Save the best till last… This is exactly what happened at this restaurant, we had the best meal of our trip here and this was also the last meal in America for this stay. Saying I was thoroughly impressed is an understatement, I was wondering how they could possibly inject any more flavour into each and every dish we had. Superb cookery, married with strong, bold Thai flavours, everything we ate was not lacking in any way. It was a shame that we could not have this consistency at other places but ending our USA trip on a high here made our night and our entire stay.
Nari has one star, and indeed it deserves to have it and to keep it. The menu looks exciting before the food has even arrived; you just want to try it all… We did push the boat out a little bit more as it was the final night and despite the fact, we knew the portion sizes would be huge, we told the waiter that we wanted to ‘cherry pick’ and try a few of the different dishes. (Even if we had no way of finishing them.) So, what did we choose?
To start, we tried squid and pork jowl- Grilled Monterey squid in chili-lime dressing with pork jowl topped with peanuts and coriander, served with sticky rice. What is not to like about this combination? The pork was so sweet and tender, a simple plate of food, but we all know that when you bring wonderful Thai flavours, in the right hands a flavour bomb is about to go off.
Next- Miang pla: Whole Branzino diced and fried tossed with lemongrass, ginger, peanut, and chilli served with assorted greens to wrap. There was an option of trout roe to add to this which we said yes to as we thought it would complement this nicely. This dish was just miles ahead both in flavour and texture with the presentation of the fish head to tail adding visual effects. Mountains of fresh coriander sat on the top with delicious bites of crunchy peanuts, the flavour coming from this was unstoppable. I rolled everything up into the greens and added the roe until I could not manage any more. A superb, top-level dish.
And now the moment we had been waiting for- Of course it could only be the crab curry: Dungeness crab in spicy southern curry with betel leaf and garlic noodles. And wow was this spicy! But it was the definition of perfection. Every single ingredient had been expertly balanced and the crab beautifully cooked with plenty of it. I do not want to sound like I am repeating myself, but this was seriously delicious and tasty food, I could have been in Thailand not San Francisco. It had been put together with such skill and knowledge. Another excellent addition to the curry was the caramelised fish sauce cabbage, which was wok tossed simply in fish sauce and garlic. Two already strong flavourings but they always work every-time. Whoever cooked this is a master of the wok… The cabbage was hot keeping some bite but not over done, seasoned well and flawless.
I do not think they could put any more flavours in here even if they tried, they were bouncing from every corner, and the cookery just simply excellent. When you get something so right, it is a magical thing. Keep it Nari because you have an exceptionally good thing going.
