Sirin Thai Restaurant - Authentic Thai Cuisine

Reviews

Daily Record February 5th, 2008

In other MTW (Morristown this Week) restaurant reviews (Cappia Cafe, Calaloo and Mehndi), we noted the ways that Morristown restaurants are supporting the downtown “Renaissance.” One notable pioneer in NJ and in Morristown is Sirin Thai Restaurant.

Thai Cuisine: Sirin Thai has been in Morristown for 13 years and in NJ for 20 years (7 in Glen Ridge near Montclair). Sirin Thai boasts that it was the first and only “authentic” Thai restaurant in Essex County and the third Thai restaurant in New Jersey.

“Authentic” Thai: This has a special meaning at Sirin Thai. According to Donna Ocharoen (one of the owners): “All dishes at Sirin Thai are carefully prepared with fresh ingredients. For example, kirfir lime leaves are one of the most important herbs for a curry dish. They are costly to obtain and hard to find in the winter. Many Thai restaurants may eliminate these but we won't. We have been buying the highest quality produce and kept the same consistent style for the past 20 years.”

“Seafood – that’s another area where we’re very particular.” Donna continued. “We’re always checking freshness, size and ‘tender meatiness’ of our scallops, fish and prawns. For prawns, we only use the imported white ones that cost much more than the tiger shrimp used in other Thai restaurants – but they are sweeter and tenderer. Like most of our food sources, we’ve been getting seafood from the same companies for the past 20 years. They know our quality requirements and our willingness to pay their prices."

“Authentic” at Sirin Thai does not necessarily mean very spicy. A good Thai meal here is well balanced between seasonings, herbs and spices – the goal is to be tasty and interesting. Sirin Thai’s menu specifications for their recipes include a statement that selections can be made mild, medium or very spicy or ordered without spices. They focus on flavoring the dishes to the specific tastes of the customer.

“Tasty and interesting” – this describes some of Sirin Thai’s different specials every week. One recent dinner entrée special was Chonburi Hansa – a choice of prawns or sea scallops (grilled), caramelized with a honey/tamarind ginger sauce and served with pan-fried zucchini, eggplant, sweet yams and cantaloupe. And how about light crisp soft shell crabs topped with spicy lemon grass sauce, served with steamed baby bok choy (a white Chinese “cabbage”) and yellow/almond rice?

Customer service style: Donna Ocharoen is noted for her “customer service by walking around.” While monitoring her service team, she is known for going around the restaurant and spending time with all of the customers (we’ve also seen this feature at other top–notch Morristown restaurants).

Location, location, location: Just off South Street next to the newly refurbished Community Theater, Kirin Thai is a prime spot for pre- and post-theater service. And it’s just a few steps from the snazzy “under construction” residential South Street condo complexes as well as the action at the Morristown Green.

Let’s hear from some of Sirin Thai’s customers:

Susan and Geoff Nelson – residents of Morris Plains. Susan told us: “We’ve been coming to Sirin Thai for the last ten years – a great place and the food is outstanding. We’ve sampled other Thai restaurants and there are dishes prepared here that we have not seen in other places. The food is always fresh – they do a great job in preparation and presentation and always know how to adjust to our tastes – the ‘spicier’ items for Geoff and ‘not-so-spicy’ for me.” (FYI – Susan and Geoff often dine at Sirin Thai when they are volunteering at the nearby Community Theater.)

Liz and Fred Hoffert – also of Morris Plains. Fred explained to us: “We started with Sirin Thai 20+ years ago when we moved East from Chicago and could only get Thai food at a restaurant down in Lambertville. Thankfully we found Sirin Thai in Glen Ridge. It was always a pleasure to see Donna and Noi’s little daughter Sirin (the name of the restaurant) gaily clad in a Thai costume and sorting the silverware (Sirin is now in dental school at UMDNJ). When they left Glen Ridge and we couldn’t find them, we were lost. Then we saw Donna and Noi at a booth at the Morristown Fall Festival and learned that they were about to open the restaurant in Morristown.”

Fred continued: “I go for spices and highly recommend the squid salad. Theirs is probably the spiciest of any restaurant I’ve ever visited. They know it’s me and my particular tastes. Liz and I like their roasted duck with peanut sauce garnished with kiwi or peaches. They know how to make it special for each of us – Liz prefers mild and I like it very spicy.”

