The Road to Mandalay

Tuesday night, we sat on the porch at The Mandalay Cafe on 45th in Wallingford. It was a place I'd driven by numerous times over the last 3 years. I'd never made it in--I'd tried two years ago, when my book group was on the hunt for either Indonesian or Dutch food (the book was based in the Netherlands and we aimed for the cuisine of our meetings to match the author or the setting). At the time, we were pretty much stretching for anything that wasn't Thai or Chinese. This place would have fit the bill, but they were temporarily closed back then.

The food could have been categorized as almost-Thai, but Asian fusion is truly the best label for the food here. Several Southeast Asian countries were represented on the menu.

We ordered: Singapore Samosas, Thai Iced Tea, daal soup, Sumatran Roasted Nut Curry, Malaysian Green Banana Curry, and the Thai Basil Cheesecake. Overall, I liked this place, while my gentleman caller didn't so much. I found the use of new flavors and combinations interesting, but he made a great point: the flavors came on strong at first bite, but underneath, everything was bland. There was plenty of heat, but not enough depth on this go-round. (The cook even commented to us that regular patrons don't usually go for the higher levels of spiciness we chose.) The best items ordered were the unique cheesecake and the great samosas.

Three umbrellas outta five.