Destin is a gorgeous coastal community situated between a bay and the Gulf of Mexico, and because of this location, it is best known for its seafood options. But just because seafood tends to be the hottest food in the area, you do have other options when dining in Destin. One outstanding alternative is Thai Delights Restaurant.
Thai Delights Restaurant is a popular ethnic cuisine spot that has been in strong operation for many years now. You will find this restaurant nestled in the heart of a large shopping center just off of State Highway 98 where it intersects with Destin’s Main St. While it is recessed further than most of the other commercial spaces in this mall, Thai Delights Restaurant is easy to spot with its large neon signage and dozens of large potted plants that line its front wall and windows.
This beloved Destin restaurant serves up casual Thai fare and is best known among locals for its great lunch menu and fast delivery and pick-up options. They do not take reservations.
Of course, there is rarely a time when you would need to make a reservation in order to enjoy fast service at Thai Delights Restaurant. That’s because while this place does get busy, especially during the weekday lunch hours due to local professionals, it has a large two-room dining area. Dozens of tables line the center area as well as each of the walls and the center partition wall separating the two rooms. Framed Asian-themed art lines the soft white walls. There is no hostess here and so, unless the dining area is exceptionally busy, you will simply walk in and find your own table and a server will approach you fairly quickly.
Thai Delights Restaurant has both a lunch and dinner menu. The items listed on both are fairly typical of any Thai restaurant.
Popular items on the Lunch Specials menu include:
Chicken Red Curry
This red curry dish features coconut milk, broccoli, carrots, cabbage, and bamboo shoots simmered with chicken in a red paste. It comes served with a side of rice, a spring roll, and fried wonton.
Pad Thai
The Lunch Special Pad Thai comes with your choice of chicken, pork, or beef stir-fried with thin rice noodles, egg, cabbage, bean sprouts, and green onions. This dish also comes served with a spring roll and fried wonton.
Popular items on the Main Menu at Thai Delights include:
Massaman Curry
This is a great choice for those hungry for something extra savory. The Massaman Curry comes with chicken simmered in Massaman curry and coconut milk base that also features potatoes, carrots, onions, and peanuts. It gets served with a side of white rice.
That Sweet & Sour
This dish is not comparative to a Chinese sweet and sour dish. Rather, this Thai Delights Restaurant menu item comes with your choice of meat or protein (choices include vegetarian, tofu, chicken, pork, beef, shrimp, and any combination of) sauteed with cucumber, bell peppers, onions, tomatoes, and pineapple. Yes, pineapple! It’s a fantastic treat for those with a taste for something sweet, salty, and unique.
Finally, Thai Delights Restaurant has a surprising number of outstanding beverage options on the menu. You can get your standard tea options, or you can go for a domestic beer, a Thai beer, house wine, or a refreshing Thai ice tea. Thanks to laws enacted and later codified in response to the coronavirus pandemic, you can order alcoholic beverages to go, for pick up, and for delivery.
Insider Tip:
This restaurant might be one to avoid if you or anyone you are dining with has a gluten allergy. This is because, at least check, they do use a cheaper wheat-based soy sauce for many of their dishes, even those whose listed ingredients would otherwise seem to suggest a gluten-free dish. That said, they are exceptionally vegetarian and vegan friendly.