Thai 208 is bringing delicious and authentic Thai food to the 208

IDAHO FALLS — If you’re looking for a place to expand your Idahoan potato palate with authentic Thai cuisine, look no further than Thai 208.

Thai 208 is a food truck on the west side of Idaho Falls, serving authentic Thai dishes since 2020.

“During COVID, we would think about how we were going to stay afloat. We thought about Thai food because we used to work in Thai food restaurants (in Thailand) and have a lot of experience, so we decided to do a food truck,” says Thai 208 owner Vara Higbee. “And it’s going good now.”

I was lucky enough to get to try many of their personal favorites and most-popular dishes, starting with a box of their famous appetizers which included calamari sticks, crab cheese wontons, egg rolls, fried potstickers and their homemade sweet chili and sweet soy sauces.

According to the staff, the cream cheese wontons are always a big hit.

“We like to cook for ourselves, and we thought, ‘Hm, we should open a restaurant, and we can serve ourselves and other people,’ says Higbee.

Next, I tried a new dish, the fried basil pork belly. This dish has everything you could ask for, including an array of vegetables, perfectly seared pork belly and white rice, all topped with a fresh fried egg.

The pork belly in this dish is to die for, and the vegetables combined with the sauce and rice make for a perfect combination of flavors.

“This is a really popular dish in Thailand; everyone loves their fried basil,” says Thai 208 employee, Sriwan (Kate) Lott. “The fried egg is a tradition.”

Third, I tried Thai fried rice, topped with grilled shrimp, lime, tomatoes and vegetables.

This one is so tasty I would eat it as a whole meal, although it’s probably enough food to share if you’re lucky.

“If you don’t like shrimp, you can change it to chicken, beef or pork,” says Vara.

The fried rice is cooked with all fresh ingredients and their homemade sauce.

Next, I tried the drunken noodles, a personal favorite of mine from Thai 208.

The rice noodles are covered in tomatoes, bell pepper, basil, bean sprouts and your choice of meat, finished with a homemade garlic sauce.

Each dish is made to order on a spice-level scale from 1 to 5. I love spicy food, but I can’t handle over a 2.5 on this Idahoan taste buds.

According to Vara, some community members come to her looking for spice levels off the charts. This leads me to ask, who are you??? How are you doing this???

Lastly, I tried the Prik Pao noodles, similar to the drunken noodles, but with its own flavors and different choice of noodles and vegetables.

This thin rice noodle dish is cooked with carrots, broccoli, bell peppers, onion, basil, scrambled eggs, beef and lime, covered in a homemade sweet chili sauce.

This dish is a VERY close second to my drunken noodles. The sweet chili sauce is spicy and sweet, and the variety of vegetables works perfectly with the addition of the scrambled egg.

Most dishes at Thai 208 are also gluten-free, offering another place for those who don’t eat gluten to have a fantastic meal, worry-free.

If you like good food, I highly recommend checking out Thai 208, located next to Maverick on the corner of Bellin and Broadway.

Check them out on Facebook, and swing by during their work hours on Wednesday through Saturday from noon to 3 p.m., then 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.

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