Bangkok by the Water
(or Redux on Hampshire)

Prologue: There is a bit of irony and nostalgia in this article. The restaurant being reviewed is located on the lower level of The Water Court Plaza office building on Hampshire in Westlake. This previously was the semi-secret location  of “Bistro by the Water” During its sporadic tenure, Bistro often delivered the most sophisticated and creative food in Ventura County. Sadly, the brilliant but under-appreciated Asian influenced chef died about a year ago and the location remained vacant until recently. Amazingly, the new restaurant appears to me, to be, yet another Asian

Thai Westlake Cuisine

After you have parked at the far end of the office building lot and located the sign that says Thai Westlake Cuisine, you must go down a long set of stairs. As you descend you will see your dining target out of the corner of your right eye.

To say that the style of the restaurant is spartan would be an understatement. A few small oriental screens (perhaps left over from the previous occupant) attempt to create a feeling of intimacy in the tiny dining area.  There are a couple of twigs and other limited efforts at décor on the walls. A few tiny wooden herons hang from the rafters. There are white table-cloths but they are under soil preventing economical glass tabletops. You could get the feeling that you are in Bangkok but on the wrong side of the Chao Praya River. See above. 

The menu writing is somewhat  cutesy but every dish described was appealing. Pookie can help guide you. Go with at least four people and share family style to get a full experience. For four we started with fried and steamed Siam Spring Rolls (4.95 each). The presentation was artistic and the diverse flavors astounding. A large bowl of shared Andaman Sea Soup (8.95), redolent with aroma contained fish, clams, shrimp, scallops, mussels and mushrooms with a touch of lemon grass and galanga. A comparable portion  would have been more than $20 in a non-ethnic restaurant. Next was the Thai classic Pad Thai (7.25)  which is noodles with shrimp, chicken, egg, bean curd, bean sprouts, green onion and chopped peanuts. Flavors were clean and the texture of the noodles perfect. 

We followed  with a Jade Curry and a Ruby Curry (6.50 each), one with chicken and one with beef. They were spicy but with subtle different overtones which I had never seemed to  experience on other Thai eateries.  . The main dish was vegetables with Sea Bass (12.95). It was a slight letdown compared to the previous dishes. When we further pointed out that it was sparse on the fish, Pookie quickly agreed and reduced the price by $6.

Finally we had an artistically  presented dessert of fried banana with touches of vanilla ice cream. Again it was a wonderful confluence of flavors we had never experienced.  The food cost for four was about $60.

Thai Westlake Cuisine offers interesting salads for lunch including the wonderful YamYai, which is pictured below along with the regular menu.

Epilogue: We have eaten in Bangkok, Thailand  as well as the finest Thai Restaurants in Los Angeles including the very expensive and hip  Talesai on Sunset and earlier at the then venerable breakthrough  Siam Princess. The food at Thai Westlake Cuisine was more authentic than any Thai food we have eaten in this country and compares in flavor and presentation with the best we had in Bangkok without the cost of the plane trip.

Thai Westlake Cuisine