Champa Thai
Located in the Pearl Kai Shopping Center, Champa Thai has been serving food in this location for more than a dozen years.
I had not been here before, but decided to stop by for dinner last night based on the recommendation of a couple of friends. Once inside, I looked over the menu and decided to try a few dishes based upon this same recommendation.
For starters, I had the green papaya salad (US$5.75).
When the salad arrived, I discovered that it was literally swimming in sauce. For me, that was already a strike against this dish. I normally like a salad to be a bit dry and crisp, and that, this was not. On the plus side, the papaya was firm and had a nice bite to it. I was a bit surprised, though, to see that the salad contained large slices of tomato and a huge wedge of cabbage. I was not used to having either with this dish.
The salad was definitely a disappointment because I felt that too much nam pla (fish sauce) was used in its preparation detracting from the overall balance of flavor.
Next, I ordered the pla preaw wan (sweet and sour fish, US$8.75).
The menu describes this as deep-fried mahi mahi topped with a sweet sour sauce and mixed vegetables. There were seven pieces of wonderfully battered and deep-fried fish in this dish. When this dish arrived at the table, the pieces of fish were still crunchy! The sweet and sour sauce, had just the right touch of sweetness and tanginess to it. The vegetables, and a few chunks of pineapple, help round this out. This was definitely something that I would eat here again.
I also ordered one of the curry dishes to try. Tonight, I had the gaeng keo wan nua (green curry with beef, US$6.95)
Since I normally don't eat green curries, preferring either yellow or massaman, I was surprised at how light this curry actually was. It was only mildly spicy (and not at all salty), but surprisingly rich in flavor. The letdown here was the beef. It was tough and dry, not anything like what I would have expected. If the beef had been better, this would have been the star dish of the night.
To go along with all the dishes was an order of sticky rice (US$1.75).
I was pleasantly surprised to see this arrive in the traditional woven basket!
Would I make another trip here? Yes, I'd probably be willing to give this place another try. Although a couple of the dishes were not exactly to my liking, there definitely was some promise in the things that were good. I was especially impressed with the pla preaw wan, with the sauce having just the right balance and combination of flavors. The gaeng keo wan nua would probably have been the star dish of the night had it not been for the beef. Besides, the service was excellent and the prices were more than reasonable.
Champa Thai
Pearl Kai Shopping Center
98-199 Kamehameha Highway Space C2
Telephone: 808.488.2881
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