Costa Mesa’s Hanuman, a Thai restaurant that wows

To marvel at the quality of Southern California’s strip mall dining is at this point cliché. After all, the strip mall is one of the defining features of our urban landscape. It’s only natural then that some of our best restaurants are found there. Still, it’s impossible not to be awed by Hanuman, a tony Thai restaurant on the outer edge of Costa Mesa.

The dining room is an artful, moody riot of patterns and textures. At its rear, baskets for steaming sticky rice hang from the ceiling and vintage Thai advertisements serve as wallpaper. At the nexus of style and substance, Hanuman’s dining room is anchored by an open kitchen that complements that fine balance with a fusion of the traditional and the modern.

Hanuman’s menu is pleasingly compact. To start, there’s an expert rendition of crying tiger, perfectly seared filet mignon scattered with microgreens and dressed with an herbal roasted-rice sauce called jaew. Other starters include lemongrass-laced northern Thai sausages, green papaya salad, and an original yellowtail ceviche that’s scooped up with puffed rice crackers.

Khao soi, a Burmese-influenced coconut curry noodle soup, is wildly popular. A tangle of egg noodles is topped with a curry-simmered chicken leg, shaved red onion, and pickled mustard greens. A skein of fried noodles rises from the bowl like the plumage of an exotic bird. Hanuman’s classic noodle dishes are excellent, too, including a pad see ew that’s rich with the caramelized flavor of dark, sweet soy sauce.