Oraan Thai Eatery is run by co-founders Pam Nanthanwan and Pim Soithong, who grew up watching their mother cook — she has more than twenty years of experience as a Thai chef — and built the restaurant around that same repertoire of childhood and local Thai dishes, reworked with a modern twist. Chef Yai manages the kitchen. It operates as a neighborhood counter-ordering spot, with ingredients sourced locally and sauces and condiments made in house.
The menu leans on dishes like Porsod, fresh spring rolls filled with avocado, tofu, vegetables, and edible flowers, and Sai Oua, a Northern Thai herb sausage. Som Tum Pla Raa, a green papaya salad made with raw blue crabs, and Tod Mun Pla, house-made fried fish cakes built from fresh fish paste, round out the appetizer and salad sections, alongside a Tom Yum soup built on mushroom, lemongrass, and galangal. A fruit-and-peanut salad in sweet chili-lime dressing and a coconut-milk tom kha soup have developed a following, as has a green curry beef entrée substantial enough to order solo.
The restaurant occupies two dining rooms on Geary Boulevard, giving it a casual, come-as-you-are feel a notch more composed than its block's usual offerings.
The menu leans on dishes like Porsod, fresh spring rolls filled with avocado, tofu, vegetables, and edible flowers, and Sai Oua, a Northern Thai herb sausage. Som Tum Pla Raa, a green papaya salad made with raw blue crabs, and Tod Mun Pla, house-made fried fish cakes built from fresh fish paste, round out the appetizer and salad sections, alongside a Tom Yum soup built on mushroom, lemongrass, and galangal. A fruit-and-peanut salad in sweet chili-lime dressing and a coconut-milk tom kha soup have developed a following, as has a green curry beef entrée substantial enough to order solo.
The restaurant occupies two dining rooms on Geary Boulevard, giving it a casual, come-as-you-are feel a notch more composed than its block's usual offerings.