Oakland: Jo's Modern Thai

For VT's birthday last fall, she wanted to check out Jo's Modern Thai.  So SY and I met up with her there to celebrate:

We didn't have reservations, but luckily they were able to squeeze us in before another party was scheduled to arrive.  The only thing was, we had to promise to be in and out within 50 minutes.

We figured that wouldn't be a problem.

In the interest of time, we focused on deciding what to order instead of appreciating the décor upon being seated:

We made our selection quickly and it wasn't long before the dishes starting appearing.  

To kick off VT's birthday dinner, we had the green papaya salad ($14):

The green papaya came with cubed apples, tomatoes, long beans, peanuts, shrimp floss, and a spicy lime vinaigrette.

From the chef's daily special menu came the butterfly pea glass noodle salad ($17):

The glass noodles were dyed blue by the butterfly pea flower and flavored by poached shrimp, fried dried shrimp, peanuts, Chinese celery, onion, and tomato.

Our fabulous birthday girl deserved a fabulous dish.  So of course we had to order the lobster pad thai ($23):

And to round out the meal, we had the clams coconut milk soup ($24):

The soup was loaded with clams, chili jam, and oyster mushrooms.

My personal favorite of the night was the clam soup.  I would've been perfectly happy with just that soup and rice.

Everything at Jo's Modern Thai was gorgeously plated and had an extra flair to it.  While I enjoyed the food, I felt that the price point was just a tad high for the portion size.  Honestly, it's not somewhere I see myself going back to, but I can definitely see the appeal.

Jo's Modern Thai might not be my cup of tea, but don't let that deter you from checking it out.  To avoid the risk of getting turned away at the door, definitely make a reservation!

And in case you were wondering, we did manage to finish our meal in time.

Jo's Modern Thai

3725 MacArthur Blvd

Oakland, CA 94619

(510) 479-3167

https://www.josmodernthai.com/