Bamboo Thai Kitchen – Spiciest Dish in Columbus Series

Something, something, curry pun here. This is not a placeholder, we just couldn’t think of anything clever.

Our New Year’s resolution is to get to some more of the Asian restaurants on our list to see what spicy wonders they have to behold. This week we snagged some takeout from Bamboo Thai Kitchen, which sits just off of Bethel. It’s a cozy inside with limited seating, but was hopping on a Thursday night.

Bamboo Thai Kitchen was a suggestion from a Redditor who mentioned their Green Curry. We don’t know a ton about all of the different curries out there, but from what a quick Googling tells us, it’s the primary central Thai variety of curry. That in mind we grabbed the Green Curry, Massaman Curry, and Spicy Dumplings.

Crispy bois and some sawce.

We hadn’t reviewed the menu all that carefully description-wise, so we were a bit surprised with how these came to us. Crispy containers of vegetables with some spices and a sweet and spicy dipping sauce, the dumplings hosted a tiny lil kick. The sauce (soy-based it seemed), has a bit of heat to it, but is mostly just a solid dipping sauce. Bamboo Thai Kitchen also has some steamed dumplings, with pork or kimchi insides, but that will have to wait for another go ’round. Solid start.

One of these things is not like the other.

Massaman Curry (chicken only) at medium level on the left and the Extra Spicy Green Curry on the right, they might not looked incredibly appetizing when you first open the takeout lids, but we believe in showing it as we get it. As mentioned, we don’t know a ton about curry so when we opened these the lady of the farm and I looked at each other to try and sort out which was which. She took a bite of each and pointed to the curry on the left and said “I think that one’s yours,” let out a “whew!” and then realized she had made a mistake. The Extra Spicy Green Curry had caught up with her. She coughed, forehead sweating and pointed back to the curry on the right and said “nope, nope, that one uh, is definitely yours.”

With the mystery solved, she wandered away with her Massaman Curry and I prepped the Green Curry with the box of rice that comes with each meal.

Back in my favorite bowl.

Pouring out of the container, curry still just never looks appetizing. I know it’s going to taste great, but the consistency and color just never looks that way. This Green Curry is no different, coming out initially as a pale-ish color (from the coconut milk base) and just slopping down on the rice (hungry yet?). Coconut milk with green curry paste, eggplant, green beans, bamboo shoots, and bell peppers at the ready, I started in.

On the initial bite I noticed a great combination of flavors. While we may not know much about curry, we love the flavor and even have a few experimental sauces where we use it heavily. Mixed with the rice, the curry’s coconut milk base and lime offer a sweet and slightly acidic taste, backed up by the savory pieces of chicken found throughout. While I was sitting on the flavors, the heat started to kick in. The Extra Spicy is a “back of your throat” heat that lingers. I noticed what the lady of the farm had noticed and was a bit surprised. I wasn’t expecting much out of this heat, but looking back into the bowl I noticed little tiny chunks of an orange-ish pepper.

Enhance. Enhance.

Further in, the heat continued to hang out, a constant reminder that it’s at least somewhat worthy of it’s “Extra Spicy” level. The internal warmth from the curry and the mouth-heat of the peppers reminded me a lot of the feeling from the Fukuryu Red Dragon Ramen. Not as spicy, but it’s a satisfying dish that will keep you warm on a cold day. Fully through the dish, the heat continued to linger for a solid five minutes. Based on the heat and where it hits you, along with the color of the pepper, we’re led to believe habaneros are in use, but we have no confirmation of this.

Putting the rest of the Green Curry and rice in the fridge for the next day, we reflected on where this should sit on the list. After much debate, we’re putting it at #21, just below the GOGi Spicy Chicken Stir Fry and above the Bru Burger Bar Melt Your Face Burger. A solid heat level and one that we would label as comfortably tasty.

You can find Bamboo Thai Kitchen at 774 Bethel Rd. Columbus, Ohio, open from lunch to dinner all days but Mondays. In total there are five curries to choose from and for a majority of their dishes offer different levels of spicy: mild, medium, spicy and extra spicy. Let us know what you think!

Look below for more in our spiciest dish in Columbus series and hit us up if you have any suggestions that are not already on our list!

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