A bunch of these little ethnic eaters are opening up all over the metro Phoenix Area. I’m talking about the kind of places where you order yourself, pay, and seat yourself kinds of places. All these places are forking inexpensive. These are places were the entree is usually less than $9.95. I have no forking idea how they can prepare quality food at such low prices. These are all places that prepare very above average foods that impressed me.

Suh Noi – The Little Thaiger  in Scottdale AZ serves up mostly serious Thai Cuisine in a fast casual atmosphere. This tiny cafe with a patio even has a drive thru. (i’m not forking sure how the fork that can work out)

Not many Thai places serve up Wild Boar. You can even oder your forking boar Thai Style. (Thai style means hand chopped meat with a crispy fried egg) Not every Thai Restaurant offers Thai Style.

I had the Holy Basil Chicken.

The Holy Basil Chicken is chicken, chili’s, garlic, fish sauce and fresh basil. My dish came out a little spicier than I wanted but was made with enough basil and it was Holy Basil to Boot! I noticed the majority of Thai Places in Metro Phoenix don’t use enough basil in their dishes (you actually need a certain number of leaves a person or a small bunch for this dish to be made correctly) and I haven’t been to another in the area so far that actually uses the Holy Basil that differs in taste from Thai Basil. The Holy Basil has some heat to it and supposedly has more nutrients in it. Anyways the food was forking good and very above average. Who knew from a little unassuming place with a drive thru you’d get some serious Thai Food. (that’s also forking cheap)

Another Great Quick Casual Eatery is Hummus Xpress in Tempe AZ

Hummus Xpress in Tempe AZ is a small Middle Eastern Cafe that serves up their cuisine “Subway” or “Chipotle” Style. They build up your Pita, Bowl, or Plate (priced $6.45-9.95) for you from behind a window front buffet line from what you pick. The Food is Chef Inspired Middle Eastern with a Lebanese flavor and the owner has been culinary trained and it shows.

This place is off my beaten path so we got Plates to try as much as possible. I tried delicious spicy carrots, lemon broccoli, flavorful moist brisket with au jus, Lebanese Falafels, beetroot hummus, regular hummus, (from my husband’s plate lemon ginger hummus ((P.S. there is a lot of hummus here,many flavors hence the name Hummus Xpress))  tabbouleh, pickled beets, some sort of onion salad, schug sauce (spicy complex herb relish unique to the Yemen Cuisine) and if that wasn’t enough it also came with seasoned rice and a fresh made pita bread. Everything was made fresh in house and everything was delicious. I just asked for a lid when I was done and had more than enough for another meal.

I never had a Banh Mi Sandwich before. So when the Banh Mi Bistro – Vietnamese Eatery opened not too far from me I had to give that a forking try. Bahn Mi Bistro is a small family owned business that specializes in the Vietnamese Sandwich called the Banh Mi.

I looked at the menu and noticed the very low prices. Not everything but most of the menu was priced at $5.00. I thought the food would be forking tiny and not very filling since it was so low priced. I ordered a grilled Chicken Bahn Mi and a lotus root salad. (also $5.00)

I soon receive my $5.00 Grilled Chicken Bahn Mi and it’s generously packed with juicy seasoned moist chicken, daikon radish carrot salad, fresh cilantro, spicy jalapeños, a flavorful magical sauce of some kind and house made aioli. I think the bread was made fresh in house too. This sandwich was forking delicious and tasty and I got the other half for latter.

I also ordered the lotus root salad.

Out came a BIG bowl of salad with Lotus Root.

I’ve never seen lotus root like this before.

It’s like baby lotus roots. It so much more tender than what I have purchased from the Asian Market. They tossed the lotus roots in a mild Asian vinaigrette with crushed peanuts and fresh cilantro. This was a very nice salad that I think most people would like if they tried it. This place isn’t too far so I will be going back to try other things like a minty noodle bowl and the Vietnamese frozen build your own fruit desserts.

These are just a very few of the Great Casual Inexpensive Ethnic Eats in the Metro Phoenix Area.