“I am always on the hunt for good Thai food.”
I am always on the hunt for good Thai food. After seeing some reviews on this joint, this immediately became the next on my list. However, it turns out that it is not very easy to get a reservation at this reservation only joint, even though they open until 2am! I had to wait a couple of weeks before we can get in before 9pm. Once we got in, we know the reason why. It is a small joint, the hostess is also the waitress, even with only 3 tables, it took a while for the food to come out, and we pre-ordered actually. They have a lot of carry outs as well, and they put priorities on the carry outs from what I can see. You have to be patient, because it is all worth the wait.
My suggestion is to skip the regular menu and attack the specialty menu only. There are unique dishes from all over Thailand. The hot pots from the North East region, which you will never find in Bangkok and surrounding areas. Fried Chicken from the south and other unique dishes which fits it's name, Eat Fine Design. Next time, we will need to meet Khun Kung and find out where they got the inspirations from.
The Taro Puff is basically taro fillings in a pastry, the pastry layer is puffy and crispy at the same time, with mouth watering sillky smooth sweet taro fillings. I normally don't want to eat dessert type of appetizers as a starter, but if you mix it with the accompanying sweet sauce and the light curry sauce, it makes perfect sense as an appetizer. Sweet and savory, I never thought that combination would work.
The Basil Crispy Duck was made perfect, the two large pieces of Duck Confit was crispy on the outside with tender meat deep fried to perfection. I can tell you this, it is better than some of the French joints around Michigan Ave. The spicy sauce has a bit of kick, not overly spicy even though we ordered the SPICY level (Mild, Medium, Spicy and Thai Spicy). Your taste buds really get kick into over drive.
Then it was the house favorite Fire Cup Noodle, we ordered the Beef Ribs to go with it. It is actually not easy to stir fry instant cup noodles, the noodles have to be cooked juts before al dente, and then let the heat and moisture from the stir fry and sauce to complete it, it was just right. The beef ribs were on point as well, tender and flavorful. I do have to warn you, the spice level of this dish is far beyond the traditional scale, even when we ordered the medium level, it was far more spicier than anything we have had here by at least 2 levels, but it was so good.
The last dish we had was the Hor Mok Talay, which has to be ordered one day in advance (pre-order) because it takes 45 mins to cook. It is basically minced fish mixed in with curry, and baked inside of a hollowed coconut shell with calamari, prawns and other spices. The consistency of the curry mixed with the minced fish is like a thick paste, the flavor of this dish is explosive! I have never had anything like that in my life. It is very unique that is for sure.
The dessert mango sticky rice was not the typical ones you would expect else where. The coconut sauce was served on the side, warm sweet sticky rice and mango. There is a hint of jasmine aroma infused into the coconut sauce, similar to what you get in the jasmine bubble teas. It really puts a different spin on this traditional dessert. The only thing is, no alcohol here, no BYOB, but you can always try to cool down the spice with a bit of Thai Ice Tea.
I will definitely come back to try the other specialties in the menu, if we can get in!
