Guro Thai restaurant cheat day: pad thai and milk tea at Thai Du

What is Thai Du Guro Digital Complex Branch like?

Thai Du Guro Digital Complex Branch (타이두 구로디지털단지점) is a Thai and Vietnamese restaurant in the Guro Digital Complex area. It was about a 5-minute walk from Four Points by Sheraton Seoul, Guro, where I was staying.

They sell a wide range of food, and the bún chả (Vietnamese grilled pork with noodles) by the entrance looked so good.

• Address: 110 Dijiteol-ro 26-gil, Guro-gu, Seoul, 1st floor
• Hours: Mon–Sat 11:00–22:00 (closed every Sunday, break time 15:00–17:00, last order 21:30)
• Parking: one post says it is possible on weekdays after 5 pm, so keep that in mind

What is the interior like, and is it OK for groups?

The ceilings are high, so the place feels really open. The tables are spaced widely and the seating can be moved around, so groups can eat here too. A group was dining while I was there, and office workers came in as a group after them.

The lighting and interior go well together, which gave it a classy feel. Baby chairs are available too.

What is on the Thai Du menu?

The menu was really varied: noodles, rice, main dishes, sides, salads and soups. The noodles include the TV-famous rice noodles (생활의 달인 쌀국수), tom yum rice noodles, pad thai and bún chả, and you can add cilantro. For rice there is pad kapao moo sap (Thai stir-fried pork over rice), and plain steamed rice is free with unlimited refills.

The main dishes are plentiful too: pu pad pong curry, gung pad pong curry, pak chi kai, coconut chicken, gung gati, pak boong fai daeng and more.

There was a time sale on gung gati, and the description said it is a popular dish of crispy fried shrimp topped with a coconut milk sauce. With that written there, I had to order it. I had planned to eat bún chả, but reading the pad thai description made me crave pad thai after so long. In the end I ordered pad thai.

Sides include shrimp spring rolls, yachae popia (Thai vegetable spring rolls) and handmade tod man goong (Thai shrimp cutlets). Salads are yum woon sen and som tam, and the soup is tom yum goong.

Drinks cover soju, beer, wine and spirits, and there are Thai and Singaporean beers as well.

They also sell handmade Thai tea from Chatramue, a famous Thai milk tea brand, along with various ades and sodas.

Cheat-day order: pad thai with cilantro, gung gati, yum woon sen, Chatramue milk tea

Here is my order: pad thai with cilantro, gung gati and yum woon sen, plus a Chatramue milk tea. I really had a proper cheat day on this Seoul trip. Anyone who reads my blog might doubt whether I'm actually on a diet, haha.

What sauces and side dishes come out?

The tables are stocked with hoisin sauce, chili sauce and pepper. Small plates and side dishes come out too: pickled radish and onion. The onion is thick but not spicy, and it was tangy and tasty.

How does the pad thai at Thai Du taste?

The pad thai came with lemon, bean sprouts, crushed peanuts and crushed pepper.

I mixed it well and tried it, and it's delicious. It really feels like what I ate in Thailand. I was eating without thinking, and then a little spiciness crept up, which was so good. The cilantro came out too.

I put cilantro on top and ate it, then tried the shrimp. The shrimp were big and tasty too.

Is there enough shrimp in the time-sale gung gati?

Even though it was a discounted dish, the gung gati was generous, with fried shrimp laid all the way to the bottom. It arrived while I was still eating the pad thai.

I figured a discounted dish wouldn't have many shrimp, but there was fried shrimp underneath too. The coconut-based sauce wasn't spicy, but it went really well with the fried shrimp.

What did the yum woon sen taste like?

In the yum woon sen, the celery, mung bean glass noodles and tangy sauce go together so well. I had tried it in Thailand 10 years ago and never since, apart from buffets and the like. None of the dishes are small, and looking back, I can see why I gained weight after my trip to Seoul.

The gung gati shrimp and sauce go well together. The tangy glass noodles are good too. The Chatramue milk tea came out, and the staff told me it's very sweet, so I should drink it after the meal.

The fried shrimp were plump and crispy, tasty, and the portion was big. Eating pad thai and yum woon sen again after so long was great. The seasoning was so good I almost ordered rice, but held back.

It's also good with cilantro on top, eating the shrimp together with the sauce. It was so good that I scraped the plate clean.

Can you take the Chatramue milk tea to go?

Mixed well, the Chatramue milk tea at Thai Du was rich and sweet, and good. I was too full, so I asked for it as takeout, and sipping it while walking around Guro Digital Complex to digest was cool and delicious.

Plans for the next visit

My wife and kids love Thai food too, so next time I come to Seoul I want to bring them to Thai Du Guro Digital Complex Branch. Then I'll try a bit of everything, like som tam and bún chả.