Pad thai is a beloved dish of Thailand because of the terrific combination of thin rice noodles smothered with addictive sauce. Daughter Thai Kitchen has a terrific rendition featured on their menu, but they also have a ton of additional dishes that allow diners to truly engage with Thai culture.
Pad thai has three main components: heat from chilis, nuttiness from peanut butter and acid from a squeeze of lime and rice vinegar. The dish hits on both salty and sweet notes. There’s a deep umami flavor from the tangy fish sauce that can only be tamed by the caramel flavor of brown sugar and molasses.
This range of ingredients gets amplified once the array of proteins get added. For example, scrambled eggs are not only enjoyed in the morning; instead, they are woven throughout this noodle dish. In addition, sweet shrimp and meaty chicken combine for a new take on surf-and-turf.
Finally, a fresh breath from the garden tops this meal. Rainbow red stripes from bell pepper decorate the dish, and miniature plants find their way onto the plate through bean sprouts. Light green onion is cut into geometric circles, making it aesthetically pleasing but also providing a fresh, earthy counterpart to the richness of the dish.
This unique combination of flavors can be found in more than just the pad thai. Thai cuisine tries to capitalize on many different flavor profiles in each dish. Luckily Denver has an authentic Thai restaurant that brings these offerings to locals. Daughter Thai Kitchen holds their pad thai close and demonstrates the expansive art of Thai cooking. It is located on Platte street in the LoHi neighborhood, offering familiar dishes intermixed with novel specialities to curate the public’s understanding of Thai culture.
Usually, a restaurant with a long menu often results in exceptional quantity but mediocre quality. This is why the Daughter Thai Kitchen menu is a small double-sided sheet. They put intent towards each dish by refining the menu to its simplest form. It only permits their exceptional offerings.
The “Bangkok Ribs” are listed under small plates, but when the heaping pile of sticky, glistening ribs arrives, it definitely pushes the boundaries of what “small” entails. This immaculate tower is made from ribs that have been cooking away for hours on end, resulting in meat barely still attached to the bone.
The meat has been cooking in its own juices, recirculating all the flavor and honing on the marinade. It has a richness from soy and depth from fish sauce. It boasts flavors of garlic that meld with the ginger and make their way into the dish. Soon enough, the stack will fall to bare bones.
Daughter Thai Kitchen used their excellent technique to cook a difficult protein like Octopus. Daughter Thai takes on this challenge when they display thin slices of tender octopus on top of a simple salad of cucumbers.
These mild-flavored vegetables are versatile and brought to life with a pickle. While the taste of vinegar and sesame are at the forefront of this dish, they don’t overpower the octopus; instead, they accentuate the tame flavor of the sea. The cucumber maintains its crunch in contrast to the delicate octopus. In all, this minimalist dish contains loads of flavor.
Every cuisine has their version of fried food. The American South has buttermilk fried chicken, England has beer-battered everything and Spain pairs cinnamon with sugar for churros.
For their take, Daughter Thai drenches thin bunches of enoki mushrooms in a batter similar to tempura to make a crispy and tasteful appetizer. Each little mushroom strand is coated in bubbles from the airiness of the batter, which still allows the earthiness of the mushroom to come through. If you’re looking for a dish that feels like those disintegrating fried onions, this is a fun and unique starter.
Aside from the classic pad thai, their soi kai is another noodle curry with a rotating protein selection. Sometimes the shredded chicken absorbs the curry sauces to the fullest, and other times short ribs take that role and get reinvented from their normal home in a pot roast. The short rib has a nice crust that locks in all the juices. They leave in the rib bone because of how much flavor it has in parts of the dish. It also adds to the lovely presentation alongside the wavy, thick noodles that are thicker than ramen. As a final touch, there are deep-fried stringy noodles to show the range in texture one ingredient can have.
The curry broth gets poured tableside and drenches the Soi Kai bowl in a sunset orange hue. Immediately, there is warmth from the temperature and spices that complete this complex dish. The coconut milk gives sweetness and body to the broth. The thick curry gravitates to the noodles, and together they are a dynamic duo.
Bread isn’t usually associated with Thai cuisine, but Daughter Thai’s roti is more like a pancake than actual bread. This flakey, buttery dough feels laminated—similar to a croissant—because of all the layers that are formed within it.
This blank canvas gets paired with a duck leg confit to make their Duck Curry dish, and the bone is left in to get as much flavor in the dish as possible. The skin is like a cracker, but the meat is tender like barbecue. The curry sauce is malleable to be spicy or mild depending on what you’re in the mood for. There are even hidden vegetables waiting to be eaten with the roti and duck for one all-encompassing bite.
While Thai has taken over take-out, this one dish is definitely one to eat at the restaurant. Once the restrictions have decreased, the deep-fried whole bass can be seen swimming towards the table right after jumping out of the fryer. The fish is lightly dusted in rice flour and then immediately flash-fried until the outside can shatter like shards of glass while the inside flakes like it was poached.
The entire beast may seem daunting, but it’s a signature at Daughter Thai. This preparation is so beloved that they serve it two ways. A tropical take on one end uses mango and mint salad, while a typical red chili sauce provides the nostalgic taste that people will immediately gravitate towards.
Both options have a briny salty exterior that will make it hard to stop eating. This fun preparation is begging to be tried. Fish lose some flavor when cut into filets—Daughter Thai instead keeps the head and tail on—but with this dish, there is no flavor being lost. Every ounce gives it nuance and retains a sense of purity.
Pad thai will always be a go-to dish, but Daughter Thai can start to chip away at that desire for comfort by opening the eyes of its consumers. Thailand has more to give than just pad thai.
