Bangkok House Offers Thai Favorites at Reasonable Prices
201 Ferry Avenue, Fort Walton Beach, (850) 243-6911

Hours: Mon.-Sat., 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Reservations: Accepted
Children's menu: Yes
Dress: Casual

By Bruce Collier
February 5, 2009 Issue

I haven't done a study, but I wouldn't be surprised to learn that Bangkok House is the oldest continuously operating Thai restaurant in the Fort Walton Beach/Destin area. I have been going there since the early 1990s. The decor has moderned up a little (they have updated TV sets now), and the menu has had a few changes over the years. They now have a buffet for weekday lunch. The prices are still very comfortable—mostly under $10 for entrees, with a few house specials going up to $13, with $22 for a whole duck.

We ate there on a weeknight, and business was a combination of locals and some takeout trade. Bangkok House is fairly spacious, with tables, booths, and a small bar/lounge. The walls are decorated with posters, colorful prints, and portraits of the Thai royal family. There are also fish tanks—just for show, not for picking out your main course. The mood is quiet and restful.

The menu offers appetizers, soups, salads, curries, fried rice, noodle dishes, entrees and some house specials. Mostly it's Thai, with a few Chinese or Japanese -inspired items like sesame chicken or sukiyaki. Beef, pork, chicken, duck, shrimp and fish are the main proteins, but there are also vegetarian options, and tofu can be substituted for meat in some of the dishes. If you eat much Thai food, you know that some of the dishes have a high heat potential. Bangkok House gives you the sliding-scale option, from mild (one pepper) to medium (two peppers), hot (three peppers), and Thai hot (four peppers). I had medium, and it was nicely balanced. More than that is matter of personal taste.

We started with appetizers, choosing a sampler plate that offered shrimp in blankets, mini egg rolls, and chicken satay. When they arrived the kitchen had also thrown in a pair of crisp-fried crab rangoons—not on the menu, but what the heck. The grilled chicken had just the right amount of peanut/sweet satay sauce, and the shrimp—wrapped in rice paper and deep fried—were crunchy enough that I ate them tail and all. The egg rolls were filled with ground pork, and while a little brown, were chewy and flavorful. It was plenty for two.

Other starters are fish cakes, fried won ton, steamed dumplings, summer rolls, Thai "beef jerky," garlic pork, and fried tofu. Soups can also be ordered in small sizes as a starter. Bangkok House offers lemon grass soup, chicken coconut soup, Thai noodle soup, rice, egg drop and wonton soup. These can be enhanced with assorted meats or seafoods.

I have tried many of the menu items at Bangkok House over the years, and had to be careful not to fall back on old favorites such as the fish cakes (tod mun pla) or pad Thai (Thailand's national dish, noodles with tamarind, peanuts, and chicken, pork, beef or tofu). I decided on a Penang curry, with beef and coconut milk. My companion ordered a house special—Bangkok House duck, roasted and served with a pair of dipping sauces. Both came with steamed rice.

The soupy curry was slightly sweet, with a deep flavor of herbs (bay and basil) and peanuts. There was plenty of beef, and rice to absorb the heat. The duck was a huge portion (it was a half-bird), and was cut sideways, across the bone, Asian style. This dish takes work to get at the tender meat in its savory sauce, and if you don't care for skin, you must peel it back. The dipping sauces—ginger and spicy chili—were tangy, cutting through the richness of the duck. The menu says it comes over fried cabbage, but there wasn't any, and the staffer we asked said that came with another dish. May have been a mix up or a language thing, but at any rate there's plenty of duck, and no one left hungry.

Among the other dishes are a Thai omelet, grilled flounder, snapper marinated in curry and coconut, stir fried noodles (pad see ew), pepper steak, ginger chicken, basil chicken, beef or pork, beef broccoli, dinner salads with shrimp, chicken, grilled meats, and spicy Thai sausage, red, green or mussaman curries, the latter similar to what you may have tried in Indian restaurants, and fried rice with various additions and seasonings.

As for dessert, we were not all that hungry, and when the server said they only had ice cream or sweet rice that night, we decided to pass. There may be more on other nights, so if you feel the need for a sweet finish, ask. Or order Thai iced coffee, a creamy drink best consumed as a dessert.

If you drive much in Fort Walton Beach, you will almost certainly have seen Bangkok House's bright sign, just opposite the shopping center past Brooks Bridge as you turn into downtown Fort Walton. If it's been a while for you, it's still there and they're still serving, so stop by for a refresher.

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