Less Than Meets the Eye
Lotus Thai features comfortable booths, beautiful paintings of lotuses and pink napkins folded to resemble lotus flowers. However, the restaurant was far more pleasing to the eye than to the taste bud. The Sour and Spicy Papaya Salad (￥58) proved too spicy to eat more than a few bites. The Green Curry with Chicken (￥48) had a decent sauce, but the chicken was unappetizing and covered in fat. The so-called Fried Rice with Shrimp came with two shrimps, but tasted good nonetheless, albeit overpriced at ￥38. Determined to find one redeeming menu item, we ordered the very dry Chicken Satay (￥36) and the Vietnamese Spring Rolls (￥48), filled mostly with lettuce and bitter tasting basil. While still in its soft opening period, Lotus Thai does already have three other established branches in Beijing, so we expected much more. Leaving our half-eaten meal behind, we felt doubtful we’d ever see those lotus flower paintings again but can only hope for improvement.

Sienna Parulis-Cook

Tel: 5969-5060
Add: B115 China Central Place, No.81 JianGuo Road, 建国路81号华贸中心B115