Saturday, June 2, 2018

Shallots Woburn

tl;dr. Lunch portions are very generous. They can do really spicy, but the food lacks flavors. No fresh chilis.

This is a collection of my Saturday visits to Shallots in Woburn. The online menu fails to show lunch offerings and also on what days they are available. Not a very well designed website. Currently 15% off at lunch.



There is some parking behind the restaurant, otherwise, it's all street parking.



05/05/18. Lunch Spicy Basil Cod (13). "Fillet cod, sauteed mushrooms, onions, zucchini, bell peppers, carrots and string beans topped with fresh basil leaves". This is a cut and paste from their online menu. I ordered it extra extra spicy and told the waitress that if they had fresh chilis to use them. Turns out they don't have any fresh chilis. What kind of Thai restaurant is this? The cod was fried crispy and it was a whole filet. The texture was of something that had been frozen and then thawed too quickly. The veggies were cooked nicely. The waitress said that it was now as spicy as Thai people would eat it. It was respectable spicy but barely nose runny spicy. I did enjoy the dish, despite the lack of fresh chilis. My table was unstable and I hate that.



05/12/18. Lunch Chili Duck (14). "Boneless duck stir fried with pineapples and assorted vegetables in chili sauce topped with roasted cashew nuts". I ordered it extra spicy, and it was. Since you have a choice of rice, I decided to try the brown rice, and I really liked it. It had a very nice texture. There was a lot of very nicely cooked duck. This time the mixed vegetables contained some cabbage and that added a nice texture. Did I mention that it was spicy?



05/18/18. Lunch Kra Pao with pork (11) is one of my standard dishes at a Thai restaurant. "Ground pork with bell peppers, carrots, mushrooms, snow peas, string beans and basil in a chili sauce". The snow peas didn't make it, but some zucchini did. I went with the brown rice again since I really liked it the last time. The waitress asked if I wanted it as spicy as on my last visit. I think it was actually spicier this time, it was really runny nose spicy. I went on a Friday to see if they have more lunch customers than on a Saturday, but no, it was pretty dead. They did have some takeout.



05/26/18. Lunch Green Curry with Pork (10). "Green curry with coconut milk, eggplant, string beans, bell peppers, bamboo shoots, pea pods, and carrots topped with basil leaves". They didn't have any brown rice, so I had to go with the white. There was plenty of tender pork, but the promised eggplant didn't make it. There were no peapods, but there were about eight lonely peas. Of the bell peppers, there were about three slices, the rest was an abundance of bamboo shoots and carrots. All the vegetables were undercooked. I like crunchy, but this was overdoing it. I asked for it spicy and it was really spicy, but apart from spicy, it was bland. Comparing to how flavorful my hot curry at Khao Hom was, this doesn't even come close. It was a very generous portion. I have one more dish that I am going to try. The place was completely dead at lunch today.



06/02/18. Ginger Haddock (14). "Fillet haddock, sauteed vegetables and ginger topped with scallion". The scallions didn't make it. I like the brown rice, some might call it undercooked, but I call it al dente. I had to convince them today that I didn't want it spicy, just as it is on the menu. The fish was fresh and flaky and cooked really well. The fish was unseasoned as was the batter. It was a pleasant dish that tasted of ginger.



Here is a closeup of the fish fillets after I have eaten half of the first one. I tried to tell them what happens when you put wet vegetables on a crispy fish, but I don't think I made it.

Address: 918 Main St, Woburn, MA 01801
Phone: 781-305-3201

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