South King County has a number of small Asian restaurants, and as far as I can tell almost all of them are very good. While it is fun to explore them, it is sometimes frustrating trying to decide which ones to visit first.

Simply Thai is inconspicuously located in a strip shopping center across the street from Southcenter Mall. I first spotted it while looking through the shopping center, and returned to eat on my way to the airport. It turned out to be a good choice since service was prompt and they stay open all afternoon. The restaurant is relatively small but it has enough employees to provide the good service I experienced and to cook a large selection of dishes.

I do not really know if the Phad Khing (ginger tofu) is the best dish here, since it is the only item I have ordered. However, it was excellent with a sweet but not overly sweet sauce, good balance of flavors, and fresh ingredients. In fact, it was one of the best I have had in the Seattle area.

Almost all dishes on the menu had a lunch or dinner portion, and both were available all the time so I could order according to my hunger. With its reasonable prices Simply Thai is a great place to include in any plans for mall shopping, but it is much better than the typical "mall food." I would say when exploring the Thai restaurants in the area, this should be one of the first to try.

In looking at an article about Simply Thai on the Northwest Gold Coast web site I discovered that the executive chef has expertise in Lao cooking, so this makes the restaurant even more interesting that merely serving very good Thai food (Bai Tong also serves very good Thai food). In fact, it looks as if this is one of Seattle's very few Lao restaurants (although I did not spot any obviously Lao dishes on the menu except the larb and other salads.

Since my visit was in 2003 when I was just beginning to compile notes to use on my "gastronomic home page," my rating of Simply Thai may be somewhat arbitrary compared to reviews done at a later time. However, of the Thai restaurants I visited in Seattle, Simply Thai was one of the ones that made the biggest impression on me. I do want to impart to readers the fact that I thought the food here was very high quality, and very flavorful.