Restaurant Review: Nippa Thai Cuisine

The thing about Thai food is that it’s supposed to be a party in your mouth. Sweet flavors battle salty. Sour tastes balance the heat from the chili peppers. During a trip to Thailand, the Houstonist didn’t consider a meal successful unless we were sweating from the chili spices and dizzy with the contrast in flavors. Here in our diverse city of Houston, we’ve had some trouble finding unabashed Thai cuisine – flavors that are not watered down for the conservative palate.

On a whim, the Houstonist visited Nidda Thai Cuisine (1226 Westheimer), conveniently located right between a resale shop and a cabaret store. The restaurant looked like a hole in the wall. For Asian food, this could mean that the restaurant is a cover for some shady business OR the food is really, really good – exciting either way. The lighting was dim, the décor was sparse and thrifty, but the service was warm and charming. We ordered tom yum soup (a good “party in your mouth” indicator for Thai food), green papaya salad (hard to find among Houston Thai restaurants) and roasted Thai barbecue chicken. The flavor of our soup was deep and rich with strong flavors of fish sauce, tamarind, lemon grass and kafir leaves. We did notice that the heat was turned down a notch so we made a mental note to ask them to turn it back up next time. The shrimp in our soup was fresh, fat and succulent. The papaya salad had all the key components, but again was low on the heat meter. Still, the contrasting flavors of the lime and fish sauce were large and in charge. Lastly, the barbecue chicken was moist and luscious with a sweet and smoky marinade. The dipping sauce was a mix of ground pepper flakes, raw rice grains, lime and fish sauce. It balanced the sweetness of the chicken perfectly and added that familiar Thai punch on the palate.

While dining, the Houstonist also noticed that staff members were on a first name basis with many of the customers. We found this very endearing (and wanted to be one of those people!). The prices were more than reasonable (entrees $7-$12, great lunch specials). All in all, this was a very unexpected and pleasant Thai food outing and the Houstonist will definitely be back.

The Verdict: not quite the ‘rager’ like the Thai food we had in Thailand, but still a pretty rockin’ party in our mouth.