Tum Pok Pok

A few years ago, the lowly street food was introduced to this one horse town via the so-called Food Truck movement... And what a fucking debacle that was. Can the city of Atlanta and the elected knuckleheads that the pedestrian public voted in be anymore useless and clueless to the whole concept of a food truck? They put in so many restrictions on what a food truck can and cannot do. These things have an engine and wheels for a reason... So, they can go to where the people are. Not the other way around. It's such a simple goddamn concept: Food trucks come to you, you don't go to a fucking food truck park. It's like bringing your broken toilet to a plumber... Shit, I have broken a toilet or ten in my days. Don't ask, don't tell, bro... The explosive IBS may had something to do with bad street food.

So, I have been watching this place come to life every time I go to the newest Best BBQ a couple doors down. This semi-curse space has failed a bunch of gimmicky Vietnamese/fusion concepts over the years... Oh, let me count the ways... The ones that come to mind are Kajun Crab, WOW Pho & Grill, GAO... There were prolly a couple other shitholes that occupied this space for a brief time but that is neither here nor there. Now, a couple of new suckaz, err, players have decided they want to try to exorcise this hellhole of the previous failures and curses... Can a Thai street grub concept make it here? We shall see... Let's go take a first look..    

The space has been totally made over with most of the decor imported from Thailand. It's very bright and colorful which makes it an entertaining and comfortable place that you want to be at. It's just fun, period. It also makes you kinda feel like you're in Thailand with the friendly staff and ex-pats eating in there. They got the look down but what about the street food menu... Let's check out a few classic dishes before the Pouch invest more time, money and emotion into this place. 

Neau Sa-Wan, Thai style beef jerky, $9. This was a no brainer... Gotta get the Thai beef jerky every time you see it on the menu. It looked great when it come out to the table and it smelled good, too... The spices and the little char were spot-on, but some pieces were too gristly and you chew and chew and chew and then spit it out... I thought about just swallowing it like how I was trained to do but I needed the Pouch space for the rest of the dishes to be had. It's a classic street food but they may need to use a little quality control on the pieces they select... But I will prolly still order it again next time like the fat Pavlovian dog that I am.

Som Tum Thai, Thai style papaya salad, $9. They got a Som Tum Pla Lah with fermented fish sauce which sounded awesome but I wanted to try the classic first... They also have a Som Tum Tard which is basically a sampler platter that looked like a perfect all-in-one meal for a Ra-Tard like me. Let's get back to this classic somtum... Looks great with the vibrant colors across the entire plate, the only thing missing was the dried shrimp. I tossed this Thai salad for like 3 minzies (that's usually how long I can last) to coat everything with the gash juices on the bottom to get the full flavor in each bite... And the verdict is... A very tasty papaya salad that can compete with the best of them in this one horse town. I wouldn't say no to a bit more fish sauce but that's just me because I like big smelly flavors and make strangers smell my fingaz. It's not spicy on the first couple of bites but it does build up and the tingles start to pop in your facehole. This is a really tasty papaya salad and it's hard enough to find any Thai joints that even have a decent somtum on their menu. For the Tards that think this was not fishy or stinky enough, just ask them for some extra high octane ladyboy snatch sauce on the side. For me, I will be definitely getting the fermented fish sauce one next time... Extra funky, pweez.

Gai Yang, Thai style marinated quarter chicken with sweet chili sauce, $9. Someone say cheekan? Thai cheekan?? Fuck yeah, bro, just order it... Y'all know I can't resist dark meat. When it came out, I was a bit disappointed with the missing skin a la bris... Was this Kosher? Did the rabbi in the back snip a little too much off on this hooded demon? C'mon, Hebrah, y'all know the flappy skin is one of the best parts... That's what she said. But after I took a bite of their flavorful, ultra tender and moist cheekan, I gave them a pass on the missing skin. This cheekan quarter was really tasty but the chili sauce was weak. L'Chaim!

Pad Thai, rice noodle, tamarind sauce, bean sprouts, scallion, peanuts, $12.  Shit, you can not NOT order this at a supposedly authentic Thai street food joint... This manly noodle dish is a must, a given on any visit or else get the fuck outta here, katheoy... Mix all that shit up well but it still needed a couple more lime wedges for that extra sweet acidity. The rice noodles were toothy, well seasoned with the tamarind sauce and just a very classic national dish example... It was spot on. You don't even need any protein in there, seriously.

Green Curry with beef, basil, bamboo shoot, green bean, Thai eggplant, $14. I fucking love green curry... I got it so many times when I was in Thailand that my chicken lips were turning green and my bunghole was red like those street monkeys... I have seen more shitholes in the floor aka squat toilets than I really needed to on this trip. But this version was lacking in flavor, richness and complexity... It was watery like from a pond full of algae. I told one of the dudes that it was not spicy at all and he came back with 4 jars of assorted seasoned/pickled chili peppers... I nearly dumped the entire jar of green Thai chili and jalapeno in this bowl and it still wasn't spicy enough. What a disappointment... I took it home and whipped up some of my green curry paste and added it to this and what a difference it made, it was edible. I was hoping this dish would bring me back to Thailand but the only thing that it reminded me of was the nasty squat toilets. The only plus in this bowl was the Thai eggplant. Splat. 

I like this joint. It's fun. The street grub is a bit on the pricey side but the flavors and taste of the dishes sampled hit the right notes and I would definitely come back and sample the rest of the menu... Fuck the curry, though... Now, I'm going to cry myself to sleep... Yet again.

5000 Buford Hwy NE

Suite A112

Chamblee, GA 30341

https://tumpokpok.com/