This is another excellent restaurant in the greater Fredericksburg area. We love stopping in on a Saturday afternoon, either before going out for the afternoon, or when coming home after a morning of activity. Okay, so maybe the Alphageek hates going out, but one does have to leave the house for supplies every once in a while.

First a couple of background thoughts. I love Thai food. I will eat just about anything a Thai restaurant serves, with a smile of delight upon my face. That being said, it is somewhat ironic that I could eat at a Thai restaurant, even if they served only the "big four". What are the big four you ask? Simply put: pad prik khing, pad ka prow, pad thai and drunken noodle. Don't know what those are? Run and do a quick google search. After all, I promise original content, not regurgitating what other people have already written. Oh, and one more thing, I love spicy food.

To the left here, we have pad ka prow. I have tried to make this at home for years, and was unsuccessful until I figured something out. This dish must be made with Thai basil. Thai basil gives it a slight licorice flavor, which brings out the other flavors of this dish. The basil, combined with the mildly sweet and spicy sauce, makes for a great set of flavors. They make a great plate of pad ka prow here at Garnjana. If you are brave, get it extra hot!

To the right, we have pad thai, that Mrs. Alphageek ordered. I thought it looked delicious, and when she let me have a taste, my thoughts were confirmed. She did mention that the there were not very many shrimp in the dish, but that the lack of number was more than made up for in size and quality. The shrimp were large, and perfectly cooked, without being rubbery like shrimp that have sat out too long at a buffet.

While I mentioned that I really only need four dishes at a Thai restaurant, I have had a few others. At Garnjana, I would also recommend anything they have on the special board. The last several times we ordered off the specials, we were not disappointed.

This is anther great restaurant in town. Just thinking about Garnjana makes me realize it is nearly time for dinner.

February 27, 2011 Update

We stopped in last night and had another great meal. I just wanted to post a picture of my drunken noodles with chicken and say that it was a great as always.

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I will start this write up off in a simple way: this is one of my favorite places to eat in Fredericksburg.

For me, the discussion begins and ends with one thing: their soup. The soup, pho is a great dish, and I loved it the first time I tried it here. After all, it is what the restaurant is named after. It is actually pronounced Pha in english (I think) but the good people at Pho Saigon will forgive your lack of knowledge about proper pronunciation. They will simply bring you good food.

I will do this write up a little differently. Instead of a bunch of discussion about different items on the menu (I have had most of them, and enjoyed all of them), I am going to recommend my favorite dishes to get there.

Start out with a cucumber salad with either chicken or beef. It has a name on the menu, but I can't remember it. If you just tell them what I just wrote, they will bring you what is in the picture. Remember, the folks who run the place are really nice and will help you out. You will be rewarded with fresh, salad with a wide variety of flavors.

The other thing you should order is a bowl of Pho. I like it with meatballs, but they have just about every combination of meat that you can imagine. You might wonder why there is no picture of the Pho soup, if it is my favorite. Thinks about this: when is the last time you saw an interesting soup picture? Sure, maybe some put a glob of cheese on top or something like that, but soup pictures are just not very interesting.

You might find eating soup with chopsticks intimidating. I will only say this: if you let that intimidate you, you will miss out on some great food. These folks have two locations, so I put both maps in here.

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