Yupha's Thai Kitchen

[ScottofStrand]

Yuhpa's used to be located on Elliot and Hardy, making it the perfect place to stop after a rock climbing session at Climbmax Rock Gym. They picked up and moved to Elliot and McClintock a couple years back and the few extra mile drive did not stop me from continuing the tradition.

When I first started eating here, I found it to be a very decent Thai place, serving all the traditional dishes. Pad Thai was good. Thai Curries were very tasty. Then I discovered they knew how to cook duck the right way, and it's all i've been able to order since.

If you go, I highly recommend the Ped Dang Gaeng, Crispy Roast Duck with coconut curry, thai basil, pineapple, peppers and tomatoes. I get it "hot", but not "thai hot" unless i'm feeling masochistic. If you prefer a sweet and savory duck dish, the Roasted Duck over spinach served with its own sauces, is also out of this world.

Only had my crummy camera phone with me yesterday.


Yupha's Thai Kitchen
www.yuphasthaikitchen.com
1805 E. Elliot Rd.
Tempe, AZ 85284
480-839-0576

[Skillet Doux]

Thanks for the report, Scott!

This is one that's been on my Thai To-Try list for a while... adding duck to the notes

[M_L]

I love this place and generally stick to one of the Yellow/Red curry dishes but after hearing your Duck report I think I will branch out and get that.

I really enjoy their fried tofu dish as well and there is something else there we usually always get but my brain is blanking it.

[ShainaR]

+1 for Yupha's, but make sure you have time for a nap afterwards

[Erin]

I work near Yupha's and have been there several times. It is delicious! My favorite dish is Pad see ew(thai hot) and Yupha's makes it better than any place I have tried here. Their panang and yellow curries(hot) were also delicious and I feel they are very accurate with the spice level I ask for. I have not yet gone there for dinner, but my lunch experiences have always been great.

[Skillet Doux]

Welcome, Erin... glad to have you here!

That's so odd... I've never heard of pad see ew being a dish somebody orders hot, much less Thai hot I'm curious, is that something they suggest, or is that your request? And how do they go about amping up the heat?

[Erin]

The thai hot is completely my request! Different places go about spicing it up differently. Some places just saute chili peppers up in it, some add chili paste. I feel like Yupha's adds paste which for this particular dish, I enjoy more.

[ScottofStrand]

I hit up Yupha's again last night. They've updated the menu a bit, and added several more duck dishes. I was craving my favorite Ped Dang Gaeng, Crispy Roast duck with coconut curry sauce, thai basil, peppers and pineapple. It did not disappoint. I also had the Chicken Satay which is served with a tasty peanut sauce and cucumber onion relish. I tried Thai Jerky also this time. It was fried beef with green papaya salad and sticky rice. The beef was nicely caramelized and the papaya salad had a good balance of flavor. Not as good as the duck, but still a win.

I still feel like Yupha's stands up against other Thai in the valley. I'm not a Thai expert, but i've had my fair share. I'd love to go here with someone more familiar with authentic Thai to get the low down.

[Skillet Doux]

This is going to have to be a Foodnik Friday sometime soon.

[PHXeater]

I'm no Thai expert either but did spend a couple weeks in Thailand and love this place. I used to go at least once a week when I worked in Chandler and stuck with the lunch basics, but looks like I was missing out on the duck.

[Erin]

This is going to have to be a Foodnik Friday sometime soon.

YES!

[BillBuitenhuys]

Going to Yupha's for the first time tonight so where do I turn to first? PFN, of course.

Thanks, Scott. I know what I'm ordering tonight.

[ScottofStrand]

I almost always get the same thing, so I don't even know how good or bad the rest of the menu is! I remember the Satay being good also, but the Ped Dang Gaeng and Roast Duck are my go-to's for sure! Let us know what you think!

[BillBuitenhuys]

Ok, this place rocks.

