Blog Post 2: Asian Food at Georgia Tech

Georgia Tech, as one of the best technology colleges in the world, is becoming more globalized. More and more international students are coming to Georgia Tech for education. For an international student like me, Tech is our second home. However, at Tech, students must have enough energy for studying, so attention on food is a very important. Obviously, Brittain and Wooduff provide healthy and various types of food, but few students want to eat all the time or they will get tired of it. Moreover, for international students, it is very reasonable for them to miss their hometown food. As a Chinese student, I definitely miss Chinese food everyday. Unfortunately, only two restaurants serve Asian food around Tech campus. One is Lucky Buddha, which is a tiny fast-food restaurant where I have ordered the General Tso’s Chicken once, but I did not find it appetizing. Another one is Tin Drum, which has a favorable reputation with Asian students because of its environment and food.

Tin Drum is located on the corner of 5th and Williams Street, at Tech Square. Since I live in Towers, it only takes me ten minutes walk to walk to the restaurant. I have been to Tin Drum once already with my friends a month ago, but this time I was went there by myself so that I could concentrate more on the food. For a fast-food restaurant, the decoration of the Tin Drum is very modern and attractive. The restaurant is encompassed by huge windows. Through the windows, you can see giant Asian style paintings. The wall of the Tin Drum is colored with orange and green, which symbolizes energy and youth. However, I think the Tin Drum would be more popular if the colors were gold and blue (Tech colors).

Compared to other fast-food restaurants, the Tin Drum provides separate menus for customers, allowing them to carefully scrutinize the menu, which carries a diverse choice of food, including noodles, stir-fry, curry, fried rice, and rolls. They serve Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Indian, and Malaysian style dishes. The menu also has a introduction to Tin Drum’s culture. All the utensils, flavors, and sauces are set neatly along the wall. Compared to other fast-food restaurants, Tin Drum’s environment is very clean and comfortable.

As a “professional” reviewer, I should be responsible to my readers, so I decided to taste a wide variety of food. The first dish I chose was Masaman Curry since I heard it was very flavorful. Then, I picked Indian Samosa as a side and Thai tea for my drink. Mandarin Rice was my extra choice. I wondered if I could find the same taste of my hometown.

After waiting for no more than five minutes, an Asian woman who wore a black Tin Drum t-shirt served all my food. She checked my receipt twice and stared at me with wonder, but I smiled proudly as if I was a real professional gourmet with a responsibility to check out the food. Orange Thai tea, red Masaman Curry, golden Samosa, and Mandarin rice with green vegetables, appearing like a rainbow, looked extremely attractive and my mouth started to water.

Thai Tea ($1.95)

I sipped the Tai tea first. The creamy unique flavor suddenly brought fresh air into my mouth. The distinct smell and taste also gave me a strong aftertaste. However, as I drank more, the aftertaste disappeared. I found that the glass cup was completely full of ice, which gradually made the tea more watery and unembellished.
Tip 1: Order the Thai tea with little ice or no ice.

Veggie Samosa ($3.50)

After the creamy flavor disappeared with the ice, I paid attention to the Samosa, a food that originated in India. It was shaped like a triangular spring roll filled with meat and onions. I took one small bite of the crispy shell and discovered corn, carrots, and peas embraced with yellow curry inside. It was definitely a curry but with a distinct meat smell. Usually, Samosa is supposed to be served with special Indian sauce. However, the Samosa here came with soy sauce. Unfortunately, when I dipped it into the salty soy sauce, the curry flavor was totally destroyed. The soy sauce made the Samosa taste like disgusting spring rolls from most American-Chinese restaurants.
Tip 2: Do not dip the Samosa into the soy sauce. Eat it plain.

Masaman Curry ($7.45)

The Masaman Curry was one of the best curry dishes I have tasted in America so far. I was astonished by its native favor. It had an unique taste that perfectly mixed flavors of salty, sweet, sour, and spicy. The chicken meat was not special but strongly flavored the curry. The avocado and cashew not only made the curry look colorful, but also added more distinctive and alluring smells and tastes to the dish. I worried about the quality of the steamed rice they served because rice greatly affects the taste of curry. In the US, rice is usually either too hard or too sticky. However, the Tin Drum’s Thai-style rice shocked me. Every piece of rice was separated, flipping, and rolling when I put them into mouth and immediately danced between my teeth and tongue. Eating the rice and the Masaman curry together was incredibly delicious. The only skill you need is to find the balance between the Masaman curry and the rice. Do not eat too much rice or too much curry. Believe me, they will play a symphony in your mouth.
Tip 3: Masaman curry with rice is a “must-try.” Yet, do not mix too much curry with the rice.

Mandarin Rice ($6.95)

Compared to the Masaman curry, the Mandarin rice was a disappointment. It had no hometown taste at all. The Chinese sausage they used lacked a sweet taste, the key taste for the Mandarin rice. It was more like Italian sausage fried rice. Also, the fried rice was really hard and the salt dominated the whole dish.
Tip 4: Do not eat the American Mandarin rice.

Overall, the Tin Drum is worth a visit for not only Asians, but for everyone. The entire meal cost me around twenty dollars, which was fair enough for me, a student. Although Tin Drum’s Asian food is not as native as real Asian food, it still serves many exotic types of food. The dishes, especially the curry, are totally different from those in Brittain and Wooduff. The cook tries to use a wide assortment of ingredients, such as avocado and cashew, to create innovative flavors.

Moreover, visiting the Tin Drum alone provided a very unique experience. Although it was unusual to eat alone and to order many dishes, it gave me an opportunity to pay all of my attention to the food. Although several customers in the restaurant stared at me strangely while I was enjoying my food, I felt like I was immersing myself into an individual eating experience. Besides eating food, I enjoyed my alone time at the Tin Drum.

Tech students should not only focus on studying, but also choose the right food. If you have the chance, be an individualist as well as a connoisseur and visit a restaurant alone one time. I promise, you will have a totally different experience.

Tin Drum：★★★☆☆