One of the many fringe benefits of being together with a beautiful, smart (albeit stressed, hello, calm down) girl of the world like Karin is that she has a nose for great areas and restaurants. So, living in the middle of le Marais in Paris, with me off at INSEAD being poor and derelict, she naturally tends to ferret out an inevitably agreeable collection of food joints.
Mai Thai is right around the corner from our (ok, her) apartment, so thanks to the murderous pace BCG puts her through (finally I can say I work as much or more than she does, gee thanks, INSEAD) she gets to personally know all the restaurateurs in the area who’ll still seat and feed her at the ungodly hours when she gets off work.
The restaurant makes great Thai classics (in fact, look at the back of the menu for a “classics” section — highly recommend the Noix de St. Jacques au basilic frais) as you’d expect (well gee, otherwise I wouldn’t mention it. Snotty snotty. Starters are solid, such as the dried beef and beef salad, pair it up with a Riesling or other white. The place itself is a hole in the wall, which doesn’t feel cramped thanks to a nice airy design (although the first time we went, we ended up receiving about 50 tips for things to do around Paris from the nice people next to us. Parisians can be remarkably friendly when you get into conversation with them.)
http://www.maithai.fr/
24 bis, rue Saint-Gilles
75003 Paris
+33 1 42 72 18 77