Greg Stewart, Partner, NexGen Management in Flanders: “I recently hosted some clients from out-of-town who wanted a spicy alternative to a ‘standard business dinner.’ After dining at Sirin Thai, they remarked that this was some of the best Thai food in the New York area.”

Morris Magazine Restaurant Review

October 2001

Approaching the transcendent

Sirin Combines Graceful Hospitality with a "Heavenly" Cuisine

Heavenly, That's the English translation of Sirin, a wonderful Thai restaurant around the corner from Morristown's Community Theatre. And while the Pine Street establishment's food can provoke divine comparison, its name has a more earthbound connection.

When Sirin opened nearly thirteen years ago, chef/owner nouvarat named it after his daughter. Today's 60-seat restaurant is a breath of fresh air. turning out excellent food reminiscent of its tropical Asian roots. Nouvarat ad his staff accomplish this satisfying feat in an atmosphere defined by the tradition of graceful Thai hospitality.

The look of Sirin's trio of dining rooms also contributes to the restaurant's soothing feeling. Each space is individually arranged in a pleasant mixture of floral wallpaper, paintings, and Thai decorative objects. Salmon-colored tablecloths and napkins attractively cover Manhattan-sized tables. Muted overhead lighting encourages conversation in warm, subdued tones. The mellow result establishes the mood in which to enjoy Thai cuisine's flavors, textures, and aromas.

Sirin's menu is crafted to bring you as close as possible to real Thai cooking this side of Bangkok. You could begin with a chicken or beef satay($7.95) and be very happy. If you order the poultry, as I did, your reward will be a tender piece of bird blessed with hints of coconut milk marinade and curry powder. A well-made peanut sauce and refreshing cucumber/onion/sweet red pepper condiment round out the ensemble.

Sirin serves two different types of appetizer-sized rolls-both are outstanding. The Por-Pia ($6.95), a quartet of midget spring rolls, delivers waves of taste, thanks to their delicately deep-fried wrappers and splendid filling of crab, bamboo shoots, minced pork and Asian vermicelli. An aquarium-clear yellow plum sauce pulls the collection together. Bravo!

The Sirin Roll offers the Por-Pia spirited competition. In this $8.95 opener, pork, water chestnuts, shrimp, crab and bamboo shoots are ground into pate-like consistency and stuffed into a thin, deep-fired bean curd skin. The aforementioned plum sauce effectively adds a welcome sweet note. Don't miss this delicious dish.

Arguable the most visually appealing first course is the Pra-Goong ($9.95). Here, a flawlessly curly shrimp rests atop coriander, fresh red pepper and thin, golden-red rice noodles accented with tamarind sauce and lemongrass. It tastes as good as it looks.

A strong follow-up to Pra-Goong is one of Sirin's aromatic soups. Their version of Tom Kha Gai ($4.95) features tender pieces of chicken floating in a evocative broth of coconut milk, fresh lime juice, galangal, scallions and coriander. Each spoonful is a shining example of simple, well-made Thai cuisine. Another popular dish, Tom Yum Goong ($4.95), gets it s jump from lemongrass, kiffa lime stock, cilantro root, garlic, chili paste and black pepper.

Sirin's entrees are an invitation to indulge yourself in Thai cuisine's seductive flavors while enjoying good-quality meat and seafood. Chicken notable emerges from Sirin's kitchen as an option where bold taste and deft cooking produce winning dishes. Exhibit A is Gai Med Ma-Moung ($13.95) What appears to be a simple chicken dish becomes a confident march of flavors, from the crunchy cashew nuts to the chili paste's suggestion of heat.

Poultry's finest hour, though, comes when you order Duck Peow-Warn ($19.95). This dish features elegant, medallion-sized portions of crisp roasted duck. The meat is cooked to pitch-perfect doneness. The kitchen does a fine job marrying a delicious sweet-sour sauce to the fowl's somewhat smoky flavor.

Seafood fans will be delighted with Sirin's selections, with shrimp commanding the majority of choices. The flagship shrimp dish, Chu-Chee Goong ($17.95), is the way to go here. The sauce possesses a splendid, creamy coconut milk texture that clings to the tasty shrimp. Cutting the richness is an inspired pairing of shredded lime leaves and red curry. Eat this dish with total abandon.

