Tasty Trek: March 2013

Restaurant Updates and Changes

This website is our dining experiences at the restaurants listed here. Please be aware that since being blogged about on Tasty Trek, some of the restaurants have been known to have closed permanently, moved location or even changed names and ownership. Please, always check your own local listing on a particular restaurant to see if the information given on this blog is still up to date at the time of your visit.

Always consult the particular restaurant or establishment that you are interested in for all their current hours of operation, menus, specials and locations.

Thank you.

Delicious!

Geo and Lisa have set out on an adventure... to boldly venture forth to places we have never gone before... to unearth what had previously been to us, a hidden food culture in the city we call home, Spokane. Without a doubt, it is truly a pleasure to taste the many wonderful flavors of the world that lay hidden like treasure in the kitchens of small business owners in nearby neighborhoods until their presence upon the menu catches our eye. Our quest was not to to find the best or the worst... but to try something new, to make new friends and acquaintances and to discover for ourselves more of what life in Spokane is like and what our community has to offer in way of culinary experiences.

The inspiration to embark on such a journey came after several dinner outings where we realized that there were many ethnic foods and extremely nice people who owned restaurants in Spokane. Having found this to be quite remarkable, we simply decided to broaden our horizon, to boldly go where we had never gone before, and keep a log of where we had been, what we ate and what we experienced while we were there.

With time to spend together around the dinner hour and a little lunch money in our pockets that we could give to our community in a "support your local business" type fof way, we began our food trekking journey in and around the city, and even venture out from time to time. It has become our quest, our journey... perhaps even our weird obsession, but whatever it is, whatever you think it may be, it is done with a spirit of adventure, one that we now take with us, everywhere, and wherever we go...

This is Lisa's blog... and THIS is Tasty Trek. This is our story.

Monday, March 18, 2013

Maw Phin

To our surprise a Thai restaurant recently opened up just a little bit north of Spokane. Located on Hwy 2 in Mead, the parking lot was loaded with the cars of customers trying the new cuisine. If you are familiar with the area, you know that the building it it is in has been the home of several other businesses in the past. Things have changed. Enter through the door and you'll notice it's something completely different than anything else in Mead. The delicious aromas and simple but elegant decor warmly welcome you into the Maw Phin dining experience.

The address is 14891 N. Newport Highway, and it is right across the street from two other well known and liked local eating spots, a Subway sandwich shop and the Cinola Restaurant and Lounge. Maw Phin, offering a little something different in their Thai dishes, like Pad Thai and Mussaman Curry, certainly stands as a nice addition to the mix of restaurants in the Mead area. Thai food lovers traveling north and south on Hwy 2 or who live on the north side of town will find all their favorite food dishes in this quaint restaurant, we did. And you do not have to simply eat -in, you can drive thru and pick up your orders to take home too. They are open from 11:AM to 8 PM. Customers can get dinner or lunch!

Our dinner began with the Spring Rolls....

and Thai Tea.

This was followed by Tom Kha Gai, a delicious coconut milk and chicken soup.... (flavored with exotic things like galanga, and lemongrass.)

We ordered another dish we like too, called Druken Noodles. We ordered this one a bit on the spicy side.... not too much. (Yum!) The flavors were wonderful. They can make most of the dishes as mild or spicy as you enjoy.

We passed on the dessert tonight though I must say that the black rice with coconut ice cream sounded really good to me. This is definitely something you will want to try at a Thia restaurant sometime if you have never had before.

In the traditional Thai style we were offered a lovely little sweet treat upon our departure- a delicious buttercream mint, which topped off the meal very nicely.