the front end, and artifacts and paintings of scenes from Thailand are scattered throughout the restaurant.

The service here is always attentive and friendly. One of the young women who worked there was actually off the day I was there but charmingly told me she loved Thai Basil so much that she couldn’t stay away, so she had come to have lunch with the rest of the crew there.

Thai cuisine, much like the food of all peoples around the world, is a reflection of Thai culture: a belief in an intricate balance of the senses and tastes, sweet, salty, spicy and sour that all interplay in the Thai palate.

For my lunch, I ordered the pad see ew with beef ($7.25), hot (no, not thai hot this time). The pad see ew is made of wide rice noodles stir fried with a garlic see ew dum (a thick sweet soy sauce) and nam play (a very aromatic and strong tasting fish sauce) with brocolli, carrots, eggs and black pepper.

The amber-colored pad see ew is aromatic and delicious. The beef is tantalizing, tender and flavorful. All the titilating tastes of sweet, sour, spicy, salty all came together as one on my plate and satisfied my hunger for Thailand