Fin fish is treated with care and skill here. In the light dish Pla Tow Jeow ($17.95), Thai technique and American fish come together to form a fine main dish. The kitchen starts with a filet of sole that is very lightly floured, quickly fried and then slowly sauteed to reach that ideal point between moist and dry. A delicate sauce of ginger accompanies the egg-shaped fillets, a few split black beans. and a tropical fruit called longans.

It's not everyday a restaurant is named "heavenly" But, then again, Sirin's cuisine isn't everyday food. And that's why you should make a special trip to this Thai winner.

By Tim Hoey

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Courier News

Thursday May 17, 2001

Tempting Tastes
Morristown Thai restaurant offers good food, service, atmosphere

Sirin Thai Restaurant looks like a quaint, old-fashioned, American-style restaurant with rich wall paper, dark wood and fresh flowers. The atmosphere belies the Thai food Served, but it is an attractive and cozy restaurant That we enjoyed spending time in. The prices on the menu were slightly higher than at many other Thai restaurants I have been to , with a few exceptions, and other Asian restaurants I have been to, with a few exceptions, and other Asian restaurants in New Jersey in general. But you will not feel cheated if you go expecting to pay a little more, because the food, service and atmosphere are worth it. During a recent visit, we noted a number of Asian faces among the customers, a sure sigh that the food served is at least reasonably authentic. Thai cuisine shares many characteristics of its close by neighbors, but it is easily distinguished from them as well. Although many of the names of the items on the menu sound similar to the Chinese, they are actually very different in taste. Like Vietnamese food, it is lighter and simpler than Chinese. Vegetables are fresh and delicious. Meat is surprisingly tender. Predominant flavors are a pungent, rather woody herb called lemon grass (also used in Vietnamese cooking), coconut, ginger coriander, chili and a fish sauce called nam pla. Proximity with India has influenced the cuisine as well. Lots of the dishes contain red and green curry, although the flavor combinations are slightly different. Since they tend to use coconut and sugar, many of the dishes are slightly sweeter than either Chinese or Indian. The amount of spice is adjusted readily for each diner, but ask them to add spice with caution; Thai food can blister the mouth. However, we found that Sirin caters to the American palette. Among the successful starters was an unusually tender satay ($7.95), a dish that pops up in most Asian cultures. It usually consists of some sort of marinated slices of meat (beef or chicken) barbecued on a stick and served with a variety of dipping sauces. This tasty version was marinated in coconut and herbs with a hint of curry powder. It was served with a cucumber dip and peanut sauce, traditional accompaniments for this dish. We enjoyed most of the components that make up the appetizer sampler for two ($13.95). Sirin roll is a special combination of minced shrimp, crab meat, pork, bamboo shoots and water chestnuts wrapped with a thin bean and curd skin. It is served with a lusty plum sauce. Another roll also won our hearts, geow-grob, seasoned ground pork wrapped with wonton skin.
The rolls dominated our taste buds but we also enjoyed the mee grob (rice noodles seasoned with a sweet sauce and topped with shrimp and egg). This dish is a favorite and I never miss having it whenever it is on the menu. A passable spring roll rounded out the sampler. A soup called Tom Kha Gai ($4.95) was heavenly. Abundant boneless chicken swam in a savory broth of coconut milk brightened with fresh lime juice.
Thai Curries are prepared with a mix of several herbs and chili and simmered in coconut milk. You can order them mild, medium or spicy, but even the mild can be too fiery for some diners. We tried an absolutely delightful duck curry ($19.95), a new one for me. A half boneless roasted duck was topped with red curry paste, coconut milk, cherry tomatoes and fresh basil leaves. We ordered the medium spicy version and didn’t find it too overwhelming. Two additional main courses also received bravos, Gai Yang Sirin ($13.95)was a half chicken marinated with Thai herbs, slowly charcoal broiled and served with a spicy sauce that enhanced the crisp chicken flavor without overwhelming it. Pad po-tak($17.95) combined shrimp, sea scallops, New Zealand mussels, crab and squid which were sautéed with red curry paste, sweet peppers and fresh basil leaves. I loved the these flavors complemented and contrasted with each other.
I wouldn’t bother with dessert. There are too many other tasty dishes to try at this restaurant.

