Thai Cuisine Comes to San Diego : House of Bangkok Cautious but Adequate in Offering Siamese Dishes

San Diego finally has a Thai restaurant.

This city’s restaurant corps gradually has been filling the gaps in its ethnic roster (even Ethiopian and Afghani cooking now can be enjoyed here), but, surprisingly, Thai food has been unavailable until now. This spicy, interesting cuisine long has been popular in many other major American cities.

It frequently has been said, and with very good reason, that dining in an ethnic restaurant can provide an encounter with a foreign culture that one otherwise might never experience. Neither the cooking nor the ambiance at the new House of Bangkok in Pacific Beach is likely to magically whisk anyone to the crowded klongs (canals) and markets of Thailand’s capital city, but the place at least offers a decent beginner’s guide to the pleasures of the Siamese kitchen.

Thai food is relatively simple and straightforward; few dishes are elaborate, and most can be cooked quickly. It gains much of its interest from certain juxtapositions of flavors, such as sweet and hot, sour and hot, or, on occasion, sweet and sour. Coconut milk gives a light, lovely freshness to many dishes, as well as a natural sweetness less cloying than that provided by sugar.

Spices, too, play a major role in this cuisine. Curries frequently appear on Thai tables, although they differ markedly from the curries prepared in Indian households. Thailand also has embraced the chili pepper as enthusiastically as any nation in the world, so that many dishes are hot, and some (even soups) are incendiary.

The House of Bangkok takes a cautious approach that would not be applauded in cities more familiar with Thai cooking. The food generally is quite good, but sometimes is timid in terms of seasoning. This restaurant seems eager to offend no one, which, though it seems unfortunate to have to say so, may be a sign of wisdom.

The menu is not exclusively Thai, since it is diluted by a number of Chinese (or Chinese-influenced) dishes, thanks doubtless to the fact that proprietor Yun-pi Fletcher is a native of Shanghai (her husband and co-proprietor, Jerry Fletcher, toured the Orient as an officer in the U.S. Navy.) However, the marriage between these cuisines usually is a happy one.

Some of the most interesting and typically Thai dishes offered by the House of Bangkok are found on the appetizer list. The chan-ram , particularly good, consists of a fair-sized shrimp enrobed in a thick, lightly spiced paste of minced chicken, pork and onion. Served two per order, these succulent mouthfuls are crisped in hot fat and are accompanied by both a mild sweet-sour sauce and an inflammable red pepper paste that should be sampled by the drop, not the spoonful. This optional pepper condiment is available to fire any dish that the guest may find too tame.

The satay, billed as the house specialty, may be one of the more familiar dishes here. This simple but flavorful snack consists of the diner’s choice of sliced beef, chicken or pork, any of which are first marinated in spiced coconut milk and then impaled upon skewers and quickly flame-broiled.

Eaten plain, the meat has a subtle flavor; dipped in the thick, peanut-based satay sauce, it acquires a more assertive and enjoyable character. This delicious sauce, which also contains coconut, is as common in Thailand and Malaya as catsup is here, and as relished.

Other appetizers, such as barbecued spareribs and salapaw, tend toward the Cantonese. This last may be familiar to those who sometimes eat dim sum (savory pastries) at Chinese restaurants; these are the plump steamed buns filled with chopped, sweetened Chinese barbecued pork.

The menu lists 32 entrees, divided fairly evenly among the seafood, poultry, beef and pork categories. The choice is far less broad than it first appears, however, since dishes are reiterated from category to category. For example, the “Thai Royal Ocean Delight,” or shrimp and crab mixed with baby corn, mushrooms, bamboo shoots and onion, may also be had with beef, pork or chicken replacing the seafood. This also is true of the shrimp fried noodles, the curried shrimp, the Siamese shrimp (with broccoli and bamboo shoots) and other dishes.

A Thai curry should not be missed by the first-time diner. The chicken curry, of tiny bits of meat mixed with chunks of zucchini and bell pepper in a creamy, coconut flavored sauce, is excellent. Red pepper heats this dish and gives it a blush-like color.

The broccoli beef with fried noodles seemed more Chinese than Thai, even though the server insisted it was an authentic Siamese recipe. The meat and vegetable had been quickly cooked in oyster sauce (very Chinese) and then placed over a bed of crisp, thread-sized noodles. Some agent (molasses?) sweetened the dish, but overall it was rather dull.

One of the first impressions this restaurant makes is with the appetite-arousing scent of garlic that thickens the air. Thus, it seemed odd that the “garlic shrimp divine” tasted so little of garlic; the eight medium-sized shrimp tasted mostly of salt and red pepper, a combination that was less pleasant than it might have been. Fresh mint leaves did add a contrasting sweetness and bite to the dish, but were not sufficient to save it. In fairness, it should be mentioned that salt often is used as a flavor in Oriental cooking, but its use in this fashion seems excessive to the American palate.

Big bowls of rice, replenished as needed, form the centerpiece of every table. They often do need to be replenished, because the portions tend to be rather parsimonious. None of the dishes mentioned here contained much meat, the idea apparently being to allow guests to fill up on rice moistened with the given dishes’ excess sauce.

House of Bangkok is not expensive, but it does not always seem to give full value for money spent. It would do well to remedy this situation.

House of Bangkok 1341 Garnet Ave., San Diego. 483-8424 Dinner served 5 to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday, closed Sundays. Credit cards accepted. Dinner for two, including one glass of house wine each, tax and tip, about $18 to $30.