Bhan Baitong Thai Cuisine
A Lake Forest option for solid Thai food with some Chinese and American influences
Our quest to uncover the ultimate Orange County Thai restaurant has been a winding path, taking us through cities such as Mission Viejo, Costa Mesa, Irvine, Orange, and Newport Beach – with multiple detours to particularly impressive, mold-breaking Thai places in Los Angeles along the way. Bhan Baitong is one of the “pretty good” places we came across in Lake Forest.
On positive notes, Bhan Baitong’s menu has a mix of actual Thai, Chinese, and Americanized dishes that make it easy for pretty much anyone to find something they can eat. As just one example, if you’re not excited by spicy Thai tom yum soup with noodles and/or wontons, there are duck noodle, sukiyaki, and tofu soup alternatives; similarly, you can get a traditional (and delicious) spicy grilled or rare beef salad, a shrimp salad with lime and lemonjuice, or a basic vegetarian version with peanut sauce on the side.
Seven different curries representing most of the Thai rainbow are also available, albeit in our experience, two we tried (yellow and pineapple) were watery. Another, the Volcano Seafood Curry, was spicy, full of umami flavor, and artistically presented with drizzled coconut milk.
We found the service nice, the space clean, and the prices great given the portion sizes. That having been said, we didn’t love the food here as much as at nearby Spice Thai, or Costa Mesa’s Kanok Thai Bistro, which is at least a little further up the highway for residents of south Orange County. As neighborhood Thai places go, Bhan Baitong is a good choice; we wouldn’t drive out of our way for it, but if we lived nearby, we’d happily become regulars.
Stats
Price: $$
Service: Table
Open Since: 2013
Addresses
23808 Mercury Rd.
Lake Forest, CA 92630
949.595.0899
Instagram: @bhanbaitong