I've been blogging for nearly two years now and I cannot believe that in all this time I've said practically NOTHING about the best soup on the planet and my favorite restaurant. Perhaps I did and just never bothered to give it a proper label so I could look it up. Anyway, you all need to know about Sawasdee in Indianapolis (corner of 86th Street and Ditch for those of you that want to give it a visit). Sawasdee means, "hello" in Thai.
My brothers-in-law and I or my friend Brian and I typically visit this place for lunch during work. Everything on the lunch menu is delicious and they even spell "lunch" correctly on the menu, unlike Thai Castle in Carmel, Indiana (also a good Thai place, but nothing comes close to Sawasdee--NOTHING!!!!!). But there is one thing on the menu that we almost always get. Other places in the Indy metro area and in other towns have their own version of it, but nothing comes close. In some circles, this dish is known as "Thai Noodle Soup". At Sawasdee, it's known as "Number 10" because it's the 10th and last item on the lunch menu.
I don't need to see a menu when I go to Sawasdee. I don't even need to order. The waitress (who is a member of the family that owns the establishment) looks at me and says, "Numma tehn, medium wit two spring rolls," and I nod in agreement. What makes this soup so good? Why can't other restaurants match it's complexity of flavors? Here are just some of the things that we know are in the soup:
- white chicken
- shrimp balls (don't even go there--you know what I mean)
- hot pepper flakes
- ground peanut (at one point spelled "penut" on the menu)
- chives
- cilantro
- thin rice noodles
- bean sprouts
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