
The Thai restaurant Sticky Rice opened 3 months ago out in JVC, which is a residential area about a 15-minute-drive from Dubai Marina. Sticky Rice is one of the restaurants that everybody is talking about right now, so the other day my foodie friend J asked if we should go and check it out. I’m always up for good Thai food, so we decided to go the very same evening.
Khao man gai (Thai chicken rice) at Sticky Rice was better than most khao man gai I’ve had in Thailand. You could choose between fried chicken or steamed chicken, and we chose the steamed version. The chicken was tender and juicy, and the sauce on the side was of that kind that you wish you knew how to make. They had a special offer so the khao man gai and a beverage was only 35 AED.
Larb is a meat salad from the Northeastern Isan province in Thailand. It can be really spicy, and it’s one of those dishes I often end up giving up on after only a few mouthfuls, if I order it Thai spicy. The medium spicy level we decided on still had a nice kick, without knocking out the other complex flavors of the dish. The larb was served with sticky rice in a rattan basket and it tasted delicious.
The only thing we had that I didn’t like so much was the Tom Yum Kung. Tom Yum Kung is a classic soup that most of you who’ve been traveling in Thailand have probably tried. The soup usually comes in a clear version or a version with added cow’s milk, but at Sticky Rice I think they added coconut milk. The taste was more like Tom Kha Gai (a mild soup with coconut milk) and a little too sweet, lacking that hot and sour kick that makes tom yum kung so irresistible.
It’s really hard to find good and reasonably priced Thai food in Dubai, so I’m always happy when I discover new places like Sticky Rice. Just like Café Isan, which is another one of my Thai food favorites, Sticky Rice is an independent restaurant, started by people who are passionate about what they do, and it shows, both when it comes to the food and the service. We need more places like this in Dubai!
Sticky Rice, JVC Sobha Daffodil Shop no. 6, Dubai