By Hilary Harding
Correspondent

SIRIN THAI RESTAURANT: 3 Pine St. Morristown (973) 993-9122
HOUR: Lunch: 11:30-2 pm Mon-Fri Dinner: 5-9 pm. Mon, 5-10 pm. Wed&Thurs, 5-10:30 pm. Fri &Sat, and 4:30-9 pm. Sun. Closed Tuesday.
PAYMENT: Visa, MasterCard
RESERVATIONS: Accepted party of 4 or more
HANDICAPPED ACCESS: Equipped
SMOKING: A nonsmoking restaurant
DRESS: Neat Casual
ATMOSPHERE: Old-fashioned American style with rich wall paper and fresh flowers. Nothing Thai about it but attractive.
SERVICE: Competent
VALUE: More pricey than some Thai restaurants but you are paying for atmosphere, service and city rents.
FOOD: Good quality Thai food.
RATING: ***

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Thai cuisine - hot, spicy, and oh-so-good to eat

Contributing Writer
By Sherrie Schmauder November 1997

Restaurant Review
The Sirin Thai is at 3 Pine St. in Morristown, near the corner of South Street, across the street from the Dublin Pub and behind the Community Theater. Telephone is (973) 993-9122. Owner are Siripon an Noi Ocharoen. Hours for lunch are 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday-Friday;
and for dinner, 5 to 10 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 5 to 10:30 p.m. Friday-
Saturday, and 4:30 to 9 p.m. on Sunday. Closed Tuesdays. Not handicapped accessible; several inside steps down to level of restaurant. Non-smoking restaurant. No liquor license; bring your own wine or beer. Reservations recommended for parties of five or more, and for business lunches. Cards accepted included Visa & MasterCard.
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Thai cuisine has elements of Indian, Japanese and Chinese cooking, all blended into its own indigenous cuisine.
One thing to watch out for, if you venture into the Sirin Thai restaurant on Pine Street in Morristown, are items marked "Hot and Spicy." They will be just that unless you specify the degree of spiciness.
Someone once said that Thai prikeenu hot peppers could set fire to your hair. Luckily for the dinner, most Thai cooking includes cooling fruit and the jasmine rice is a quiet respite from curry.
The atmosphere in the Sirin Thai is cozy and pleasant. The walls of the several rooms slightly below the hilly street level are covered with different flowered wallpapers. Thai music adds to the feeling of authenticity and service is very good. The restaurant is named after the owner’s daughter and was originally in Glen Ridge.
All in The Family
The chef’s mother once cooked for the Thai royal family and he has learned from her well. In Thailand, Chef-Owner Noi Ocharoen, co-owner is his wife, Siripon, had a restaurant that catered to the royal family.
In addition to the extensive menu, Sirin features several daily specials. On a recent visit, several special appetizers included an excellent shrimp marinated in coconut milk, served with Thai herbs, scallions, curry, and a spicy/sweet sauce at $7.95, as well as moist and flavorful steamed spring rolls with shrimp, chicken, eggs cucumbers, and bean sprouts with a tangy-sweet sauce, also at $7.95.
You’ll notice that Thai spring rolls are much finer and more delicate than their Chinese cousins. Other appetizers include Satay, skewered barbecued and coconut milk marinated chicken or beef, served with peanut and cucumber sauces, prices at $6.95, and the popular Tod-Mun Pla, minced fresh water king fish in curry paste with cucumber-peanut dip, at $6.95.
The Sirin roll has water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, pork, crab meat and shrimp wrapped with bean curd skin and is served with plum sauce, priced at $7.95.
Soups at Sirin are typical of those you’d find in Thailand. A couple of them are based in coconut milk, but if you don’t like this flavor, you can opt for Tom Yum Goong, a traditional haunting broth with shrimp, lemon grass, mushrooms, chili paste and fresh lime juice at $4.95, or Gang Jerd Woonsen, a clear vermicelli soup with ground pork and shrimp at $3.95.
Salad comes with the entrees and is the one the pedestrian note on the otherwise refreshing menu, although the dressing is better than the ordinary greens.
Entrees include several curries, which can be very hot and must be specified, and various meat dishes. Everything comes with jasmine steamed rice.
We tried a special light fish served with a black bean sauce that turned out to be surprisingly light and faintly spicy instead of the heavy dark sauce we had expected. We also enjoyed prawns cooked in yellow curry paste and coconut milk, served with potatoes, sweet peppers, eggplant and onions with a refreshing cucumber dip ($18.95). Equally tasty was an entree of roast boneless duck breasts served with a spicy chili peanut sauce and sliced peaches ($18.95).
The regular menu includes a very good roast duck breast, which is topped with sweet and sour sauce, pineapple slices and vegetables at $13.95. An unusual variation of omelet is the double cooked ground pork with vegetables wrapped in a thin omelet, priced at $9.95.
Seafood is enormously flavorful at Sirin. The chef’s attention is centered on shrimp concoctions, although fish and other shellfish are available. As with most Thai cooking, flavors included ginger, coconut, garlic tropical fruit, onions and hot peppers or curry.
If you’re a vegetarian, don’t despair: Sirin has four vegetables listed separately. These include sautéed mixed vegetables in a light brown sauce, sautéed mixed vegetables in sweet and sour sauce, mixed vegetables in red curry paste with coconut milk and sautéed bean curd with ginger, onions, hot peppers and scallions. One thing about being a vegetarian is that you usually get away with spending much less for your meals than do meat-eaters.
Side orders include Thai rice noodles sautéed with shrimp, bean sprouts, eggs and ground peanuts priced at $8.95, and Thai-style fried rice with a choice of meat or seafood, ranging in price from $7.95 to $8.95.
The homemade desserts at Sirin Thai include French, Italian and American sweets. Heavenly dessert includes jasmine sticky rice, coconut milk, roasted yellow beans and tropical fruit. Rambutan is a very good Thai fruit that reminds me of linchee nuts (and is from the same family,) and is served stuffed with small chunks of pineapple. Don't worry about going away with your chocolate craving unfulfilled. However, you can have your choice of chocolate fudge cake or Chocolate Lovers’ Dream cake. Cappuccino cake, a white cake with cappuccino filling and butter cream icing, is a distinctly Italian touch.
Be sure to try the very good Thai iced tea (which can be served sweetened or not, and with or without milk), or bring your own beer or wine.
Sirin Thai also does off-premises catering and it has a very active take-out business.

