Orchid House Is A Home Away From Home
Orchid House
NOSA: This post was supposed to go up yesterday but I got robbed and I have no laptop now. Well, I do, but it's a rubbish unibody Macbook and the charger doesn't work. So yeah, I'm taking donations etc etc
FOLLY: We're usually very mechanic about EDL and rarely ever miss posts but real life happened and it wasn't pretty.
NOSA: One of our readers sent us on a mission to check out a Thai restaurant in Apapa. If you've been keeping up, you should know Bangkok has shut down and there's a missing hole in the Thai restaurant portion of our hearts. Orchid House presented an option to fill it up and my God, it did fill it up and some more.
FOLLY: Apapa is great on weekends because the truck drivers aren't too feisty and the traffic is non-existent.
NOSA: Orchid House has probably one of the most colorful and homely spaces I've been to in Lagos. It's high on purple and floral designs, and they have a surprisingly extensive wine selection.
FOLLY: The wall beside our table was a gorgeous flowery accent wall. The only purple touch I didn't like were the plastic table mats. I was recently watching Diners, Drive-In's and Dives and Guy Fieri checked out a restaurant that only had rocking chairs for seats, that's the kind of charming space Orchid House is. Enough of the space description, let's talk food.
NOSA: A couple of the starters were unavailable because the owner hadn't gone to Thailand for a while (Damn you, Buhari!), but the waitress was pretty sweet so I'm not complaining too much. Instead, to start, we got the....
FOLLY: Prawn Tempura, Shrimp Roll, and Tom Yam Gai (soup).
NOSA: The soup tasted very much like tomato soup and I love tomato soup so by default, I loved this.
FOLLY: It also had a nutty tinge to it. What I also loved was the temperature at which it was served. Soup sometimes comes scalding hot, but this was perfect. I also quite liked the presentation.
NOSA: I knew the shrimp roll had mayonnaise, but the amount of mayo in it shocked me for some reason.
FOLLY: That shrimp roll was a squirter.
NOSA: The shrimp tempura was a bit plain. It wasn't overly prawn-y, but the batter was a bit flat. Tasted significantly better when dipped in soy sauce.
FOLLY: Something I always look for is soft prawns that aren't overly chewy and tough and Orchid House delivered on the former.
For our mains, we weren't letting up quite yet, so we ordered two things to share: the Pa Naeng Kung (curry) and Pad Thai Gai (noodles). We did the noodles with chicken and the curry with beef.
NOSA: The waitress gave us a fair warning on the pad thai. She said it was a bit "sweet" but I thought she was full of it. She wasn't. The tamarind in the sauce gave it a bit of a sweet kick. That said, I thought it was lovely.
FOLLY: This was one of the better Pad Thais I've had in Lagos, actually it's the best one I've had. I still don't understand this topped fried eggs business, though as I usually receive the noodles with the eggs cooked through the entire dish when I've ordered it in restaurants outside Nigeria.
NOSA: Now, we all know that I don't like "rice & stew" and by extension curry. Because curry, to me, is basically "rice & stew".
FOLLY: This curry had that distinct Thai taste and wasn't just stew as Nosa's pedestrian taste buds suggest.
NOSA: That aside, this is really good curry if curry is your thing.
FOLLY: What I love about Thai food is the distinct combination of spices that they use and how they all come together. I'm talking about the use of red chilies, lemongrass, cumin, coriander, ginger and coconut milk. I've tried to make curries before and trust me it's not by just adding Lion curry powder and coconut milk. I mean, what I made then was a curry in its own right, but it definitely was NOT a Thai curry.
NOSA: Low-key, the curry would be excellent if they served it with yam. I'd legit clean the plate but that's probably my Bini side talking.
FOLLY: Oh, I made a shandy with the Thai beer and sprite; it was delicious. I felt like a bootleg Ozoz but I was okay with that.
POSTSCRIPT
NOSA: Orchid House gets a huge thumbs up for me. The menu is as authentic as it gets and I'd probably come here again as long as it's on a weekend. No way I'm coming to Apapa on a weekday, I don't hate myself.
FOLLY: Overall, an excellent experience and I already want to go back to Orchid House.
VERDICT
DAMAGE
Rice - N800
Chang Beer - N700
Shrimp Roll - N1000
Tom Yam Gai - N1500
Pa Naeng Kung - 4000
Pad Thai Gai - N3000
Prawn Tempura - N2800
PARKING
There's a sign on the gate that says "parking available inside", and they told no lies.