West Hartford Center has an eclectic palette, in the sense that there are many different types of cultural foods and restaurants to choose from. The Blue Elephant Trail is a thai cuisine restaurant in West Hartford Center located in the same plaza as Bruegger’s Bagels (which we all know is a popular location for advisee snack). The exterior is simplistic with an iron fence blocking off an area for outdoor seating during the late spring through early fall. The interior has a nice lighting to it where it’s dark enough to be sophisticated but not dark enough that it is difficult to see your meal. It has different types of tables and has booths for larger parties so you can all sit together without the awkward conjoined tables.
We first ordered an edamame appetizer (you can’t go wrong with edamame) and “Koong Ka Bongs” which resemble an eggroll or a spring roll with shrimp inside and come with a sweet chili dipping sauce. The Koong Ka Bongs were cooked just right so neither the dough nor the shrimp was undercooked or overcooked. They were very pleasing on the palette and the sweet chili sauce added the right amount of kick to the dish. For our entrees, we decided to split the Thai Basil Chicken and the Ginger Duck. The Thai Basil Chicken includes bell peppers, green beans, and onions and is served with a choice of brown, white, or sticky rice. The Ginger Duck dish is a half boneless duck with ginger, baby corn, bell peppers, carrots, mushrooms, onions, and scallions, served with a choice of brown, white, or sticky rice. Both were very tasteful; however, I was more impressed with the duck because I like to eat something I don’t typically cook at home. An Asian chicken dish isn’t very difficult, and I wish I was more wowed or overjoyed with the meal.
The chicken was cooked perfectly and sliced nicely so that you could eat the meat and the rice in one bite; it was a very tasteful yet simplistic meal. And the duck, in other news, was exquisite, delicious, and succulent. You could taste each complex flavor in every bite. Duck is a meat that resembles the dark meat of chicken in taste and texture, so the meat consumed all of the flavor from the sauce and vegetables, making it rich with flavor.
The meal altogether was pleasing; however, I do wish there was a dessert menu because a nice light sorbet or something of the sort would have paired nicely with the meal. It would have been a good complement to the other savory food. You can find Blue Elephant Trail at either of their two locations: 7 South Main St., West Hartford, or 85 East Main St Avon. Contact the West Hartford location at (860) 233-4405 and the Avon location at (860) 677-0065.