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Star-Ledger

Sunday January 21, 1996

Thai chef tickles palate with cuisine fit for the king of SiamBy Cody Kendall

SIRIN THAI
3 Pine St., Morristown, NJ
Lunch: 11:30am - 2 pm, Monday - Friday
Dinner: 5-10 pm Monday-Thursday;
5-10:30 pm Friday-Saturday;
4:30-9 pm Sunday
No liquor license; bring your own beer or wine.
Major credit cards. Casual dress. Smoke free
Steps at entrance not wheelchair accessible.
Reservations only on weekdays.
Call (201) 993-9122. ***
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Sirin Thai, a small jewel of a storefront restaurant, offers an exceptional opportunity to eat like a king.
Until he came to this country 20 years ago, chef Noi Ocharoen worked in the Thai royal kitchens. Although he now caters to the palates of mere coroners, the food is as traditional as what was served in the palace.
Ocharoen and his wife, Siripon (who manages the restaurant) opened the original Sirin Thai, named after their 12 year-old daughter, in 1988 in Glen Ridge, They closed the Essex County establishment in 1994, which allowed the chef to work on his craft, then opened a new Sirin Thai in Morristown late last year.
Located in a former trophy shop below street level, the restaurant consists of three intimate rooms, done respectively in colors appropriate to fall, winter and spring. Decor includes framed travel posters of Thailand and various Thai Artifacts, but the overall effect is more Occidental than Oriental.
Though our waiter was not Thai, he had an appreciation of the country, its culture and its food. His knowledge of the menu was as professional as the service.
Those who are familiar with Chinese food and expect something similar from Thai fare will be surprised. Although the two countries are in the same region of the world, their cuisines are very different. Thai cooking is particularly interesting because it involves so many tastes at one time. Most dishes have a variety of nuances to appreciate, and the lively spices all register their unique flavors in different parts of your mouth.
My favorite at Sirin Thai is the Pad Ga-Pow ($10.95). Though I ordered the chicken version, it also is made with beef, pork or shrimp. The main ingredient is sautéed with holy basil, a cousin of the variety we’re familiar with in Italian cooking, hot peppers and scallions.
The dish works on several levels: One moment, there’s a slight jolt from the peppers; the next, you feel the liveliness of the scallions. Everything is happily involved-your throat, mouth, nose. This is the essence of Thai dining. You experience the food almost as much as you taste it.
Sirin Thai’s really spicy dishes are marked with a star (and can be toned down by request). But even though we asked for the mild version of Tom Yum Goong soup ($4.95), it retained enough spiciness to make it distinctive without making us uncomfortable.
A key ingredient is the Thai chili paste that wakes up the tip of the tongue. The other components of this soup-shrimp, savory lemon grass fresh mushrooms and a dash of lime juice - all play off well on each other.
Another interesting, much tamer, soup is the Gang Jerd Woonsen ($#3.95), with cellophane noodles providing a nice buffer between the shrimp and ground pork in the clear broth.
I was impressed with Ocharoen’s version of Mee-Grob ($5.95), an appetizer that was annoyingly sweet when we tried it elsewhere. The chef’s subtlety, evident throughout his creations, simply enhances the natural sweetness of these crispy rice noodles with a sauce enlivened by shrimp, egg and bean curd.
A light, nearly clear, plum dipping sauce is the catalyst that refines the Sirin roll ($7.95), a shrimp, crab, pork and water chestnut concoction, wrapped in a skin of bean curd and fried.
Ocharoen does especially well with duck. If you’ve had cloying sweet and-sour- sauces in the past, be prepared for something much more discreet with the Pad Peow-Warn ($13.95). Here, the duck is covered with a mélange of pineapple pieces, tomatoes, onions, cucumbers and sweet peepers. Our only objection was the presence of too much duck fat, which could easily have been removed before serving.
The bite of duck in a red curry paste, Gang Ped Yang ($12.95), is toned down by the presence of coconut milk.
Oval, translucent longans (dragon’s eye) fruit are used to good effect in the Pla Tow Jeow($16.95), a grilled fillet of fish of the day sauced with a mesmerizing black bean and ginger blend.
My lone disappointment was the Gai Yang Sirin ($12.95), garlic and herb-marinated charcoal-broiled chicken that was not as distinctive as everything else we tried. Diners who really want to get into Thai food should order something else; those who are just along for the ride may prefer the innocuous nature of this treatment.
Although desserts include American cakes made by an outside baker, you’d be well-advised to try the traditional Thai meal endings to round out your experience at Sirin Thai.
Yellowish Jackfruit ($5), which has a papaya-like taste and texture, is served with sweetened "sticky rice" topped by tiny yellow beans. And the lightness of Rembutan ($3), a lychee-like fruit, is refreshing after all the preceding spices.

