Chinatown: Shopping & Eating at LAX-C

 

After reading Midtown Lunch’s post on LAX-C, I plotted when I could get over there. Conveniently, I had a friend who was craving Thai food. We thought it would be a hilarious and exciting adventure. Eat with Thai restaurant workers at their spot? Eat in a giant grocery store nicknamed the Thai Costco? Sure, why not?

We got there at 1 p.m. and there wasn’t the amazing variety as reported by Midtown Lunch. I was bummed there weren’t any pink noodles and the offerings were rather generic looking. My friend ordered first, picking the veggies and ground chicken along with the green curry.

I opted to go with the other pescatarian-friendly veggie dish. The woman doled out the veggies and added 2 shrimp. Two! My seafood-loving heart was sad. However, there was a ton of beef. I went for the penang curry.

While we liked both curries, they were lukewarm and a bit oily. I liked the green curry more with the jackfruit and fish cake. I also liked the blobby green veggies (tomatillo?) but the texture was unappealing to my friend. She adopted my penang but thought the chicken was underdone.

Overall, we wished we had gone to Thai Town.

But it was fun to walk around the store. Here are my favorite images:

[Minty Note] Thais don’t generally use chopsticks, preferring to use fork and spoons to eat. The chopsticks are used for noodles though.

We also saw furniture, random household goods, produce and lots of frozen meaty parts for sale.

We sure did have an adventure but yep, we’ll head to Thai Town next time.

More pics from the day.

Nguyen at Starry Kitchen did say the coffee and beignets at nearby Chimney Coffee are great.

 

 

LAX-C

1100 N Main St., Los Angeles, CA 90012 – (323) 343-9000