Travel far and wide with Kin Thai’s Pad Thai

Kin Thai’s Pad Thai, ordered “tamada,” or medium-level spicy, was the perfect pick-me-up during my cloudy Sunday afternoon. A generous portion of tangy noodles topped with chopped peanuts, thinly sliced red cabbage, a pile of julienned scallions, a fat slice of lime and six big shrimp nestled on a dark green banana leaf proved a feast for the senses that I’m already planning to repeat. The price point was solid for the quality of the ingredients, and my food was ready in mere minutes.

Since I was dining alone and didn’t wish to gaze upon Lansing Shuffle’s expansive cafeteria any longer, I hurried my takeout back to my house. It was still piping hot in its biodegradable container when I arrived.

As I sat down at my own kitchen table, cozy and familiar, with nearby walls to define the boundaries of time and space, I imagined eating Kin Thai’s food in its own restaurant, maybe downtown. I don’t know much about the restaurant business, despite waiting tables and prep cooking for a decade, but I do know that one of my favorite parts of eating Thai food is enjoying the calm and typically cozy ambiance of Thai restaurants. I think Kin Thai has the makings of a fabulous brick-and-mortar, and I’ll be looking forward to that day.

As someone who usually prefers my takeout less fried and more fresh, I was surprised when I found my shrimp had been steamed instead of pan-fried. I couldn’t even remember the last time I had shrimp that wasn’t loaded with oil, breaded or both. At first, I was trepidatious. The texture was sort of reminiscent of cocktail shrimp. But as I bit into the second one, I started to taste the saltwater flavor and was transported back to eating fresh seafood as a child while visiting my grandparents, who lived near New York City. It’s funny how a flavor like that can mess with your sense of time. A boring Sunday afternoon that could’ve been spent fretting about Monday was transformed into tastes, smells and visions of the past and future.

Although the noodle portion was large, I was up to the task. I sat back, satisfied with my choice — and maybe even a little emboldened. Perhaps next time I will venture to try the next level of spice.