Drunken Noodles was one of the best dishes at Elephant Café, and is good here as well. This one stands out among the noodle dishes because of the basil flavor, and the wide flat rice noodles seem to be among the most filling of the various types of noodles that are served. Pad kee mao (the Thai name of the dish) was not spicy, but the restaurant will provide fish sauce with chiles on the side if you want it "Thai hot." Without the fish sauce I did not like it as much as at Elephant Café, but with the sauce it came very close.

Thai basil with tofu from the lunch menu

I thought Thai Basil would be another good dish with a basil flavor, but I thought the sauce was too sweet (I forgot to ask for it "Thai style"). In fact, just about every other lunch special I have ordered has been better than this one.

Thai Eggplant had a delicious brown sauce, and the eggplant was cooked just right. It comes with a choice of chicken, beef, or tofu, and it turned out to be a filling and interesting dish (especially with the basil added for flavor).

Thai Ginger, a dish available both on the lunch and the dinner menu, was a fresh and vibrant tasting mixture of ingredients with sliced ginger used as the dominant flavor. I ordered this one "Thai style," though, and the standard version may be more Americanized. At least this gave me a benchmark to say that the lunch specials, when ordered "Thai style," are some of the best in the OKC metro.

Pad ped from the dinner menu

So far my best experience has been with the Pad Ped from the dinner menu, a dish that was not only very flavorful, but had authentic Thai elements that I had previously experienced only on the west coast. These included lime leaves (not exclusive to the west coast but not common in Oklahoma), basil, and a type of sweet pepper that I had previously only seen in Seattle (they look somewhat like peas in the photo). This dish frankly blew me away because it was so good. This was the first item I ordered in the "new" Thai Sweet Basil Express (not yet knowing that the owner had changed), and it was about as authentic as I could hope to find in a Thai restaurant. Mine came with pork, and I think this added to the wonderful mix of flavors and texture, but other meats or tofu are available as well. It was really the curry and the extra peppers (which are edible, by the way) that made this such a special dish.

Chicken coconut soup

Several types of traditional Thai soup are available as appetizers, but they come free with the lunch specials (lunch specials include a soup and appetizer, and it cost $9.95 when I ordered it). The lemon grass soup was spicy and very good, but my favorite was the chicken coconut soup (which is also available with tofu or other meat on the lunch special). The fact that meats or tofu can be substituted indicates that the soup is freshly made, and not cooked up in large batches as is common in many Asian restaurants.

Thai dumplings served as a complimentary appetizer with lunch specials

Som tum was a lime flavored salad available as an appetizer with the lunch specials. I especially liked the Thai dumplings, though, because of the flavorful sauce that comes with them (dumplings are available either steamed or fried, and come with shrimp, pork, or vegetarian).

Crispy rolls (spring rolls) were also very good, but I would not choose them over any of the salads or appetizers already mentioned.

The Thai Tea was very good, and not very expensive. I usually find that iced Thai tea is excellent with spicy food (although the food at Thai Sweet Basil Express is not extremely spicy unless you request it that way). Still, most of what I have eaten has been spicy enough that the Thai tea served as a good refreshment.

There is something about the restaurant's location in downtown Bethany that makes it more relaxed and comfortable than the average restaurant, and I would enjoy going even if I were not as excited about the food as I am. Thai Sweet Basil Express has a distinctive home made flavor that comes from everything being prepared from scratch. Some of the extras, such as lime leaves and peppers served in the pad ped dishes, are very uncommon in American Thai restaurants.