Midtown Lunch

Every Friday we go south of the ML boundaries in search of a delicious lunch. Sometimes it’s Murray Hill south or the Flatiron District, sometimes Gramercy and everything in between- but we just like to call it Flatiron Lunch.

I feel like I am on a Thai food goose chase around 23rd Street and 7th and 8th Avenues organized by FL’er Stevenp. First, I was sent to Regional and M Thai after my own lackluster experience at Pongsri. Then, Rin Thai was recommended.

All of these Thai places seem to have similar lunch specials with a small appetizer and main dish for under $10. At this point, I am having trouble keeping any differences in the menus straight and would be happy for favorite dishes from the readers in the comments.

I ordered two lunch meals to try a couple dishes. First, I ordered the spicy basil fried rice with chicken which despite simple appearance had an amazing flavor. The dish struck the right balance of basil, chilis, pepper and lime.

I could not believe how much food was packed into the take-out container. Each of my main dishes was filled to the brim and the container was heavy like a brick. Granted with fried rice and noodles, the portions are often larger. I would be interested how large the curry and sautéed dishes are.

The crispy dumplings appetizer was much better than I expected or they looked. In fact, this might be the best Thai lunch appetizer I have ever had.

For my other appetizer, I tried the caesar salad with ginger dressing. The caesar salad at Spice is better in my opinion.

The other main I ordered was the pad Thai, which a friend of mine in the neighborhood orders all the time. In fact, I think we ordered it once when I was hanging out at her apartment, and it was great. This time, I thought it was a little bland and needed some chili garlic sauce to spice it up.

THE + (What people who like this place will say)

• I didn’t know fried rice could be this good.
• The crispy dumpling is a freebie appetizer that is actually exciting to eat.
• These portions are insane.

THE – (What people who don’t like this place will say)

• What happened to the pad Thai?
• Spice should not have a better caesar salad.
• Unclear if Rin has distinguished itself from all the neighboring Thai restaurants.

Rin Thai, 265 West 23rd Street btwn 7th and 8th Avenues, (212) 675-2988