Tom Yum Cafe - YUM!

I heard about Tom Yum Cafe through PIGMON, who heard from trixie-pea, who saw it on Instagram. PIGMON has been pushing the spot for about a month and I should have listened sooner.

After the first bite of their Nam Kao Tod, I regretted waiting as long as I did. It was sloppy... in a good way. I’d call it rustic, with contrasting size and texture chunks of rice, naem that is crudely chopped and charred up a bit before being tossed into the salad. The surprising addition of tiny dried coconut threads, and ample Thai basil were a welcome addition. Absolutely Superb!





The next to come out, the Gai Tod, was equally as wowsome - extremely moist with an excellent marinade. If it holds up to further visits, this is my new favorite version in the city. The dipping sauce could have used more lime and fish sauce (or less sugar) and a lot more heat, but the chicken more than made up for it.





I was not familiar with Kaeng Som Goong, so can’t compare to other versions, but I can say I really loved this. The primary flavor was difficult for me to pinpoint, so I assume it was the cha-om that was in the omelet, which I was unfamiliar with. It was very earthy and a bit sulfury, somewhat reminiscent of the thai stinky beans. The tamarind based seafood broth was given depth with (I assume) shrimp paste, and it made for a rich complex broth.



We got a soup (forgot the name) that contained bamboo pith and shiitake mushrooms, which was undoubtedly good, but for me at least its subtlety got lost after such strong dishes.



The Phat Kaphrao with both crispy pork belly and ground pork was a bit of an excess with the meat on meat action, but totally the kind of dish LTH loves. I loved it. The thai basil was the main other flavor, and it (again) could have used more thai chilis. Next time I’m going to specify we’d like the food spicier for sure, as even though everything was punchy in all other flavors, we may have been a tinsy bit whited.



The green curry was a bit lackluster and skewed very sweet, would not order again…



The fried rice was pretty good, and while a bit plain it had a decent wok hei, it came with a side nam phrik, and a few limes which really woke up the dish. The staff couldn’t have been friendlier, so much so that bizarro pramote and bizarro wanpen sent this dish out from the kitchen complimentary! I guess they didn’t think we ordered enough food for four people…



Amazing place, amazing food, lovely staff. Will be rushing back very soon.

Tom Yum Cafe
608 W Barry Ave
Chicago, IL 60657
(773) 270-5646

Tom Yum Cafe
608 W Barry Ave
Chicago, IL 60657
(773) 270-5646
tomyumcafe.com
Fri-Sat 11AM–11PM
Sun-Tue,Thu 11AM–10PM
Wed Closed

Definitely really good stuff, looking forward to going back.

Thankfully Leela Punyaratabandhu translated the Thai menus which made ordering considerably easier (they understood almost all of my completely butchered Thai pronunciations). The green curry was originally supposed to have "bouncy fish balls" but apparently they were out that day. I'm not sure if it would have been better or a different curry if it was the off-menu version but the green curry was really the only dud for me. I definitely agree with laikom that this is some amazing kai tod, but I actually enjoyed the sauce it came with (mostly because of the rice powder, I think). The second soup we got was the "sup yuea phai sai mu sap (clear soup of bamboo mushrooms with ground-pork dumplings)" which was maybe my second least favorite dish that we got.

On the other hand, the kaeng som cha-om khai was one of the most complex and delicious Thai dishes I've had.

There remains a lot of really interesting stuff to try and I can't wait to get back to check it out.

As a heads up, the place is tiny. It makes pre-expansion Rainbow look huge. There's 2 2-tops and 2 4-tops with not really any room to rearrange/combine them.

I LOVE this place....
My fav is "Tom Yum Noodle (Creamy)" with egg noodle, lots of toppings (for lack of a better word)

The place is tiny and she's mostly a one-woman show so it might take a while for you to get the food. I always call ahead and reserve a table if I'm planning on eating there.

You'll always see Thais eating there so, good sign.