Isle

On my last day of work at RecycleBank, a couple of friends and I headed to Isle for lunch. It was also Soren’s last day as well (you might remember him the post where we made ice cream at work) and we went to lunch with the developers we’ve worked with (Vadim, Dorren, and Matt). Vadim suggested we try Isle, the Thai restaurant on Bleecker near our office, because he said the food was good and they have a lunch special.

For lunch, Isle’s lunch special includes a free appetizer with the main course of your choice. For my appetizer, I chose the green papaya salad:

I love green papaya but the sauce that came drizzled all over the thinly shredded papaya and carrots tasted like aspartame (fake sugar). It wasn’t a total loss considering it was free, but I didn’t like the lime/sugar dressing.

Soren ordered the chicken and shrimp fritters:

I didn’t have a chance to try them, but Matt also ordered them and neither of them complained (although when I go out to eat with people, they usually don’t complain about anything they eat!)

Dorren ordered the summer rolls:

The summer rolls were vegetarian and had a tamarind sauce on the side. Dorren didn’t complain, but I think he was hesitant to go to Isle in the first place.

Vadim ordered the steamed chicken and shrimp dumplings:

Similar to the fritters, but the dumplings are steamed, not fried. No complaints from Vadim, either.

When we were placing our orders, I asked everyone to order something different so we could have more variety on the table (more like so I could eat off everyone’s plate). Vadim, Dorren, and Matt go to Isle a lot, so they already knew what was worth ordering. Vadim, Soren, and Matt ended up ordering the Basil udon noodles with chicken and shrimp:

I ate the majority of Soren’s (and Matt’s) because they both weren’t that hungry (we had lunch around 2:30). The dish was actually pretty decent, especially for a lunch special.

Based off Dorren and Vadim’s suggestion, I ordered the Spicy basil fish:

The dish is similar to what you’d find in a Chinese take out restaurant (thinking back, I should have gone against their suggestion and tried the curry). The only basil I detected was actually the garnish, otherwise, the dish did not stand out (and there was barely any fish!)

Dorren ordered a similar dish, the pla kathem:

Dorren’s dish had different vegetables (mine only came with broccoli and large pieces of onion).

The restaurant delivered our food at very different times; my food came out 10 minutes before anyone else’s and everyone had to sit and watch me eat (usually, I would wait until everyone’s food arrived at the table, but seriously, I was starving). Also, the restaurant smells like crayons – I noticed when we walked into the restaurant and Soren eventually noticed it as well. Isle has a good deal for lunch, but there are so many other restaurants in the area that I don’t think I’d return.