It's Saturday, so it ‘s time for my weekly Dallas area restaurant review.  Tonight, I will be writing about Ginger Thai, located at 6434 E. Mockingbird Lane (@ Abrams).

When it comes to Thai food, I am a creature of habit.  I have a couple of area Thai restaurants that I enjoy a lot, so I don't stray very often.  Last night I strayed!

My friend suggested we go to Ginger Thai and I am glad she was persistent... it was that good.

We started out with an order of steamed dumplings.  They were great.  Well cooked and nicely flavored, these chicken, shrimp and water chestnut filled dumplings took the hunger edge off!

For entrée's, my dining companion ordered the Thai Herbal Chicken and I ordered the Spicy Noodles with Chicken.  The Thai Herbal Chicken was a tempura style fried chicken dish with a nice blend of aromatic seasonings, but not spicy.  It was served with Jasmine Rice and a sweet and mildly spicy sauce on the side.  The Spicy Noodles (Fried fresh noodles with chili, garlic, tomato, bell pepper, onion, and sweet basil.) were well prepared, flavorful and with a good amount of chicken.  I liked that when I ordered this dish that the waitress asked me on a scale of 1 to 5, how spicy did I want them.  I suggested we try a "3" on the spicy scale and the result was exactly what I would have expected.  A good chef knows how to make that happen!

For dessert, we split a fried banana with green tea ice cream.  The banana was crisp on the outside and soft (but not mushy) on the inside.  A great way to end our meal.

Entrees were basically in the $8-12 range and portions were generous.  The appetizers were $4-7 and the dessert options were $3-6.  At these prices, the delicious food felt like a genuine bargain and as more people look for affordable dining options, I suspect that Ginger Thai will do very well.  I know that I'll be heading back again soon!