Thai Square Restaurant

Given the increasing neonification of Thai restaurants about town, not to mention the pervasive cutesiness that has resulted in just about every variation imaginable on the word “Thai” (except for the inevitable but as yet unused “Thai Me Up, Thai Me Down”), Thai Square seems, well—square. There’s just a single design touch of note, a red stripe that looks as though it were meant to mark off the lower part of the wall for painting. No statues, no prints, no glittery formica tabletops, no swirling, iridescent cocktails. The focus at this tiny storefront restaurant in Falls Church is on the food. The menu distinguishes itself with dishes you’re unlikely to come across elsewhere—most notably, the pig-knuckle stew (an unapologetically porky dish made more savory with its spicing of cinnamon and ginger)—or dishes that sound familiar but are done with uncommon finesse or flair—the honey-roasted duck, for example, which achieves a sweet crispiness that is reminiscent of cracklins. Among the other finds: a coconut-cream-based soup that is hot, fragrant, rich, and deeply satisfying and hae kuen, a pressed-pork-and-shrimp roll whose skin is made of bean curd. Service is attentive and generous—the two sisters who run the place give every impression of wanting you to have a good time here—and prices are cheap, even for hole-in-the-wall Thai.
—Todd Kliman, December 3, 2004