Thai Tea Time (Closed as of 3/1/03)

The restaurant god has not yet blessed Kensington. (For those of you unfamiliar with the outer boroughs, Kensington is a small neighborhood in Brooklyn that abuts Windsor Terrace.) Church Avenue, the main drag, is a row of groceries with week-old produce.

But if you venture onto McDonald Avenue, you will find a small storefront that is serving up the best food in the neighborhood! Thai Tea Time is owned by Patrick, a Laotian with family in Thailand, and Lynn, a denizen of Kensington. Together they will educate you on the origin of bubble tea (Thailand exported tapioca to Taiwan) while serving it up in such exotic flavors as lychee, passionfruit and kumquat. There are Thai honeydew milkshakes and iced coffee drinks made with sweetened condensed milk.

If you need something more substantial than a beverage, try the cilantro-laden tom yum, a spicy lemongrass soup with your choice of chicken or shrimp. If you like pad thai, you will find plenty of tasty crushed peanuts in Thai Tea Time's version. My pad see-ew was a huge mound of wide rice noodles sautéed with egg, gailan (baby Chinese broccoli) and lots of shrimp. Patrick warned me that gailan was spicy. "Bring on the spice," I urged, and he obliged by presenting me with some whole green chilies to munch on.

While I enjoyed the warm banana custard topped with coconut, I noticed that there was a small selection of Thai groceries available, including grass jelly, do-it-yourself Thai tea powder, and pickled eggplant. But I think I will leave my Thai cooking to the experts.

Thai Tea Time: 359 McDonald Ave., Brooklyn. (718) 436-5344. Delivery available.