Prem-On Thai Restaurant
Prem-On Thai
138 W Houston St
btw MacDougal & Sullivan St
(212) 353-2338
Thai food in new york city is always pretty much moderate to expensive. The reason being that it takes forever to prepare for the food, since there’s so much that goes into it. Plus it ends up looking very artistic, unlike the cheap Chinese food that you can get down the block. Hey, you pay for you get. But yes, this cuisine traditionally ranges from sweet to ultra spicy, and soft to crunchy. Here at Prem-On you’ll get a variety of flavors that will blow your mouth away. I prefer a thai place that doesn’t light my mouth up on fire every time. Grrr–
After a quick recommendation by my friend, Roma, I knew I had to come here. She had told me that a friend that she grew up with in Thailand opened up this restaurant. Right there, I give this place a few extra points because it seems to be authentic thai. Now, don’t go crazy on me, but I’ve been to a share of Thai places before and not all of them have Thai chefs or owner. I believe originality plays a vital role in a cuisine. Hands up.
Now, I brought a friend, Vicky, who has never had Thai before. This is good because then she wouldn’t have a bias tongue and it will be a clear indicator if this place is good. Thai food simply cannot go wrong. The only thing that does go wrong are simply in it’s ingredients, which even then is rare.
Upon arriving to the restaurant, I can’t help but notice how a little things reminded me of SEA Thai Bistro. As we were waiting for seats, the lovely Roma was the maitre’d for the evening and she arranged a table for us. I love that girl. I can already see that this place is very trendy and it is packed. That’s a good sign for me.
This is just the front of the restaurant. There’s actually a lot more room than I thought since there’s an extension and an extra back room to the right.
Now appetizers!
Steamed Thai Chicken Dumplings stuff with chicken, shallot, peanut, and radish in a traditional thai rice and wrap
Price $6
At this time, me and Vicky was extremely tired and hungry. We did not know that we have ordered this, and of course we didn’t, but we figured it was part of our Mixed Appetizer since the steamed thai chicken dumpling was supposed to be part of it.
Anyways, long story short, this is my first time having a thai dumpling like this, and I must say it is excellent. It is soft, moist and tender, with a hint of sweetness, and the peanut gives it a giant kick! Yumm! Unlike regular dumplings that are usually fried, this is steamed like a dim sum.
Rating – 5/5 Excellent!! Highly recommended!
After we had that, our actual appetizer came, which was the Mixed Appetizer.
Mix Appetizers steamed chicken dumpling, thai spring rolls, and kanom jeeb served with dipping sauces
Price: $8
Seeing how we were hungry and wasn’t in the mood on spending a lot of money on appetizers, we figured that we would order the sampler and see how that would go. Apparently Vicky did not know what a spring roll was, and when it finally came, she didn’t like it because it was fried. Honestly, this sampler is not that special, and I can say you’re better off ordering something else like a handroll or a duck roll unless you’re not feeling that hungry and wanted to try the thai version’s of dim sum. But I gotta say, the dipping sauces, especially kanom jeeb, went very well with the spring roll. Never again with the samplar. Ahhh. I think it’s only because I had that free appetizer which filled me up.
Rating – 2.5/5
Recommended: No
Next off was the Spicy Thai Crabcake fresh maryland crabmeat stuffed with thai herbs and spices
Price: $7
This is by far one of the best crabcake I have ever eaten before. I know, I know, this is a thai restaurant and I should be eating “thai” food, but I must say, the chef did an excellent job to this dish. The meat was very tender, moist, and succulent with juices literally flowing out when you bite into it. You have to be careful with it because it falls apart quickly when you poke into it. One was enough to get me full, so don’t underestimate this dish.
Rating: 5/5
Recommended: Yes
At this time my Thaiteani, cute spinoff of martini, came.
Price: $9
This is a very strong drink that is loaded with absolut vodka so don’t be fooled by it’s color and cuteness. It certainly made me tipsy on a couple of sips, and I am not a lightweight. I would still recommend this drink, especially if you know what it is and you like something a little strong. If you don’t, then stay away from this.
