Affordable Thai for Dinner at Siam I Am, Redondo Beach
Finding affordable, well made Thai food for dinner in Los Angeles can be difficult. Not for a lack of options. On the contrary, there may be far too many places to choose from. A few stand out, though, and rise above the competition. Siam I Am is one of those restaurants.
I stopped by Siam I Am with my very hungry family, ready to try out a new Thai restaurant. It was late on a weekend evening so parking was relatively easy at their storefront located on the bustling Pacific Coast Highway between Garnet Street and Torrance Boulevard.
The Siam I Am Restaurant is located on PCH in Redondo Beach about five minutes away from the Redondo Beach Pier.
The Siam I Am dining room is small and cozy. With just ten chairs at a few tables and a waist-high counter along the wall, there isn’t much room for dining in. It does make for an experience, though, for a small group that wants to feel like they have an entire restaurant all to themselves. If you dine here with five or six friends that will most certainly be the case!
For this menu exploration, I brought along two $10 Utopia gift certificates for Siam I Am*. At first I wasn’t sure if it would be enough to cover a meal for a hungry family of four. After reviewing the menu and the prices though, I was confident that our meal wouldn’t go too far beyond the budget.
Utopia Gift Certificates offer savings at participating restaurants around the South Bay and in other cities. Follow the links in the article for details!
What’s cool about the Utopia gift certs is that they are like other popular discount programs that let you purchase a higher valued certificate at a discount. These were $8.50 for a $10 certificate, offering a savings of about %15. Good enough for me!
To start our meal, we ordered the Cream Cheese Wontons ($4.95) as an appetizer. These were cute little shells, filled with the name sake ingredient and cooked to a crisp, golden brown. What I didn’t expect was a plump, sweet raisin nestled in the center of the folded wonton. It made for a nice addition of texture and flavor the what might have been an otherwise ordinary dish.
Six Cream Cheese Wontons with sweet and sour dipping sauce.
There’s a surprise in the cream cheese wontons. A plump raisin!
From the appetizer, the four of us branched out and ordered our own dishes (with the caveat that I had a chance to taste them all!)
- Teriyaki Shrimp ($6.95) – This was a plate of six or seven shrimp, lightly breaded and fried, topped with green onions and cilantro, and served with steamed rice. The diversion from the typical was the excellent home-made teriyaki sauce served on the side. Instead of being tossed in the teriyaki as we expected, the sauce on the side allowed us to appreciate the distinct flavor and also control how much or how little was used on the shimp.
Shrimp Teriyaki is lightly battered and fried shrimp served with rice and with home-made teriyaki sauce.
- Kang Ped, Red Curry Chicken ($5.95 + $1 for Rice) – The saucy, succulent Kang Ped was served in a bowl with plenty of curry-flavored coconut milk and chicken broth, slices of tender chicken, and plenty of vegetables. The veggies were good, lending flavor and texture to what would otherwise be a soup, but the bamboo shoots were present in just about every bite. I would order this again but would ask for half the bamboo. Also, this dish was served without rice. We ordered a side of steamed rice to help soak up the peppery, coconut-based stock.
There were plenty of pepper and coconut flavors in the Kang Ped, Red Curry Chicken.
- Pineapple Fried Rice ($7.95) – I ordered this dish and almost broke my rule of sharing after I tasted it. The yellow curry rice is what makes the difference in this dish which is like a parade of flavors. Shrimp, chicken, pineapple, cashew nuts, and raisins all gave a hand to the sweet-savory and moist-crunchiness of this rainbow of fried rice.
The Pineapple Fried Rice was a crowd favorite with something to please everyone. The yellow curry flavored rice was the highlight.
- Chicken Pad Thai ($5.95) – The light color and scent of the Pad Thai was an immediate attraction. No heavy sauces or oils were present to overpower the tender noodles and equally tender chicken. The bean sprouts were a cool, crispy addition and the requisite ground peanuts added crunch.
Tender chicken and noodles come together in the Chicken Pad Thai.
Siam I Am makes for a nice dine in experience if seating is available and is worth the wait if not. You might also consider calling ahead for carry-out or delivery.
They’re open Tuesday through Sunday from 11 AM until 9 PM, closed on Mondays.
- Siam I Am
http://www.mysiamiam.com
215 S. Pacific Coast Highway
Redondo Beach, CA 90277
310-374-7202
* Some of the items mentioned in this review were purchased with a certificate from UTOPIA, an online retail website providing gift certificates at discount rates for restaurants and businesses both local and national. Prices and menu items mentioned are subject to change without notice. This story was accurate when it was published and reflects the uninfluenced opinions of the reviewers.
