The daily digest of Twin Cities culture | Secrets of the City

Roat Osha offers Thai food the way Americans like it, and that's just fine. The new Thai restaurant at 27^th and Hennepin follows pretty much the same formula as the other three Uptown Thai eateries, including Chiang Mai Thai, Amazing Thailand, and Roat Osha's sister restaurant, Tum Rup Thai: stylish contemporary décor, big bar with a hip cocktail menu, and lots of colorful dishes that tend to look alike, because they all have carrots and broccoli and green beans and big chunks of red bell pepper. Okay, not all of them, but you get the idea.

Finding good Thai food in the Twin Cities isn't easy — the best I have found recently has been at True Thai on Franklin Ave. E. in Minneapolis. I have been very disappointed with what I have tasted at the Thai restaurants in Uptown, and though I have only sampled a few dishes at Otho and Kindee, and the re-opened Ruam Mit in downtown Saint Paul, none of them seemed to get it quite right. (My usual test is to order a hot and sour tom yum soup and a green curry, both complex and pungent dishes; too often, the green curry