Won Dee Siam

Won Dee's appetizers are always a fun time.

Lightly fried duck spring rolls ($4) had a lot of duck flavor (though little meat) hiding amid the bean threads, taro, and mushrooms. Kraree puffs (below; $4.50), filled with curried chicken, potato, and onion, aren't very spicy, but the sour-sweet cucumber sauce is addictive. The kingfish fritters called tod mun pla (not shown; $4), blended with green pepper and paired with a peanut-and-chili sauce, are decent; so are the deep-fried calamari (not shown; $5.95), which I love to wipe in its sweet and spicy chili sauce.

Larger dishes are less exciting. Larb gai ($8.50), minced ground chicken with toasted rice, lime juice, cilantro, scallions, and chili, was bland for all that. Even the pad kra prow ($8.50) — hailed by the menu with "Two thumps up!" — got little mileage out of pork sautéed with fresh garlic, onion, fresh basil, and chili. Nothing wrong with sticking to the top of the menu and taking another pass at the apps.

Won Dee Siam
792 Ninth Ave. (52nd-53rd Sts.)
(one of two locations)
212-459-9057

Comments

[ELR]

I have always thought that the original Wondee (a few blocks down) showed superior care and flavor all through the menu - especially the entrees - than Wondee II.

[Dave Cook]

I agree, even if the lighting can be nearly as stark as a laundromat (lately, they've turned it down) and the restroom is accessible only via the kitchen. Thanks, too, for calling an error to my attention. The address in this post is for the original Wondee (where, sadly, my most recent entrees were uninspired), but at the end of the post I'd previously labeled it as Wondee II. That's now corrected.