Sunday, August 21, 2011

Red Ginger

Red Ginger is a Thai restaurant located on River Road N in Keizer, Oregon.





The atmosphere is a relatively formal, dark, intimate setting, While it could be nice on date night, I frankly found the place too dark for my liking. Seeking something spicy for takeout, I ordered their chicken cajun special ($7.50): a medley of stir-fried vegetables and chicken pieces in their spicy sauce, served with a side of white rice. And of course, I told my server to make the dish extra spicy.

(As a note, Red Ginger offers a brown rice option for $1 more, but I chose not to get it today.)

Cajun Special (chicken lunch portion) with white rice
Red Ginger does a very good job with making a flavorful dish pack respectable heat. The perfectly cooked stir-fried vegetables made the dish very vibrant. The rice was cooked perfectly as well. Some of the chicken pieces were a bit dry (overcooked), but that's the danger one may face in that situation (as opposed to a whole cooked chicken breast or chicken thigh).

The spicy sauce had a tang to it, certainly not Southeast Asian in nature. I swear there had to be some type of Mexican hot sauce in there instead. It was unexpected and off-putting at first (it's a Thai place, after all), but I did get used to it as I continued eating. I'd give it about a 6 out of 10 on my spicy scale because it left spice burns on my mouth and made me sweat a little (no bad physical pain, though).

My server was very professional and friendly. Definitely a model employee. Despite what I felt was overcooked chicken, I had a wonderful overall experience at Red Ginger. 7.5/10

No comments:

Post a Comment