Rua Thai: What’s Vegetarian Editorial Review

At Rua Thai on Smith Street in Brooklyn, you pick a vegetarian dish by its (V) mark. The online menu also has a section titled 100% Vegan, so a full meatless meal takes seconds to find. The kitchen still serves meat and seafood, including shrimp donuts, duck, crab, and clay pot rice with sausage, which makes this a marked-menu restaurant and not a meat-free one.

Curries give you the easiest path. Panang, Green, Red, and Massaman Curry all carry (V) and (GF) marks. Green and Red come with eggplant, string beans, and bamboo shoots in coconut milk, Panang adds long hot peppers and kaffir lime leaves, and Massaman uses peanuts, onions, and potatoes. Under 100% Vegan, you’ll find Pad Puk Tofu, Eggplant Basil, Mock Duck Basil Sauce, Tofu Broccoli, Spicy Tofu Chinese Broccoli, and Ginger Mockduck. Noodles need a question first. Pad Thai, Pad See Yu, and Kee Mao list egg and carry no mark, so ask your server what the kitchen can change.

Appetizers hold the most labels. The (V) list includes Spring Rolls, which the menu calls vegan, plus Salad Roll, which wraps tofu in rice paper with spicy mayo, Roti Canai with a potato massaman dip, Steam Vegetable Dumplings, Fried Vegetable Dumplings, Edamame, Fried Tofu, and Chive Pancake. Thai Garden Salad carries (V) and (GF), and it pairs mixed greens, carrot, cucumber, red onion, and tomato with a peanut sauce. Glass Noodle Soup, with napa, scallion, and cilantro in a clear broth, and Rice Soup, with ginger and scallions, both carry (V). Some starters carry no mark. Curry Puff holds minced chicken, while Tom Kha Soup and Creamy Tom Yom use mushrooms but have no (V). Creamy Tom Yom lists evaporated milk, which rules it out for vegans.

Mock Duck Salad and Mango Avocado Salad appear without a mark, so check both with your server. Sides include jasmine, brown, and sticky rice, steamed broccoli, and peanut sauce. For dessert, order Coconut Pudding, Mango with Coconut Sticky Rice, or Baked Cheesecake with raspberry coulis. Both coconut lattes, one with Thai iced tea and one with Thai iced coffee, carry a (v) and a vegan note.

The restaurant’s own site describes bold Thai food from Chef Kornpon, who grew up near the floating markets in Thailand, and it says you can come for meat or for plant-based meals. You can dine in, order online for pickup or delivery, reserve a table, or book catering. The ordering platform lists prices in the $$ range.

Staff posts no statement on shared fryers, woks, or cross-contact, and shrimp, chicken, and egg share the menu with the marked dishes. Ask how the cooks fry the tofu and the vegetable dumplings. Thai cooking often relies on fish sauce and shrimp paste, and the menu doesn’t say which dishes skip those ingredients. When you order, request a vegetarian preparation and ask about the sauces.

The ordering page lists daily hours of 11:30am to 10:30pm. Call (718) 797-5121.

Order the Green Curry, share the Fried Tofu and the Chive Pancake, then finish with Mango with Coconut Sticky Rice.