The Davis County enclave of Sunset, Utah isn’t well known for its adventurous dining options. But I recently happened upon a terrific little hole-in-the-wall Thai cafe called Ros Ni Yuhm Thai Restaurant.
For the past few months, Ros Ni Yuhm has occupied the space that was previously home to a good Vietnamese eatery called Saigon Cafe Vietnamese Noodle House. I always like Saigon Cafe and was happy to see that Ros Ni Yuhm, in addition to Thai dishes, retained a few pho offerings, as well.
You won’t travel to this Sunset dining destination for the atmosphere. It’s simple and sparse, with flourescent lighting and a few Thai posters on the walls. But that’ll be forgotten once you taste the food, with is authentic and cheap.
Two Thai women run the restaurant, cooking and serving; they are the entire staff, apparently. They are very friendly and kind, even though their English is rudimentary, at best. (Hey, it’s much better than my command of the Thai language!) The small lady with the big smile in the kitchen has worked for more than 40 years cooking and serving Thai cuisine before opening her own restaurant.
Like the cafe itself, which has probably six or eight tables, the menu is relatively small. It features appetizers, a handful of noodle dishes, rice dishes, curries, soups, Thai salads, and specials. Beverages are limited to Thai tea, Thai coffee and water. There’s also a lunch menu (available from 11 am to 3 pm), priced at $6.99, which includes a choice of entree, an eggroll and a skewer of chicken satay.
After placing our dinner order, my wife and I were surprised when small bowls of soup were delivered to our table, gratis. It was Ros Ni Yuhm’s scrumptious pork noodle soup: ground pork in a pho broth with vermicelli rice noodles, green onion, cilantro and bean sprouts in pork broth.
For an appetizer we chose Thai spring rolls ($5.99), which was four generous, overstuffed rice paper rolls with shredded lettuce, carrot, shrimp, rice noodles, mint and cilantro. Served alongside was a bowl of delicious, sweet peanut sauce for dipping. We saved two of the spring rolls for lunch the following day.
Portions are very large, so order accordingly. The noodle dishes and curries we enjoyed made for plenty of leftovers and each could have easily been shared by four hungry people. Pad See Eew ($10.99) is one of my favorite Thai noodle dishes and the version at Ros Ni Yuhm is excellent. Wide, flat rice noodles (sort of pappardelle shaped) are stir fried with mushrooms, carrots, broccoli, bell peppers, scallions and Thai basil in a spicy Thai sauce, and includes a protein choice of chicken, beef or pork. We opted for chicken, which was very tender boneless pieces of chicken breast, nicely seasoned.
Everything at this appealing little restaurant is made from scratch, including the five curries on the menu. If you’ve never had Thai curry, it’s different from Indian-style curries. For starters, they all incorporate coconut milk and tend to be sweeter than their Indian counterparts. Ros Ni Yuhm offers the following curries, all priced at $10.99: red, green, Panang, Mussamun and yellow.
Eventually, I hope to get back to try some of the other curries at Ros Ni Yuhm, especially if the green curry is any indication of the quality of the rest. Green curry paste is blended with coconut milk, bamboo shoots (fresh ones), bell peppers, zucchini, Thai basil and, in our case, a handful of shrimp. The curry was medium-spicy, as ordered, and not as sweet as so many curries in Thai restaurants where sugar is commonly added. As with the other dishes, we walked out with as much curry and rice as we’d eaten – more leftovers for the next day.
So, the next time you’re in Davis County and in the mood for authentic Thai cooking in a super-friendly spot, make your way to Ros Ni Yuhm. You’ll say YUM!
Photos by Ted Scheffler
Culinary quote of the week:
I wanted people to come to the restaurant and feel at home, so I put it in a house.
— Alice Waters
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Originally trained as an anthropologist, Ted Scheffler is a seasoned food, wine & travel writer based in Utah. He loves cooking, skiing, and spends an inordinate amount of time tending to his ever-growing herd of guitars and amplifiers.
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