Indochine represents Thai food at its best: vibrant colors and fragrances and exotic ingredients. This family-owned restaurant in Parker is located in a comfortable, open space, with dark walls and light wood tables, which they moved to recently after gaining enough popularity with the locals to outgrow their old space a few blocks away.
The menu, a mix of Thai and Vietnamese dishes, is as carefully planned as the cuisine itself. Great pride is taken in the dishes here, and this fact shows through in the food. The Vietnamese crispy rolls arrive at the table searing hot, the smell of ground pork enticing. The traditional fish sauce for dipping has just the right amount of spice and sourness to it. The fire crackers are a specialty here: huge shrimp in a fried pastry with curried dipping sauce. The Tom Kha soup is deliciously tangy and rich, with plenty of coconut milk and Kefir lime to balance it; a slow hint of heat in the background of all the flavors.
Another specialty, the Boc Luc Lac (sizzling beef cubes) is not to be missed. Small cubes of super tender filet mignon are flashed fried in hot butter and garlic and served with housemade soy sauce. The soft beef melts in your mouth and the scent of butter and garlic makes this dish irresistible. Another amazing dish is the Pad Kra Pao. We opted to get this simple stir fry dish with chicken. The presentation is beautiful; green beans, basil, red peppers, garlic, onions , chicken and plenty of chili peppers comes out on stark white platter, popping with color and intense garlic flavor.
I personally love Thai food for the curries. In my opinion, a good Thai curry has the subtle scent of coconut, the thickness that coconut milk has straight from the can, and a heat that creeps up on you through the layers of fat and texture and spices in the rich broth. I ordered the Panang curry, which has as its base as mix of galangal (ginger-like spice), shallots, red curry, cilantro and lemongrass. The fragrant panang is cooked with coconut milk and peanuts, veggies and chicken. Indochine’s version is pure perfection – the best curry I’ve ever tasted.
To top off the meal, we had Vietnamese coffee and coconut ice cream. For those who have never tried Vietnamese coffee, I would highly recommend it. A small silver brewing pot is perched atop a glass, with sweetened condensed milk waiting an inch high at the bottom. Rich, black coffee brews drop by drop in a slow process which demands patience from the patron. But the resulting beverage is well worth your wait; the coffee is heady, syrupy sweet, yet strong. The homemade coconut ice cream here is made with the same coconut milk used in many of the dishes and has a freshness that reminds you of the ocean. One scoop is hardly enough.
Indochine prides itself on quality and attention to detail, its dishes prepared with respect to tradition and to balance in flavor and nutrition. Stop in the next time you’re in Parker…or make it a special trip; you will not regret it. While you're there, pick up one of their cooking sauces, so that you can make your own Thai dishes at home, and check out their website for recipes and info on cooking classes, offered by owner Yume Tran.
