Stepping out of real estate and talking about…food

Bangkok54 Café, Hwy 54 Chapel Hill NC

If you’re looking for excellent, unpretentious and great Thai food, then look at Bangkok54. 

On my last visit I started with a fresh roll, two priced at $4.95. The rolls were just the right mix of boiled shrimp, pork and other delicate surprises wrapped in rice paper. The pineapple sauce with a bit of tang was a great juxtaposition to the cool wraps.

My entrée was Bangkok chicken. At first I was concerned about the potential for this to be too spicy hot for me. Make no mistake this dish is red, very red and one can see flecks of red pepper in the sauce.  The boneless chicken breast is deep fried and then covered with this amazing red sauce. The menu calls the sauce, spicy sweet chili and garlic sauce. It is indeed a pleasant surprise, the heat is minimal and offset nicely by the sweet and a pleasant compliment to the lightly battered chicken breast. The sauce is less thick than traditional sweet and sour sauce; it is more of a compote.

When you go to Bangkok54 and you should, be patient. Typically there is two wait staff in this storefront bistro which seats maybe 40 people. The staff is friendly but they run, checks can come slowly and meal tickets are tiny little yellow post it notes with the total written on them. There seems to be a decent selection of Asian beer and the un-sweet iced tea that I drink has a hint of something floral and didn’t require any sweetener.