Entrees
Thai Orange Duck crispy roasted duck topped with a sweet orange, ginger and scallion sauce & comes with a side of rice
Price: $17
Vicky’s pick of the night and that poor girl was already stuffed from all the appetizers. She tells me that this is a very tasty juicy duck. For a girl who’s very picky about food, I believed her, that and I had a taste for myself and it was deee-licious! The duck is oven roasted as you can see, so it’s not fried up or anything like that. Although the presentation is sorta lacking, this is still a very good duck, but not as good as the way how the Chinese make their ducks.
Rating: 4/5
Recommended: Yes if you’re not looking to have anything too entirely ethnic.
Roasted Duck Noodles stir-fried flat rice noodles with shredded roasted duck, red onion, egg and bean sprouts served on romaine
Price: $10
This looks awfully Chinese, because of the rice noodles, bean sprout, and eggs, but there’s duck on this and romaine lettuce which I both love. But when it comes to the flavor of this dish, it meets expectations! The duck is a little dry, but that’s alright because when the chef stir-fried this, the juices and fat got sucked into the rice noodle, which is okay because it gives that greasy ducky taste. I’m already impressed that the dish of noodles is placed on a cute little wok. Very cute. But yes, you can’t imagine how much I like this dish, I really truly do.
Rating: 5/5
Recommended: Hell yes!! I love it! And it kinda breaks away from traditional thai food.
At this time me and Vicky were incredibly stuffed. Heck we couldn’t even finish our entrees and had it wrapped to go. During the whole entire time, the waiter was really really nice to me. I regret not remembering his name, but he’s very sweet and soft spoken. He is like the first waiter who encouraged me to take pictures everywhere!
The only thing I regret was being in food coma. Remember people, ALWAYS TIP YOUR WAITERS IN CASH! I forgot to do that to my waiter and I think he was a little disappointed. Whoops! Totally forgot. Next time when I go there, I’ll definitely give him a little more!
Overall Rating: 4/5 – Very good!
Recommended: Hells yes! I love this place. My friend Roma definitely did not let me down.
I definitely have to come back to this place again because there were so many things that I wanted to try, but I couldn’t! That is why I must come back. Now, to show you how they perform in the city’s health department inspection:
PREM-ON
138 WEST HOUSTON STREET, MANHATTAN 10012
Current violation points: 17/27
Inspection Date: 08/07/2006
Violations were cited in the following area(s) and those requiring immediate action were addressed.
1.) Food Protection Certificate not held by supervisor of food operations.
2.) Food not cooled by an approved method whereby the internal product temperature is reduced from 140°F to 70°F or less within 2 hours and from 70°F to 45°F or less within 4 additional hours.
Gahm Mi Oak Korean Restaurant
Gahm Mi Oak
43 W 32nd St
(Btw 5th Ave & Broadway)
(212) 695-4113
24-hours, but there’s a limited menu after a certain time.
On this day, my Korean friend Danny came back from Boston for spring break and was going to take us (Kim, Dawen, and I) to a tasty place for “local korean food.” No, none of that fake american crap that gets pumped out everywhere else. I was so looking forward to this day that I literally starved myself, waiting for this fantastic delight. And when the time came, Danny-boy forgot where on earth it was and decided to call his homeboy. No one picked up. So after walking up and down and around the block, he decided to go in a korean cell phone store and asked where it was. Long story short, that man gave us wrong directions and we didn’t know where to go. We couldn’t stay out in the freezing cold anymore so we picked something that was price affordable and shared the korean experience.
Alright when we first came in, it looked like a nice cozy place. 
There was a couple in front of us, but after when Danny spoke with the waiter in Korean, we were off to a traditional table where there’s no chairs and only pillows on an elevated platform towards the back of the restaurant where the kitchen is. See it would have been nice if Danny boy told me we were gonna sit traditional style because then I could mentally prepare myself to sit with my legs crossed. Because of my thick ass thighs, usually the blood flow to my legs get cut and I have to recross my legs. Very annoying, but it happens to the best [fattier] of us.
