Yum Yum 3 or (Yum Yum Yum Yum Yum Yum)

These restaurant posts are no longer in chronological order, but what do you care? They're 2 months late anyway!

So I was in NYC and called up some friends to have lunch. Due to various miscommunications, sicknesses, etc., it ended up being a cozy lunch with two Techer friends, E and Y. Luckily, Y. knew his way around and took us to Yum Yum 3.

It made us wonder about the status of Yum Yum 1 and Yum Yum 2. *shrug*

Anyway, we got the lunch special, which consisted of a choice of soup, an entree, and a dessert or drink.

I went with the Thai Iced Tea

the coconut soup (Tom Kha Gai?):

and the Spicy Basil Noodle:

while E had the Pad Thai:

and Y had some sort of spicy stir-fried chicken with green beans (Pad Prik King?):

The food was okay: the Thai Iced Tea was very sweet: much sweeter than I am used to, so it was a bit surprising at first. I gradually got used to it, since I don't have any particular aversion to sweet drinks while dining. (Probably the ice melting helped to dilute the sweetness a bit.)
The coconut soup was rather sour for my tastes. It masked any flavor that might have been apparent in the broth. For this type of light soup, I think there should be a strong broth flavor with subtle hints of other flavorings (maybe lemongrass, leek, etc.), and then any flavorful component should be a solid object, like the mushroom or chicken.
The noodles were good. It wasn't overly greasy, and I am a big fan of spiciness, basil, and broccoli (either separate or combined).

Overall, I would say this is a decent place for a quick and cheap Thai meal, although one would think it rather upscale from the plating. However, the flavors, as a whole seem rather muted; neither the in-your-face goodness of homestyle cooking but not the fanciful combinations of a high-end place. It felt very much like some sort of Americanized Thai food, though the chef apparently was born in Thailand (but emigrated here at 20).

Anyway, I don't remember the exact price of the lunch special, somewhere in the $6.95 ballpark. I think you can get a pretty good indication of the restaurant by the last line in the "Story of us" page on their website: "Our special is a five-course prix-fixe meal for $13.95."

Apparently those five courses (dinner, of course) are:
Soup
Spring Roll
Salad
Entree
Dessert

I wouldn't exactly call that a prix-fixe so much as the dinner special, but hey, whatever floats your boat. I should suggest to Sammy that he call his bento a seven-course prix-fixe:

1. entree
2. california roll
3. miso
4. rice
5. tempura
6. salad
7. ginger

Yum Yum 3 Thai & Vietnamese Restaurant
658 9th Avenue (corner of 9th and 46th)
New York, NY 10036