Basil leaf is one of the only places in New Orleans where you can find Thai food…and also Japanese?
I tend to stay away from Asian restaurants that offer dishes from the entire region from Chinese to Thai to Korean and Japanese. It lacks authenticity. But when there aren’t enough Thai restaurants to choose from beggars can’t be choosers.On one of our last nights packing up, fridge empty along with stomachs, we started roaming the streets of New Orleans looking for a place to dine. The time: 9:30 pm on a weeknight. Fact: not too many restaurants are open past 9:00 pm in New Orleans on weeknights. We originally had our stomachs and hearts set on Panchita’s-the Mexican diner next to Basil Leaf but upon arrival found them closing up shop. Stomachs churning and McDonald’s becoming a likely dinner option we turned to Basil Leaf. I had always wanted to try it since its one of the only places on the small international culinary strip of Carrollton which I had not yet tried (Cafe Grenada being my favorite).
Even though we were the last ones in the restaurant we were greeted warmly and seated. There were so many choices on the menu from sushi to pad Thai. We ordered the special crab cakes and corn for an appetizer. I hadn’t set my expectations high. At that point, I just wanted to fill my belly with food. Good or bad- it did not make a difference. So I was pleasantly surprised when I took the first bite of the crab cake. It was the first time I had tried crab cake with such a range of flavours and combination. The corn added a sweet after taste to each bite.
For our entrees we ordered the shrimp and chicken pad Thai and red chicken curry. The pad Thai was very good and the serving was huge with a generous amount of chicken and shrimp. The noodles not too soft and the perfect amount of sauce in each bite.
The chicken curry was served with a scoop of white rice and contained broccoli and red peppers. It was also very tasty. I know what you are thinking. I was hungry so anything would have tasted good at that point. But after inhaling the crab cakes I think I could judge the tastiness level quite accurately. And both dishes were great. This review is based solely on the two dishes that we had. I cannot comment on their non-Thai dishes that they offer but I can say that their Thai food was what you would expect at any typical Thai restaurant.
We came in extremely hungry and tired and left with our bellies full and happy.