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Daily Record Restaurant Talk

February 1996

Thai it, you’ll like it, in Morristown. Mild or wild: Visitors to Sirin can order food to fit their taste

By Jean Graham
Address: 3 Pine St., Morristown
Hours: Lunch Monday-Friday 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m.
Dinner: Monday-Thursday 5-10 p.m., Friday&
Saturday to 11:30 p.m., Sunday 4:30-9 p.m.
Reservation accept only during the week.
Credit Cards: Major credit cards accepted
Accessibility: Inaccessible to wheelchairs because
of flight of four steps just inside the entrance.
Smoking: None
Special Diets: Vegetarian items on the menu.
The chef will accommodate special dietary
requests during the week, but not on weekends.
Sirin Thai Restaurant does not use MSG.
Wine: There is no liquor license, but you may bring your own.
Glasses and openers provided.
Service:........................................Fair
Food.............Very Good to excellent
Overall rating................................**1/2

Rating (based on the total dining experience)
Poor.................................................No*
Fair..................................................1/2*
Good................................................*
Very good.......................................**
Excellent.........................................***
Extraordinary.................................****
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MORRISTOWN - It used to be necessary to travel to Manhattan to taste the cuisines of the world, but more and more ethnic restaurants are coming to suburbia. Sirin Thai Restaurant is one of the newest additions.
Actually Noi and Siripon Ocharoen operated Sirin for eight years in Glen Ridge, but when they realized that 40 percent of their customers came from the Morristown area, they decided to relocate. Noi is the chef and Siripon the hostess, although their 12-year-old daughter, Sirin is an extremely capable hostess as well.
Located below street level, the restaurant manages to be bright and cheerful thanks to pretty floral wallpapers, each a different pattern, in the three small dining rooms. One even has a wall of curtained, back-lighted French doors to erase any sense of subterranean gloom.
Tables are a bit closely spaced and lighting is a bit brighter than dim, but pretty china and stem ware on linen-covered tables create an understated elegance.
To be fair, we visited Sirin on an extremely busy Saturday night, so the problems with service were most likely an aberration. Little Sirin was trying her best to seat the crowd of patrons waiting in the two small foyer where there are only two chairs. She wisely didn’t commit to waiting times, but it did take 59 minutes before we were seated.
We were at the table for 75 minutes before our entrees arrived, although we were served appetizers and salads during that time.
Thai food is known for its spiciness, and at least half of the menu offerings are marked with a star for "hot and spicy." However, the chef will happily tone down dishes on request.
Our appetizer choices didn’t carry the star, but this is not to say they were boring or bland. Satay($6.95) offered skewers of just about the best grilled chicken I’ve ever tasted. Perhaps it was the coconut milk marinade that kept it so moist or the aromatic herbs with a hint of curry powder that gave it such wonderful flavor. Whatever the reason, it didn’t need either the thin sweet/sour cucumber dip or zingy peanut sauce alongside, although both were delicious.
The curry puff ($5.95) consisted of a trio of triangle-shaped pastries that were just a trifle dry, stuffed with a delicious mixture of ground chicken, potatoes and minced onion, and mildly flavored with curry powder. These also were served with the cucumber dip.
