I'm a bit of a misfit food-lover, I am!
When they ask 'teekha ya medium?' I say Mildly Spiced.
When they ask 'arrabbiata or alfredo?' I say Pesto.
When they ask 'Thai Curry. Red or green?' I say Yellow.
Hang onto that thought for a few minutes.
KA Hospitality seems to be creating a basket of all that is good and wholesome about Asian food and bringing it to our shores, and the effort is very welcome.
I bumped into Nara a few days before it opened to the mango people (such as yours truly) and decided that the new place had to be explored godspeed.
Thus it came to pass that my dependable friend, Dr Watson, and I ventured into this establishment on a lazy Saturday afternoon for a bite of lunch, sans a reservation. The sweet young lady at the reception informed me with a warm smile that they were completely booked and a table absolutely could not be had. So I made the best puppy face I could to which she reacted with horror 'Stop! Stop! This is more scary than cute. Let me see what I can do'.
The trick worked...just not in the way I had hoped for. After a 20 min wait, we were seated at a table for two. It was a busy afternoon, to be sure! Girl friends, wealthy-ladies-that-lunch, scandalous EMA relationship chatter, the works.
Watson and I have been there a second time, since.
Nara combines purple upholstery and 1920s wicker Insta-Boomerang-friendly pankhas and modern chic furniture into an incoherent whole that somehow still works and the service is, for most parts, efficient and friendly.
Ah yes, Watson! The food. That's what we're here for.
So...why and how do lightly battered crisp-fried water spinach (aka morning glory) leaves taste so bloody good with a chili lime chutney is beyond me? This gave us one of those wow moments and Watson gaped at me wide-eyed, 'I say, Holmes! Look how stiff they are. It's rigor mortis. And yet...how atrociously delightfully tasty!'
The Thai yellow curry with chicken and butterfly pea rice enthrall the senses. Every spoonful of the yellow curry is sheer ecstasy. While the regular Thai food junta battles between the red and the green curry for wins, my favorite, by far, is the yellow curry (cue 'loop to intro para'). The curry itself is so bloody good, and the purple rice with fried cashews so satisfying, the chicken just shrugs and retreats into a corner, dejected and defeated.
The red curry, though entirely wholesome and flavorful, plays second fiddle to the yellow version but the silken tofu in the red is an absolute standout and impossibly delightful.
The butterfly pea iced tea is a revelation. It combines herby, citrus and flowery in a way that perfumes the nose and cools the palate.
These are the real winners at Nara. The kitchen has an absolute A-game going with the sauces and the curries. Bomb flavor. Bomb punch. The facial muscles slacken, the lips part into a smile and eyes shutter down.
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| Fried Morning Glory with chili lime dip with minced prawns |
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| Thai yellow curry with brown jasmine rice |
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| Thai red curry. The silken tofu is awesome! |
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| Butterfly pea iced tea. Delightful~ |
Unfortunately, Nara still has a weak game dealing with meat and seafood, and that's a problem.
The crispy shrimp cakes (or kolambi medu wada, as the Thai people call it) are elevated by a beautifully poised chili-ginger-honey sauce. If you want juicy chunks of shrimp with every bite, then this is not the dish for you.
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| Crispy shrimp cakes |
The chicken chunks were more tightly wrapped in the pandan leaves than a grandma running a marathon in a sari that never comes undone once. Though the flavor and char click well, the meat's too tough on the knife and chew.
The Thai omelette with crabmeat is an unctuous belly filler and possibly a revelation for those with an abiding passion for greasy Irani cafe omelettes. There was enough grease in there to create an oil slick.
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| Chicken in pandan leaves |
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| Thai omelette with crabmeat |
The chili lime sauce-bath that the steamed John Dory filets come lounging in is at once enticing and noxious for how stingingly green chili-heavy it is and the John Dory is two tads overdone. George C. would have sweated a bucket with a wee taste of the sauce.
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| John Dory lounging in a seriously chili-ed up sauce |
The panna cotta is a coconut milk-based one and doesn't quite perform the sensual 'Dance of the Panna Cotta' like Silk Smitha does, but what it lacks in ze moves, it makes up with taste. The thick thai tea sauce is a weak partner. Possibly a citrusy butterfly pea compote might make for a more worthy combination?
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| Panna cotta sans the dance |
The place is not inexpensive for the damages are significant, north of 2,000 quid pax sans alcohol on each occasion.
Nara would do well to examine how it is working with protein if it hopes to compete on an even footing with its older sibling next door, for Yauatcha has a serious A-game even in downtime!
