Restaurant review: Malai Thai-Vietnamese Kitchen in Dallas

by Katie & Emily Garrett of The Dish On Dallas

The Spicy Minced Chicken Salad was reminiscent of P.F. Chang's lettuce wraps.

Malai

There were two words that best described our experience at Malai Thai-Vietnamese Kitchen: fresh being foremost. Every single thing we tried was extraordinarily fresh and bursting with flavor. Yum! The second being spicy. Though our waiter was sure to point out that some dishes were spicier than others, and even offered to ask the chef to dial back the heat for us, we still found ourselves with burning taste buds.

We started with Fried Imperial Rolls. The pork, shrimp, vegetable, cilantro combo was delicious. The presentation was perfect. These were a good bet.

Malai

From there, we tried the Thai Coconut Soup with chicken. There was a lot going on in this soup. The soup, served warm, had a nice smooth coconut flavor that contrasted well with the red pepper heat that was sprinkled up top. Nice big pieces of white meat chicken, mushrooms, green onions, and tomatoes also dotted the soup and made this one a favorite. It was very rich, so I would opt for the cup.

It was lunch, so we finished up with salads. The Spicy Minced Chicken Salad was reminiscent of P.F. Chang's lettuce wraps. The minced chicken was served atop fat pieces of butter lettuce and topped with glass noodles. There was a ton of the chicken/cilantro/onion/pepper mix and the chicken was flawless. A very good dish.

Malai

The Green Papaya Salad was very unique and definitely worth trying. The salad was mixed with mangoes and tomatoes, then finished with crushed peanuts and bacon. I didn't detect the spicy chili dressing that is listed in the menu, but at that point my tasted buds had been seared ... so that was probably for the best.

The drink menu had some signature cocktails that looked amazing, but 11 was too early for us to imbibe. Make sure to peruse that list, though, if you find yourself at Malai in time for dinner. Very friendly and attentive wait staff, location is trendy. We are glad we tried this spot.