[Please reserve all comments regarding Sarah Palin or politics for a blog that cares about that sort of discussion]
Junsuree is on Magnolia and has been there for awhile. It sits at the corner of Henderson and Magnolia with a very unassuming front entrance. The building appears to be old, but the inside resembles a 1980's esque small town community center, complete with a bandstand. There is black and white tile on the floor, red trim on the columns and walls, lanterns carefully hung from the ceiling and pictures on the wall that evoke a sense of Thai-ity. So maybe a small town Thai community center.
At lunch you will find a special for under $8 which includes soup, two small egg rolls, a lunch entree and dessert. That means lunch is only $10 with a water and tip.
On both of my trips I took advantage of the lunch special. The first time I tried the massaman curry and the second time I went with the pad thai. The massaman curry comes with carrots, potatoes, peanuts, and chicken in the curry sauce with a large serving of rice to mix in. The flavor was terrific and because it wasn't covered by an intense spice the flavor was easy to enjoy. My second meal involved the pad thai. It was also delicious but with a bit more spice. It would have been nice with a little cilantro, but the flavor was very full and appeasing.
One of the "Palins" had pineapple shrimp fried rice which involves half of a pineapple being emptied out and then filled with shrimp fried rice and pineapple. It makes an excellent presentation. I didn't get to try it but it looked really delicious.
Before the main course comes out, you're treated to a bowl of coconut soup which includes mushrooms, cabbage and carrots. It's very good but I don't like mushrooms so I can't fully condone the soup. It would be fair to say that it insists upon itself. Ponder that for awhile. The egg rolls, however, are terrific. They give you a lilliputian sized serving of sauce to dip the eggrolls into, but it always ends up being enough. I don't know if they have a larger eggroll serving, but it would probably be worth ordering if they do.
The Palins recommend the green curry over almost everything else, even though they didn't order it when I ate there with them. Suspicious you say? You are correct - they are suspicious folk.
Along with the meal you get a dessert. "Oh Boy! I love sopapillas" you say. Well, stop being an idiot. Sopapillas are italian. Here you get tapioca in a coconut milk. Using the power of the internet, I learned that tapioca is Thai for shrimp eyeballs. The shrimp eyeballs are served in a small cup of the sugary coconut milk and taste nothing like shrimp eyeballs. In fact, they taste like little green gelatin balls might taste. Delicious.
All in all, this should be a go-to place for anybody nearby. The wait staff takes good care of the customers and the food is made with care.
Let me know what you've had and whether you like tapioca.
Junsuree Thai House is located at 1109 West Magnolia.
Junsuree gets a 3 Hole rating because it's got some legitimacy with the unassuming location, but it doesn't feel scary on the inside and the staff is very friendly.
