King & I - Fantastic Thai

If you haven't tried out King & I Thai Cuisine and Sushi bar in West Des Moines, you're missing out on some really great food.  They are in the plaza near the 22nd St/University Ave intersection.

Chef Mao is extremely friendly and knowledgeable.  She travels to Thailand often and adorns her restaurant with items like dried flowers she brings back with her.  She has a wonderful story about coming to the US after saving for many years to live her dream of opening up a restaurant.  You can read about it here.

Mao serves many traditional favorites like Pad Thai, Cashew Chicken, Noodle soups and Curries and also has specials each day.

The lunch combinations are wonderful because they aren't your normal entree with fried or white rice and an egg roll.   She incorporates small portions of her popular dishes like curry with a choice of meat, veggie Pad Thai and Cashew Chicken.  A refreshing change from the standard lunch combos at other restaurants.

For me, the highlight of my meal at King & I is always the Summer Rolls.  They are what some restaurants call spring rolls (the non-fried version).  Mao makes these fresh to order every time so the veggies are nice and crisp and cool and she cooks up the meat and egg right before she rolls them together in the rice paper.  It tastes so much fresher this way and the warm chicken with the peanut dipping sauce is heavenly.

My hubby likes the Thai Country Basil with chicken which he orders with 3 or 4 stars (out of 5 for spiciness).  My favorite dishes are the yellow curry with chicken and the pineapple fried rice (not shown).  The curry sauce is one of my favorites in town.  She doesn't over-do it on the coconut milk making it too sweet like a few other places in town tend to do.  It is very rich,  savory and addictive!  The Pineapple Fried Rice is a meal itself with chicken, shrimp, eggs, pineapple  and perfectly spiced curry fried rice.

While the restaurant gets busy on the weekends, it's almost never overly crowded on week nights.  You won't have trouble getting in for lunch either.  Order a saki and give yourself some time though because every dish is made to order.  We just love King & I!  We hope you do too!

Ps. They can make just about every dish vegetarian or gluten-free! Just ask.