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Food Los Angeles

boat noodle love in {thai town}…

Sapp-coffee-shop1

Sapp-coffee-shop1

Sapp-coffee-shop2

Having grown up in a Thai family, there are dishes I crave from homemade meals and past trips to Thailand that I often find hard to locate in Thai restaurants in the States. However, I just moved to a city with the largest Thai population in the US, and my Thai food cravings finally have a place to call home.

One of my new favorites is surely Sapp Coffee Shop–a hole-in-the-wall Thai restaurant {and not a coffee shop} in Thai Town. At night, I often dream about a home-style rice noodle soup {kind of like Thai version of Phở} called goew tiew nam. In our first {of I'm sure many} trips to Sapp, I had to try my favorite Beef Noodle Soup as well as a red vinegary spicy noodle soup called yen ta fo. Both were rich and complex in flavor and just as I had remembered them from meals past. Sapp serves up a ton of other homestyle Thai dishes I rarely found on the East Coast, so I look forward to making my way through their menu. Oh, and the Thai iced coffee {perhaps the coffee shop reference?} is excellent as well and serves as a nice coolant for some of the spicier soups.

{photos by Oh Joy}

16 comments

  1. Ok, I have to start taking notes from this blog for my trip to LA in the fall! I grew up in Seattle where delicious Thai food is on every corner, and the Thai in NYC is pretty sad.

  2. I love boat noodle (kway teow rua) and miss living in Thailand for that very reason. I didn’t like yentafo growing up but love it now as I got older and I can’t find that many Thai places in NY that get it just the way I want it to.

  3. Yum that beef noodle soup looks bananas! yes, i second the rec for jitlada! well loved by “the belly of LA” food critic/writer Jonathan Gold. Welcome!

  4. Oh I’m so envious! I miss my dad’s yen ta fo so, so much. Next time I’m home it’s on my agenda to learn. I’ve already got Jok down pat, so it’s on to the next one! Please eat lots for me in the meantime.

  5. Yum! Those soups look so delicious! Is there any place that you know of in NYC that comes even a little bit close to the more authentic Thai you’re finding in CA?

  6. yum i want to try this place! my standby (by which i mean obsession) is wat dong moon lek in silverlake. maybe close to you? you should check it out!

  7. thanks guys for your recs! we actually went to jitlada tonight and it was amazing…my list of great thai restaurants in LA is growing…!
    joy

  8. would love to see some of your/your family’s thai soup recipes one day! these soup photos are screaming with flavour and i really wish i could have one now.

  9. i love your photographs, your tastes and all of the ins of LA. totally needing to visit LA because of your lovely blog. x grace

  10. whoa accidentally found your blog, been reading it for quite sometime, skipped some read some, but just found out that you’re THAI! i’m THAI, living in BKK.
    i can’t deny the fact that your blog is really inspiring, love most of the contents here, keep it up 😀

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