NAV Modern Thai Cuisine turns 5!

Our favorite Thai restaurant just turned five and is celebrating the week (June 6-12) with huge discounts and freebies. 

Here are some of our favorites.

Fresh spring rolls (Php 195)

You can add chicken and shrimps to the spring rolls and price bumps to Php 250 for 8 pieces. There are two dipping sauces. The brown one is a peanut sauce while the greenish one is a sweet-sour sauce. They are both good. You might want to combine sauces for a different taste.

Crab fat fried rice (Php 250)

The crab fat fried rice is new and is not yet on the menu. The recipes are rotated in the Kapitolyo branch and is written on the chalk board near the stairs. This is good for about 2 persons. You can really taste the crab fat here, so sinful yet so delish!

Penang curry (Php 380)

The Penang curry is NAV's version of beef curry. The meat was tender. It's like kare-kare with a curry twist, really delicious but a little bit salty.

Morning glory (Php 250)

Morning glory is kangkong with tofu and bean sauce. This is hubby's favorite. I tried copying this at home but I used hoisin sauce instead. Nav's version is better than mine, sad to say. Haha! I'll probably try again with bean sauce.

Nav's chicken curry (Php 295)

Fried chicken in house curry. This is the best chicken curry ever! Crunchy and saucy at the same time. By the way, it is great that none of the curry dishes are spicy so that we can share with the boy. If you do like it spicy (like me), there is a bottle of chili flakes provided in each table. Win-win for everybody :)

Pad Thai (Php 295)

And of course, there's the Pad Thai. I say this is one of the best Pad Thai's in Manila. Until recently, it was number 1 but my fans (hubby and ate) say my Pad Thai recipe is better. Haha!

Thai Laksa (Php 350)

The Thai Laksa is my other favorite. It has beef, rice noodles, crispy egg and curry broth. This warms your heart and soul very good for a rainy day.

If you are in Megamall, you can also visit them at the 5th floor SM Mega Food Hall.

NAV Modern Thai Cuisine

Address: 16-C United St, Pasig, 

Metro Manila, Philippines

Phone:+63 2 655 8395

Hours: 10:00 AM - 11:00 PM

https://www.facebook.com/NavModernThai/

Home cooked: Pad Thai recipe

Since I left my corporate job, I have been experimenting a lot more in the kitchen. One of the things I wanted to try cooking at home was Pad Thai. I saw this one pot recipe from Tasty.com and it seemed pretty easy.

Boy, was I in for a surprise. I am not sure if it was the heat but I actually got tired preparing all the ingredients. I feel that it could have been more simple if I just sauteed everything instead of frying the egg, tofu and chicken breast separately. 

Yes, I deviated a little bit on the recipe I saw online. I added tofu, removed sriracha (because I have a kid to serve too, but really because we didn't have it in the pantry), did away with rice vinegar and used cane vinegar and a little bit of cooking wine instead.

Here is the full list of ingredient I used:

2 chicken breasts cut into strips 

4 small blocks of tokwa/firm tofu, chopped into small cubes

about 2 cups of bean sprouts

2 eggs beaten

spring onions

red onion (use shallots if you have it in your pantry)

garlic

400 g pad Thai noodles

sesame oil

olive oil

1/3 cup chopped peanuts

For the sauce:

1 lime

1/3 cup red cane vinegar

1/4 cup cooking wine

1/3 cup fish sauce (patis)

1 knorr shrimp cube

chili flakes (optional) 

1/3 cup brown sugar

I basically followed the instructions on the video. I first cooked the noodles according to package instructions. Drain and set aside. Using the same pan, add about half a teaspoon of sesame oil and some olive oil and cook the chicken breast. Once done, set aside. I did the same to the tokwa. Then, I fried the scrambled eggs. After that, I sauteed garlic and onions. I put in the green onions and bean sprouts into the mix. I later tossed the chicken, scrambled eggs and tokwa into the pan as well. Then, add the cooked pad thai noodles.

For the sauce, mix all the ingredients and pour over the pan. Then add peanuts. You can adjust the taste to your liking. The finished product looked a little pale than the usual pad thai we get at restaurants. People at home did say it was good. At least all the hard work was paid off with their compliments.

I added the chili powder (we did not have chili flakes at home) to my plate as each one of us at home had our own level of tolerance for spice.

Homemade Pad Thai with Chili powder

There you go. Do not hesitate to substitute ingredients that you already have in your pantry for recipes you see online. Enjoy!