A simple salad of iceberg lettuce, shredded red cabbage and shredded carrot was tastily dressed with what seemed to be a thinned down version of the satay’s peanut sauce.
I was disappointed that the kitchen was out of ped Peow-warn ($13.95), roast duck breast topped with an abundance of vegetables. But kai yad-sai ($9.95) proved to be a first-rate second choice, featuring the rich flavor of double-cooked ground pork tossed with crisp tender carrots, potatoes, snow peas, tomatoes and onions, all wrapped up in an almost paper-thin omelet.
Pad king goong ($14.95) offered a dozen medium shrimp sauteed with ginger black bean sauce, black mushrooms, onions, hot peppers and scallions. In spite of its star, it wasn’t overly hot. Nevertheless, it was an extremely pleasant blending of flavors and textures.
We were disappointed in pad Thai ($8.95), a traditional dish combining rice noodles, shrimp, bean sprouts, eggs and ground peanuts. The texture was gummy and flavor bland. However, the jasmine steamed rice served with the entrees was extremely pleasant.
It's a rare day when we don't sample dessert, but since Thai desserts are not on the sweet side (and regular readers know that I have a very sweet tooth) and we had already been at Sirin for three hours, we decided to forego the final course.
We have it on our next visit.

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THE NEW YORK TIMES, DINING OUT

SUNDAY, JULY 1, 1990

By Anne Semmes
Rating: Good
"A Good Place to Sample Thai Cuisine"

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The Star-Ledger
December 15, 1989
DINING IN JERSEY
By Laurie Sammeth Rating ***1/2
Spicy treats await at charming Sirin Thai

"During the past month or two I’ve received a steady trickle of letters praising this newest Thai restaurant and imploring us to bring it to wider attention.
These letters didn’t resemble the usual lobbying effort by neighborhood boosters or a restaurateur’s loyal pals. They were clearly the work of serious food lovers. They were knowledgeable, well-written and passionate.
Now I know why our readers felt compelled to write. Sirin Thai is a vibrant showcase for an exciting cuisine, and an important addition to the cast of New Jersey restaurants. Fans of Thai cooking will know what I mean."

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NEW JERSEY MONTHLY

RATING: **1/2

"What really sets Sirin apart from other restaurants, however, is the service: The wait staff is helpful, enthusiastic, and practically clairvoyant in guessing what you’ll want next. Servers keep your water glass full at all times (an important consideration when the food is spicy), and your brown-bagged wine or beer gets the same treatment as it would if the restaurant were selling it to you. You get a dose of Thai culture here as your server describes a special, explains how a meal is eaten in Thailand, or answers questions about what’s in a dish."

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DINING GUIDE
MONTCLAIR TIMES AND VERONA
April 27, 1989

"a charming presentation of homemade Thai dessert cake and fruits compete the delightfully different and wide-ranging menu. This is an excellent and exciting addition to the Essex County restaurant scene."

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Dining Out Guide
Clifton Journal
Bob and Ruth...

Sirin Thai Restaurant: Mix of French-Oriental
"we admit it! We’ve eaten many types of ethnic food that are available in the greater metropolitan area or while on foreign shores but an exception has been Thai cuisine. It’s not that we didn’t want to try Thai. It’s that we couldn’t find an authentic Thai restaurant in this area. Through business associate we discovered Sirin Thai Restaurant in Glen Ridge. The real authentic Thai!"