Spice Island Tea House

Spice Island Tea House is a high-rated Thai restaurant in Oakland, opened in 1995.  I think it’s the best Southeast Asian restaurant I have ever been to in the US.  It is decorated by painting, flowers and crafts ornaments, with jazz music. A quaint and warm place to eat and talk with friends. The restaurant is owned by a family from Burma, and it provides food from Burma, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore. There are multiple types of meals: salad, curry, noodle soup, grill, wok-fry, fried rice and noodle, with tea and alcoholic beverage. The price of meals is around $11, and the price of snack is about $4 to $6.50. Every dish in the menu is labeled whether it is vegan, gluten-free, or vegan possible.

Curry

I recommend Burmese Lemongrass Beef curry. The beef is slowly stewed, and it’s tender enough to cut by a spoon. The taste of curry is not strong; the sense of lemongrass and other spices create a mild flavor in subtle balance. Rice is a bit dry, not as well as the one I ate in Thailand. Rice in Thailand, such as jasmine rice, has slightly sticky texture and sweet flavor. At the 2017 World Rice Conference, one type of jasmine rice, hom mali, was announced as world’s best rice. I hope they could change the rice.

Soup

I also highly recommend the soup. The restaurant only offers a soup of the day, and I hope they could list a weekly menu about soup. I want to try Tom Yum Kung soup, but I’m not sure when they will offer it. I went there on Friday, and they offer a soup made by tomato, mushroom, cauliflower, and tofu. The soup is a bit salty and sour, and sweet tomato alleviates the taste. I always think a high-quality restaurant should have the ability to bowl delicious soup, and Spicy Island Tea House did it.

Tips

• Not all the food is delicious. I ordered Thai ruby red basil sauce with beef once, honestly, I was disappointed. It tastes awful. My suggestion is to ask servers’ recommendation or look through the favored dishes online.
• The open time is:

Mon-Thurs 11:30 am – 8:45 pm; Fri – Sat 11:30 am – 9:45 pm; Sun – Closed

• The door is decorated with a curtain. The closing curtain does not mean the restaurant is closed.
• Spicy Island Tea house offers tea and liquor.
• The signal inside the restaurant is poor, I use T-Mobile and there is no way to access the internet. No WiFi.
• Official Website (with menu): http://www.spiceislandteahouse.com/

• Location: 253 Atwood Street