We started with the Sampler plate that included 2 really crispy, flavorfulThai rolls, two Golden curry puffs which are a delicate pastry dough filled with spiced ground chicken and potato, 6 Buddha delights (fried tofu that was decent but not that interesting), and 6 Kew Krob like a little crab rangoon type thing, also just ok.

But the tom kha gai was a-mazing with a richly flavorful coconut lemongrass broth and lots of acidic zing. We got the bowl for $10 and it was enough for 4 of us to have lots. Ya, there is tender chicken and mushroom but the broth is the star. I woke up wanting more of this broth. Wow wow.

tom kha gai

Others in my group got the yellow curry (which I didn't get to try), pad thai (very proper) and beef pad prik king. Love the pad thai and pad prik king.

I had to get the duck ped dang gaeng and I'm so glad I did. Perfectly crispy skin, lots of moist meaty duck with a red curry coconut sauce that kept me going back for more. Lovely stuff and wonderfully hot (got the regular hot, not thai hot...next time I'll try thai hot).

ped dang gaeng

[Tim H]

Finally got around to trying this place. My wife is Thai, and we always enter Thai restaurants with trepidation because they usually disappoint. I think Yhuppa's is a step above a lot of Thai restaurants, but it was a mixed experience for us.

First, the fish cakes were fantastic, among the best I've had. Tender and flavorful even without the delicious shallot relish. We both loved them. The duck salad was also nice: tart and fresh with salty duck.

The green curry is the standard green curry you expect from Thai restaurants: canned coconut milk with commerical green paste. This kind of green curry is too heavy (it should be closer to a soup than a chowder) and it doesn't have lovely globs of fat on the surface from frying the curry paste in the cracked coconut fat. It completely lacks the fresh, vibrant punch of a good green curry. But for $10 it does the job. My wife's complaint is that it was loaded with bell peppers and wasn't finished with Thai basil. (They used bell peppers in three of the four dishes we ordered. It's not just not authentic -- it completely changes the nature of the dish.)

The big disappointment was the pad gra pow. Or at least that's what they call it on the menu. But it isn't pad gra pow. It's a bell pepper and oyster sauce stir fry. Pad gra pow should be a stir fry of meat, garlic, chilies, basil, fish sauce, and maybe, optionally, a bit of oyster sauce for color and salt (the traditional recipe leaves it out). It's simple and delicious, and it happens to be my favorite Thai dish. At Yhupa's, I got a hint of basil, but the oyster sauce and bell peppers overwhelmed the dish. I'm not saying it was a bad dish, it just wasn't pad gra pow. (Thai Rama in Chandler does a good pad gra pow, and they don't bat an eye when you order it with a soft fried egg.)

Fish cakes - Todd Mun

Duck salad - Yum Ped

Green curry

"Pad gra pow" - sort of

[Skillet Doux]

My wife's complaint is that it was loaded with bell peppers and wasn't finished with Thai basil. (They used bell peppers in three of the four dishes we ordered. It's not just not authentic -- it completely changes the nature of the dish.)

This drives me crazy, and I'm glad I'm not the only one. But I'm glad to hear you thought a couple of the dishes were really good, especially the tod mun. I love tod mun. Gotta get over there.

Incidentally, Tim, do you mind if I ask what part of Thailand your wife is from? I'm still learning the regional subtleties, but this menu seems pretty squarely in line with central style... does that assessment seem correct to you guys?

[Tim H]

Noi is grew up on the outskirts of Bangkok and went to college there. She also worked as a tour guide near Chiang Mai for a couple of years. She's an expert fruit carver -- I may post some pics if I can talk her into it.

She says that everything we ordered at Yupha's is a central Thai, and that the rest of the menu seemed to be central Thai as well. I'm no expert on Thai food myself, but when I was a poor English teacher, I lived on three dishes: pad grapow, green curry, and chicken cashew stir fry (gai pad met ma muang?). So I have strong opinions on those particular dishes.