Let's Do Lunch - Our Favorite Little (Thai) Cottage

If you haven’t noticed, we like lunch. If it weren’t for lunch, we’d probably not make it to dinner. If it weren’t for lunch at Thai Cottage, we’d probably go insane. The food is so good that we almost forget that two people can eat there so well for around $15.

Located near the Edwards Grand Cinema on the corner of Richmond and Wesleyan, it’s a favorite amongst the Greenway set. The location affords it decent access, but parking is often a pain in the ass around lunchtime given the density of eateries in the strip center. The restaurant itself has a layout that manages to maximize seating without causing collisions. In the many times we’ve eaten there, not once has the service been bad. In fact, we’d call it delightfully unobtrusive.

The restaurant’s lunch menu offers a delectable mix of Thai or Thai-inspired pan-Asian cuisine that puts the cookie-cutter Asian restaurants along Richmond to shame. Lunch comes with either a salad or the soup of the day and a vegetable crispy roll with a sweet and sour dip. Generally, we go with the small salad, which is a mixture of lettuces, cucumber, tomato and carrots, with the peanut dressing, which is sweet but not overpowering. While the salad isn’t anything write home about, it’ll hold you over while you wait for the main course.

There are 14 choices for lunch and, though not all are adventurous, each one is delicious in its own way. For those who want something safe, the Princess Chicken ($5.75), sautéed with mushrooms, onions and zucchini in a homemade soy-based sauce (that’s just a touch sweet… molasses perhaps?) is good and non-threatening.

Hungry? The best value is the Thai-style BBQ Chicken ($6.25); a half-chicken marinated in a well-spiced but not spicy sauce and served with rice and vegetables. This is almost exactly the same portion as the Thai Chicken Volcano on the regular menu ($9.95) without the shrimp-fried rice.

Want to try Thai food without going out on a limb? Pad Thai is the most basic of all Thai restaurant fare, kind of like the spaghetti and meatballs of Thai cuisine. Thai Cottage’s Chicken Pad Thai ($5.95) sticks to the tried and true formula of chicken and egg over rice noodles with onions, bean sprouts and peanuts in a fish-sauce based peanut sauce.

If you’re looking for something more traditionally Thai, the red, yellow and shrimp green curries are the reason that this place keeps a healthy business. Spiced to taste with sriracha sauce and chilies (level “1 to 5” spicy, or “hot to holy-crap-I-am-going-to-die” spicy), each one offers the Cottage spin on Thai classics. The Red Curry ($5.95) with coconut milk and bamboo shoots is potent and flavorful. The Yellow Curry ($5.95) offers sliced chicken with potato cubes and carrots in a curry that is both familiar and entertaining.

The best, though, is the Shrimp Green Curry ($6.95), which teases the tongue with hints of coriander, lime, lemongrass and basil over shrimp, bamboo shoots and vegetables. You can also get this, and any dish, served with catfish ($6.95).

If it gets too spicy, the Thai Iced Tea (mixed with sugar, evaporated milk and a hint of orange spice) is what those in the know use to cool their tongue. Some would say their version is too sweet, to them we say “shut the hell up, we like it too sweet.” For no charge you can also substitute tofu for chicken or pork in most dishes. Houstonist recommends the Chili Basil Tofu for veggies.

It is our sincere belief that the only way to have a bad lunch experience at Thai Cottage is to not order what you really want. Take a leap; it’s all got the Houstonist seal of approval (which looks like an empty plate).

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Thai Cottage
Original - 5124 Cedar St (713) 838-0585
@ Greenway- 3995 #B Richmond Ave (713) 623-0170
Sugar Land - 4723 Sweetwater Blvd (281) 313-0708