When we finally sat down, we had korean menus!! I’m like, what in the hell is this? Danny literally had to recommend some of the things he thought was good. Apparently he didn’t translate the entire menu or asked for an english menu, which would be good!! I knew what I wanted, well the only thing I can eat and that’s the bibimbap. I wanted to see how their take is like here in comparison to Li Hua in chinatown. But yeah, after seconds of settling down, 3 waiters at different times came to us and asked what we wanted. I found that very annoying and I absolute HATE to be rushed. I really do. I know it’s all in good faith, but still, give me some time.
So Danny recommended the Sul Long Tang, which is snowy white ox-bone soup with white rice and white noodle, add scallion, salt and pepper to taste. I wasn’t in a soupy mood since I was famished, so the three of them decided on this since we had came out of the cold.
Okay, time for appetizers which came out the second we finished ordering! Wow, talk about fast fast service!
Kim Chi. Of course you get it in all korean restaurants, but I must say this is the best Kim Chi I have ever had. Usually I would get them in tiny portions which I can hardly get the taste of, but this, oh my god, it is really good. Really! It’s for free, so you must as well wolf down a lot of it. The free warm hot cup of barely tea helps tame the hotness from the kim chi too.
Sul Long Tang Snowy white ox-bone soup with white rice and white noodles. Carefully chosen bone and meat are cooked together more than 12 hours in a giant cast-iron pot to remove the fat and oil. Add scallion, salt
Price: $6.95
So I had a taste, seeing how desperately hungry I was, and this is one of the blandest soup I have ever had. Yes you can taste how pure and hearty it is, but it lacked a whole lotta taste even though if you add a sheit load of scallion and salt! Tasteless, my god, tasteless. You can taste how healthy it is. But if you want to come here for grease and taste, avoid this one. I didn’t like it, I’d have it for an afternoon snack, but definitely not for dinner.
Ahh, here comes my bibimbap. Bibimbap korean style jambalaya of rice, assorted vegetables and ground beef. Add long hot pepper paste to your taste and mix them in your bowl. Price: $10.95
I was hoping that it would be in a stone bowl like how it was at Li Hua and Bonjoo, which I need to do a post on that. Ok, so there’s no stone bowl, shouldn’t be a big deal right? Well…after mixing it and without the pepper because I’m scared of it, I had a taste and it was pretty bland. I had to add salt, which didn’t helped much and it was still bland! My gosh, Li Hua was starting to look better and that restaurant is based in Chinatown!
At this time our pancakes came, Bin Dae Dduk 
korean style fried pancake made of ground mung beans, carrot, onion, scallion, bean sprouts and ground pork — Price: $8.95.
This unfortunately tastes bland as well, and I had better ones before. I had to put a lot of salt on this to make this tastes better. It wasn’t all bad and this seems to be the hottest plate since I see it being pumped out a lot from the kitchen. Usually the waiter would only serve two big pancakes, but seeing how nice he was, he gave us 4 and didn’t charge us extra which was very nice!
My legs were getting numb at this time and the check came to us when we were done. I actually liked the traditional experience, even though my fat legs were gone. Would I recommend this place? Sure. It’s relatively inexpensive, but the taste is really really lacking. If you don’t mind, sure come and eat bland. But I care and probably would never come back. There are so many restaurants in k-town that there’s bound to be one that’s not korean bbq and that it’s rich in flavor. I will definitely find it.
Health Inspection report by the NYS:
GMO RESTAURANT
43 WEST 32 STREET, MANHATTAN 10001
Current violation points: 8 -PASSED
Inspection Date: 04/12/2006
No violations that present a threat to the public health or relate directly to factors which lead to foodborne illness were recorded at the time of this inspection.
1.) Immersion basket not provided, used or of incorrect size. Incorrect manual technique. Test kit and thermometer not provided or used. Improper drying practices.
2.) Plumbing not properly installed or maintained; anti-siphonage or backflow prevention device not provided where required; equipment or floor not properly drained; sewage disposal system in disrepair or not functioning properly.
3.) Garbage receptacles not provided or inadequate. Garbage storage area not properly constructed or maintained; grinder or compactor dirty.
Man, a clean restaurant equals to a bland restaurant? Hm… I am seeing a link….
Anyways, look forward to my review on korean dessert. Oh man….absolutely amazing.
