Jasmine Thai Restaurant: Fire and Ice
Robert Frost lives
What I Ate by Kitty Kaufman
Robert Frost may not have known the joy of Thai dining but he invoked its charms in his short poem Fire and Ice: "Some say the world will end in fire, some say in ice." Kendall Square's hottest and coolest cuisine is at Jasmine.Start with dumplings, tod mun, shrimp roll-ups, silver bags, tempura, and deep-fried tofu triangles. The fresh roll with shrimp, vermicelli, and bean sprouts rolled in rice paper with peanuts and hoisin sauce is a favorite. Jasmine's friendly manager Ko brought us pad Thai.
We had the red curry, another two-star winner, with beef but you can add shrimp, pork, tofu or duck. The curries come with all the vegetables you could possibly want. Another specialty is crispy tamarind duck in ginger sauce. There's also a thoughtfully prepared lean plate with shrimp and asparagus. Ko suggested sparkling seafood in hot chili sauce. Spicy squid shows up with hot garlic. With pla rad pik choose red snapper or haddock in a crispy batter.
At the bar you'll find a good mix of domestic and imported wine, sherry and Champagne. We like the bar overlooking the patio. Toasts of the town include the woo woo (vodka, peach schnapps, cranberry juice) which we had and the Bangkok night (vodka, kahlua, peppermint schnapps and milk) which we did not try. P.S. This restaurant is closed.
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