May just be one of the world’s most amazing dining experiences!
Have you ever sat in a tree house after finishing a bottle of wine, enjoying a Cuban cigar while watching a majestic school of dolphins swimming by? If that sounds appealing, and you find yourself in Cancun, Mexico, you have to check out Thai, a one-of-a-kind restaurant that sounds unreal and may just be one of the world’s most amazing dining experiences! That being said, you will need a little help to realize this place’s full potential, so read on and read carefully!
Thai and its sister restaurant next door, Elefanta, are both very cool. Thai is self- explanatory: Thai food, made from scratch in an open kitchen, with menu items varied in spiciness and flavor. Elefanta is Indian cuisine, as in India, not Mayan! The trick here is to ask for BOTH menus at either restaurant and they will bring you the food from next door! Now, when you make your reservation, be sure to request the tree house. They only have two tree houses, and dinner takes a few hours, so once the tree house is occupied, it is pretty much taken for the night!
It sounds silly, but when you arrive, you are escorted through the jungle, into a treed landscape, and up a staircase into a room that houses a Thai dinner bed, complete with pillows and a rail for balancing your drinks. By the way, the drinks are perfection, but before I jump ahead, let me say a word about my scores. I give Thai great service and ambiance, but Thai food is, admittedly, not my favorite. However, mixed with some Indian cuisine, I found the food at Thai to be a robust combination of flavors that can satisfy any palate.
As for dinner, I started out with a classic Mojito, served in a mason jar. This was the perfection I mentioned above. Delicious. Once we got our Pohpia Thod Spring Rolls and Onion Naan Bread, my mind started clouding from the amazing flavors set off perfectly with my semi-sweet drink. It was really going well until I got the Tom Kha Gai, or Chicken Coconut soup, which resembled the dolphin’s tank water and tasted worse than it looked!
Don’t let that one negative deter you though, the menus combined have over 100 items on them, so next trip I’ll go a different direction. There are plenty of great options here. I know I mentioned Thai food is not my go-to, but let me say, the fried rice here is a meal all by itself!
While we ate, I ordered a bottle of wine, and let’s face it, this is Mexico, so you won’t find a wide ranging selection of amazing wine, so I chose a Malbec from Argentina and asked for a decanter. Over the next hour it developed into a very nice finisher for the evening. As I poured the first glass of wine, the waiter brought over a house selection of Cuban cigars, and I chose a classic Romeo and Juliet. We sat in our bed/table/tree house and enjoyed a warm evening in the trees, along with dessert, wine, and of course, a Cuban cigar! Every meal should be so relaxing!
Thai was like nothing I have ever experienced! While visiting with some other travelers at our hotel in Cancun, one suggested Thai Lounge! Thai food in Mexico sounded a bit strange, so we went in unsure of what to expect.
We wound up having such an amazing experience that we are returning in May to take our children. This unassuming restaurant is located within the high end La Isla mall on a touristy strip of Cancun. You walk in and suddenly feel like you are in another world! The restaurant is dark and lush, you’re surrounded by palm trees and foliage the moment you enter. A path leads to various palapas and tree houses. Some of these have traditional table settings but many of the tree houses are actually lounges complete with pillows and dinner trays to eat on. We dined in one of the lounge areas, and we knew right away we were in for a slow paced, relaxing meal! The service is on point, incredible really, and all the meals are made to share. The portions are smaller so you can try multiple items on the menu and have a bite of everything.
Next door to Thai is an Indian restaurant called Elefanta that is actually run by the same owner. When dining at Thai, you can order off the Elefanta menu as well. This fusion of Thai and Indian cuisine makes for an eclectic and delicious dining experience.
Thai has tree house lounges and Indian cuisine, but perhaps the restaurant’s most memorable and certainly most breathtaking quality, is the fact that it overlooks a dolphinarium. You can enjoy a tree house meal while watching dolphins swim. It’s so beautiful, it’s hard to describe. It feels like a dream!
So now that you have a description of the environment, let’s talk about the menu. We started off our meal with some cocktails and appetizers. We ordered the spring rolls and chicken coconut soup from Thai and some onion naan from Elefanta. The spring rolls came served with two dipping sauces, one spicy and one sweet. The naan was soft and had amazing flavor, but unfortunately the soup was disappointing. I would skip the soup.
For entrees we had the fried jasmine rice and murgh makhani. Murgh makhani is buttered chicken in a creamy spiced tomato sauce. Fantastic. We also ordered some additional cheese naan to dip in the sauce. This all paired marvelously with some red wine and a cigar instead of dessert. All in all, our experience lasted three hours, our meal never felt rushed, and we enjoyed our evening at Thai Lounge filled with delightful conversation and great food and drinks.
