Charleston Eats: Thai East Fusion

Over by the Tanger Outlet Mall in North Charleston, just a few doors down from Mr. K’s Used Bookstore on International Blvd is a new Thai restaurant, Thai East Fusion.  I learned about it from a recent article in the Post & Courier and we decided to check it out this afternoon.

Rows of benches line the side of the strip mall space, with a row of tables running down the middle.  Inside is comfortable, brightly lit and not overly decorated.

We started off with a dish of kimchi and the ginger salad.  The salad that came out was larger than expected with a nice amount of sweet ginger dressing that wasn’t too gingery.

Thai East Fusion Salad and Kimchi
Thai East Fusion Salad and Kimchi

The kimchi, according to the P&C article, is made in-house using the family’s secret recipe.  Crisp, pungent, spicy, and delicious.  Probably some of the best kimchi I’ve had in the area.

Thai East Fusion Kimchi
Thai East Fusion Kimchi

Entrees come in 5 levels of spiciness: No spice, mild, medium, spicy, and Thai spicy.  For dinner, I chose the  Pad Thai with beef (Thai spicy), and Connie got the Basil Chicken (medium).  Generously laden plates came out, each enough for three or four people (two or three if everybody is really hungry). 

The Pad Thai was pretty tasty with the good flavourful kind of spicy.  A few squirts of Sriracha sauce can be used to bump up the spice level even more.

Thai East Fusion Pad Thai
Thai East Fusion Pad Thai

The Basil Chicken was quite good with a nice coconut-y curry sauce.  The chicken was nicely cooked and very tasty.  The medium spicy-ness was perfect for Connie.  For fellow anti-cilantro types, the cilantro on the Basil was just a garnish and is easily removed (or just ask to leave off the cilantro).

Thai East Fusion Basil Chicken
Thai East Fusion Basil Chicken

Everything we had was delicious.  We quite enjoyed the meal, and are looking forward to going back to try the mango sticky rice, which they unfortunately didn’t have when we were there.