Dinner here with Jacob and Robert. This was my 6th time dining here (was last here after Andrea and I came to Hotel Kabuki for Sake Day and then ate here at Nari afterward). Jacob brought an aged Margaux that he scored as part of lot from K&L that he won (Thank you Jacob!).

We started off with cocktails. I had the Chanta which was made with makrut lime infused mezcal, bitter bianco, apreritvo bianco, lemongrass. It had a savory flavor and had a toasted flavor to it. Delicious.

We ordered a la carte (the Chef’s Pick is a great way to taste a lot of different dishes, but you you will miss out on some of the more expensive dishes. Andrea have done it many times in the past). The menu is broken up into the first course dishes and the second course dishes. You do have to order everything all at once though. We ordered the yum tawai, pretty hot sweetbreads, scallop yum gati, squid & pork jowl, and namtok nuea for four first course and only the gaeng bumbai aubergine for our second.

The yum tawai is a salad made of pole beans and chicories (mostly radicchio I think) and a bit of cilantro. This was dressed in a curried-peanut dressing.

The pretty hot sweetbreads are crispy fried and dressed in a tamarind/sriracha glaze and small slices bird’s eye chile and topped with a bit of lime zest. I had ordered this one since it was so good last time I was here, but I was slightly disappointed in it this time around. The sweetbreads weren’t so crispy and there wasn’t as much kick from the bird’s eye chili so it was just missing a bit of oomph here.

The scallop yum gati was a dish I had not previously had. It featured some shinko pear, coconut milk, and chili jam, cashews, discs of celtuce, and a bit of cilantro. The dish was more lightly seasoned than I was expecting which was good since it didn’t overpower the delicate scallops.

Next came the squid & pork jowl. I’ve had this a few times before and always loved it and this time was no exception. The pork jowl was beautifully browned with just a hint of char. It was so rich and unctuous. The squid was grilled and dressed with chili-lime and everything was topped with some chopped peanuts and cilantro which helped balanced out the richness of the pork jowl. This was a strange combination for surf and turf, but the preparation and such a well rounded flavors.

For our main protein, we had the namtok nuea. This primarily featured the 28 day dry-aged flannery new york strip. There some nam jim jaew sauce and topped with cilantro, thai basil, and pickled onion and all dusted with a bit of toasted rice powder. This dish also has fantastic flavors (I’d probably eat cardboard if it had nam jim jaew sauce on it) and we made quick work of this this dish. This was also served some rice and lettuce wraps.

We had a slight pause in the meal as the cleared the table and our plates to prepare for our second course. We were getting pretty full, so we had fortunately, the ongaeng bumbai aubergine. I have had this dish many times in the past and have always enjoyed it and this was no exception. The fried eggplant had a light batter to give it some crunch. The eggplant was sitting in a bumbai curry. The dish was topped with a bit of basil and crispy shallots. The bumbai curry was a powerhouse, both in flavor and in heat. This was the hottest dish we had and it was nice end to our savory courses that left us sweating a bit.

They offered us dessert and we just decided to get all 3 of them – dreaming of lod chong, wan yen, and chocolate loka. I’ve had the first two previously, but not the chocolate one. The dreaming of lod chong is the pandan parfait with salted creme. The wan yen is a mix of fruits, jellies, tapioca, salted coconut cream that you mix (this always makes me think of Filipino halo halo since you have to mix mix it). The chocolate loka is the one I hadn’t previously had. It was a chocolate dipped chocolate mousse cake with some strawberry-mekrut gelée inside and some honeycomb served surrounding it on the side. This was my least favorite of the desserts and it seemed a bit like a nod to giving a chocolate dish to people who expect chocolate for a dessert.

But all in all, it was a fantastic meal with great company and a lot of great discussion.

https://www.narisf.com