Thai Dawn Bistro

In the ashes of the once booming Maan Fu Steakhouse in Victorville is the newly opened Thai Dawn Bistro. Thai Dawn is from the same owners of Go Bangkok Thai in Hesperia, one of the many credible Thai operations in the HD.

As I entered Thai Dawn I immediately felt comfort in the elegantly decorated restaurant, for being such a small room, they were able to add great decor and plenty of seating while not making the diner feel like they were eating in a cafeteria or eating in an overly fancy bistro. The first thing my wife and i ordered was the "Bangkok Bites" appetizer sampler. The appetizer came with eggrolls, satay chicken skewers, fried tofu, and curry puff packets. The appetizer came with 3 dipping sauces: Cucumber sauce, Thai Peanut sauce, and a house Sweet/Sour sauce. The first thing I tried was the satay chicken, the chicken had a mild curry taste and was cooked properly, it tasted great when dipped in the mildly spiced thai peanut sauce. The best thing about the chicken was that it wasn't overpowered by the curry seasoning, which left plenty of room for tasting the great flavor in the peanut sauce. Next were the eggrolls, the eggrolls were fried to a decent crunch, but the inside was slightly mushy. The veggies inside the eggrolls were properly seasoned and went great with the house's sweet/sour sauce. The house sweet/sour sauce was a lighter version of normal sweet/sour sauces in chinese restaurants, it tasted more tangy than your average sweet/sour sauce too. Next up was the fried tofu, the glory of tofu is that it tastes like whatever you season it with or decide to dip it in. I chose to dip the tofu triangles in the cucumber sauce, the sauce tasted like a sweet/sour sauce with a slight aftertaste of cucumber, the bits of cucumber in the sauce added for an excellent crunch factor to each bite. Last were the curry puff packets which were potato bits cooked in a curry paste, wrapped in a won ton packet, and deep fried. The packets had a similar taste to the chicken satay being that both items were cooked with yellow curry, the won ton had great crunch, and the tender curry potatoes on the inside played well together with any of the 3 sauces. The fried items in the appetizer were fried perfectly and were not super greasy or overly filling, it was a perfect appetizer sampler to prepare us for the main course.
Above is the Tofu Pad Thai that my wife ordered. Pad Thai is a rice noodle dish which is cooked in a peanut sauce, and filled with meat, veggies, or tofu. My wife decided to go with tofu and veggies. My favorite thing about Pad Thai is the rice noodles, they're not super mushy or super firm, but cooked to the point where they melt in your mouth and allow you to easily taste any other item which is incorporated into the dish without feeling a strain of chewing rough noodles. The peanut sauce in the Pad Thai tasted amazing, it had a very delicate peanut taste, and very little heat. The tofu and vegetables added great texture to the dish and the crunched up peanut bits on top added a great crunch to finish out the dish. The Pad Thai alone is more than enough reason to visit the Thai Dawn Bistro.
I order the Thai Normai dish, which is a spicy curry dish with bamboo chutes, green beans, various bell peppers, and a side of rice. I also added tofu and vegetables to my main course. The bamboo in this dish shines over everything, the bamboo is very tender, yet still provides a snap when chewed and has a similar taste to cooked celery. The sauce wasn't as spicy as I had hoped, but the curry and aftertaste from the other various spices in the dish were more than enough to make up for the lack of heat. The tofu and veggies were also cooked to perfection and tasted great when mixed with the rice in the dish.

I ended up getting a Thai Milk Iced Tea with my dinner, the fact that it tasted great was nothing compared to the huge beer glass that it was served in! The service at Thai Dawn was also very prompt and polite. We went on a busy night and the service was still great. Meals were flying out of the kitchen at a quick speed, which was pretty impressive considering how much prep and seasoning goes into Thai food. If you've never had Thai food before, I would highly recommend giving it a try, the various curry's and spices in the food are nothing to be afraid of, and provide great flavor in every dish. Thai Dawn is highly recommended and for our appetizer, thai teas, and 2 main courses, the bill came out to just under $40. Thai Dawn Bistro is located at 14317 Bear Valley Rd. Ste 2 in Victorville. Thai Dawn's sister restaurant (Go Bangkok) is located at 15800 Main St. Ste 200 in Hesperia.