Pom’s Uses Noodles to Perfection

Pom’s Thai Taste is building an empire in the Portland area. Pom Boobphachati, owner and manager, recently opened her third location, this time in the heart of downtown Portland, at 571 Congress St. The new restaurant bills itself as a noodle house. Diners get to build their own noodle dishes.

You select a noodle, choosing among styles and thickness, and add a choice of meat or seafood, broth and a degree of spice. Prices are $6.95 for chicken, beef, pork and tofu; $7.95 for shrimp and duck; and $8.95 for seafood and combos.

It’s quite a bit of fun, and a good way to create a meal that caters to specific tastes and desires.

Pom’s also allows diners to create their own stir-fry, choosing meats and veggies, sauce and rice. The stir-fry is pricier, starting at $9.95 for tofu, chicken and beef.

The new location offers Pom’s array of menu items common to her two other restaurants in South Portland. There are almost 100 individual dishes on the menu at the Congress Street location, including salads, seafood dinners, fried rice and vegetarian dishes.

The restaurant feels elegant, with white walls, soft lighting, sleek tables and fabric-covered chairs. We ordered our food to go, but would have been perfectly comfortable sitting in the dining area.

For people on the run, particularly appealing is the Thai wrap ($5.95). Imagine a Thai burrito, and you’ve got a pretty good idea of a Thai wrap.

On a recent snowy afternoon, I ordered the chicken fried rice wrap to go. It came with fried rice, red and green peppers, onions, broccoli, carrots and basil leaves in a chili-garlic sauce, wrapped in a soft flour tortilla.

It was exceptionally tasty and also quite filling. The ingredients were fresh and plentiful. Portland has long had many good choices for Thai, and the addition of a downtown Pom’s now means we have one more.

The Features staff of the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram anonymously samples meals for about $7.