Galanga Thai opened three months ago on Broadway in downtown Tacoma, across from Jillian’s. The owners, Ted and Yim Kenney, recently moved from Seattle. Yim studied the culinary arts at North Seattle Community College after moving here from Bangkok.

According to Ted, Yim is the “culinary force behind the restaurant” and he is just there to help her along.

I recently had the opportunity to dine at Galanga Thai with three friends. We ordered the Spring Rolls as an appetizer, along with Thai Iced Coffee and Thai Iced Tea. The Spring Rolls were excellent and served well before the meal, allowing us to examine our surroundings while we contemplated the arrival of our food.

The restaurant’s ambiance appears innovative and very young with bright walls and an open airy feeling. The space is well lit and very clean. Service was fast and courteous. I ordered the green curry, and found it to be everything I expect in a green curry. It was sweet and spicy with plenty of eggplant and bell peppers. Galanga Thai’s curry also came with baby corn, unlike many other Thai restaurants that I have dined at.

Jessica Jones, my friend and dining companion, ordered “four buddies and a pal.” The dish has a fun name for a mild yet savory dish containing broccoli, carrots, baby corn and shitake mushrooms sautéed in mushroom sauce.

“It is very good with the tofu. A lot of flavor, but it didn’t feel heavy afterwards,” Jones said.

I found it to be very rich in flavor but not very complex in flavor. Andrew Jones ordered the swimming rama.

“It was good, but I like a lot of peanut sauce,” Jones said.

The swimming rama is sautéed chicken ‘swimming’ in peanut sauce and served on bed of spinach. I found this dish to be everything it claimed to be, not something I would want to eat a lot of, but good in smaller portions.

Another dish we tried was the ginger wok, a very flavorful dish of julienne ginger, onion, scallions and delicious black wood mushrooms. We had it with the chicken, which I found to be rich, very complex and flavorful. I ate nearly as much of it as John Schloer whom ordered the dish

All dishes come with a choice of meat, seafood, or tofu and a choice of spiciness, ranging from mild to very spicy.