[NYC - Morningside Heights] Thai Market - SUPER CHEAP EATS lunch menu

Posted by Meredith on
Today's post is about Thai Market, which is about a 7-minute walk from Columbia University!
Now that school's back in session, I thought I would introduce some of my favorite places to eat around my various campuses I've become to know quite well!
Where to eat around Columbia!

 There's always a crazy line at Thai Market. I came here quite often during my graduate studies up at the Columbia University Medical Campus, actually. It's one of the only table service Thai restaurants in the area and it was quite close to my friends' apartments, so we tended to come here quite often. Also, it's quite cheap!

 I revisited Thai Market recently, just to see what it's like now...4 years post-grad (I can't believe I'm so old).

 On weekends, you can still get the lunch specials, which is great because that's kind of what I wanted to check out for you!

 The lunch specials are available from 11:45 to 3:30 every day. The lunch specials are also $9.95. You get to choose an appetizer and a main course.

 We chose the Som Tum (papaya salad) Tom Yum Goong Soup as our appetizers. We made this choice consciously because we had just had Uncle Boon's Sister, check out my post from a couple of days ago.

 So, with that being said, the Som Tum was definitely NOT the same. The papaya salad at Thai Market was not spicy at all. I always make it a point to get a papaya salad at every Thai restaurant, just to see how each place makes it. (Leave a comment below if you want that to be a series!)

 The Tom Yum Goong Soup was not too spicy, even though when it came out we both got worried. It was SO RED! So, usually when you see red in your Asian soup, it's not because of tomato, it's because of...spice! This was good, but it was kind of a weird soup. The mushrooms are just halved button mushrooms (as far as I could tell). There was about one shrimp in the entire soup. I say about because I only saw one get consumed.

 For mains, we got Pad Kee Mao and the Sen Mee Neau Peuy. The Pad Kee Mao was indicated to be two spicy peppers on the menu. So, I thought it was going to be fiery spicy, but it was like a warm winter day-level of spice. The one issue I had with the Pad Kee Mao on this visit was that the chicken was quite...chicken-y tasting. I don't know the actual word for it, but it kind of tasted like a gamey piece of chicken, so it would make me think twice about getting chicken as a protein again at Thai Market. I didn't get sick, but the flavor kind of made me a bit worried, so I definitely pushed the chicken to the side.

 The Sen Mee Neau Peuy was super nice, though! The meat was very tender and the flavor was really deep and everything that was expected. Somehow, this was spicier than the Pad Kee Mao, which was surprising. I'd definitely consider getting this next time! The rice noodles in the soup were so nice and dipping the meat in the dipping sauce was perfection, actually. You also know that I LOVE cilantro (from my [Seoul] Mum Aroy post), so the soup definitely got a boost because of the generous amount of cilantro on top. It's also nice because this is a rather uncommon dish to find on Thai restaurant menu (although it was on the Mum Aroy menu).



Again, this looked like it would be spicy since it was orange red, but it ended up being quite mild. Maybe it was just an off day or something. When I've visited in the past, the spicy food I've ordered has been actually spicy, not like Thai spicy spicy, spicy, but spicy enough to know that I've eaten something that has spice.

 The one nice thing about Thai Market is that there is a pretty extensive menu and the prices are quite reasonable. So, you'll find items on the menu that you've probably never tried before! You can also find the more standby/old favorites of Thai takeout restaurants, too.








*FTC Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links which means, at no additional cost to you, I may earn a commission if you click through the links provided and make a purchase.*

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