24 Fifth Avenue (Ninth Street)
New York, NY
(212) 529-1700
Lotus of Siam is a Las Vegas institution that serves the best Thai food in North America according to its die hard fans, including food critic Jonathan Gold. When publicists announced the opening of a second location in New York City, palpable excitement permeated discussion boards like Chowhound and eGullet, where small, impassioned wars erupted about the likely quality of the food as compared to the original Las Vegas location, Sripraphai, Kin Shop, etc... Even the New York Times had its slightly giddy say. Of course we couldn't resist going to see what all the fuss was about, since the new NYC location is just a quick ten minute walk away from home.
Reservations were surprisingly not too difficult to score this week, during the soft opening, especially given the very reasonably-priced-for-NYC seven course tasting menu, which rang in at $65 / person and featured quite generously portioned plates. For the soft opening, the restaurant offered only this set menu; on Thursday, November 11, exactly one week after opening, they'll begin offering an a la carte menu, as well.
Lotus of Siam serves a refined, but not dumbed down, version of Thai cuisine, featuring precisely balanced, nuanced flavors and very high quality ingredients. Despite occasional issues with oversalting, the tasting menu did a good job of highlighting these qualities.
Let's clear one thing up before we get into the nitty gritty: The food, here, is NOT "Thai spicy", so those of you who only care about this aspect of Thai cuisine can leave the room, now. The rest of us, who appreciate the balance and strong flavors of the cuisine without necessarily having our digestive tracts incinerated from the inside out, will, I think, appreciate this restaurant. Now onto the food.
(1) Tuna Koi Soy -- diced raw tuna tossed with cilantro, mint, scallion & kaffir lime. This is a gutsy way to begin a tasting menu given that your tastebuds are at their most alert and any flaw in the tuna is magnified tenfold. Here, the tuna was excellent, a high sushi grade whose freshness was enhanced, not obscured by, the restrained application of potentially overpowering flavors.
Two, three and four were served at the same time and meant to be shared.
(2) Koong Sarong -- fried shrimp roll wrapped in bacon and spring roll wrapper. This was as good as it sounds! Shrimp were fresh and plump, exploding bacon-tinged juices into our mouths on first bite. Bacon was crisp and of course -- being bacon -- delicious. An impossibly thin, crispy and delicate spring roll wrapper encased all of this goodness without even a hint of sogginess.
(3) Kao Satay -- grilled chicken satay with cucumber salad and peanut sauce. Not mind blowing, but the chicken was pleasantly juicy, flavorful and charred from the grill, not strongly seasoned. I interpret the kitchen's restraint in spicing as a mark of self confidence. Cucumbers were properly crispy and lightly dressed, not too sweet or vinegary. Peanut sauce was completely smooth -- I prefer more textured ground peanut sauce -- but thankfully not overly sweet.
(4) Nam Kao Tod -- crispy rice with Thai sausage, fresh chili, ginger, peanuts & lime. This was my favorite dish of the evening, probably, a nice juxtaposition of light textures with robust flavors. Nam is a northern Thai sour fermented pork and rice sausage. The few small cubes in this dish were very mild in flavor, carrying far less pungent a punch than their Bangkok street vendor counterparts. They also seemed to have a firmer consistency than I remember them having in Thailand. Peanuts were nicely toasted. Crispy rice stayed perfectly crispy for the 10-15 minutes it took for us to finish the dish.
(5)(a) Tom Kha Hed -- spicy coconut milk soup with oyster, maitake and shimeji mushrooms. The broth was a bit oversalted, but flavors were otherwise nicely balanced. Mushrooms were all very tender and fresh, with nice bite.
(5)(b) Tom Yum Koong -- spicy sour soup with head on prawn, lime, lemongrass & cilantro. This soup was wonderful in every way, with a bold, pungent, elegantly seasoned broth. Prawns (two) were absolutely delicious, tender and sweet as only very high quality seafood can be. I could easily eat five bowls of this soup for dinner.
(6)(a) Laarb Issan -- warm minced beef salad with red onion, roasted chili, kaffir lime & scallion. This might've been the only dish of the evening I didn't really love. The beef was high quality and tender -- clearly made from a very good cut of meat -- but it was oversalted and I found it a little monotonous after a while. I would have appreciated more of an acidic note and perhaps something crispy in the dish like toasted, ground rice. It may partly have been a matter of portion size. The dish served was a disconcertingly large pile of meat, without much of a textural break other than the green cabbage and cucumbers served on the side.
(6)(b) Som Thum -- green papaya salad with chili, lime, peanuts and tomato. I liked this simple, woman's dish, usually made by women and for other women in Thailand. This version was a harmoniously composed sweet, sour, salty and pungent concoction, a good break from the meat laarb -- actually, the two dishes were best eaten side by side -- but not particularly memorable.
(7)(a) Soft Shell Crab "Drunken Noodle" Pad Kra Pao -- crispy soft shell crab with flat rice noodle & fresh chili, Thai basil sauce. Soft shell crab was expertly fried and very light. It was presented, slightly askew, over rice noodles that some might consider too soft. I liked the textural contrast of the crispy crab with soft, almost creamy noodles, though.
(7)(b) Seabass King Sot -- steamed seabass with ginger sauce, napa cabbage, black mushroom, celery & scallion. Very fresh seabass, pleasantly firm and meaty in texture though a wee bit overcooked, stood up to the assault of flavors with finesse. Ginger notes were strong, but not overwhelming. Portion sizes for both soft shell crab and seabass were thankfully small, given that this was the final savory course of the evening.
[We did not order the third main course option, which was Khao Soi Shortrib -- northern Thai egg noodles with braised shortrib, coconut curry sauce, pickled mustard green.]
(8) "Thai dessert" (not pictured... we forgot to take one!). In our case, this was a sweet soup (common in Thailand and much of the rest of Asia) with lightly salted coconut milk ice cream, sweet water chestnuts encased in glutinous rice, young coconut strips. Justin adored this dish because, as he put it, "you can eat a lot of it without filling up". I thought the dish was pleasant for the genre, but this is not the type of dessert that really moves me. Also, I was far too full to really enjoy it. I will say that the salted coconut milk ice cream was a nice touch, perhaps referencing the way that juices are often served lightly salted in Thailand.
Early reviews of Lotus of Siam have really been all over the place. Just to add my two cents to the opinion piggy bank: Though our meal was too safe to be mind blowing, I thought it was genuinely delicious, consistently well executed and good enough to make me want more. Much more. In fact, I've already made reservations for next week to try the a la carte menu. That is perhaps the clearest distillation of how I feel about this restaurant.
Notes: revisited November 18, 2010
New York, NY
(212) 529-1700
Lotus of Siam is a Las Vegas institution that serves the best Thai food in North America according to its die hard fans, including food critic Jonathan Gold. When publicists announced the opening of a second location in New York City, palpable excitement permeated discussion boards like Chowhound and eGullet, where small, impassioned wars erupted about the likely quality of the food as compared to the original Las Vegas location, Sripraphai, Kin Shop, etc... Even the New York Times had its slightly giddy say. Of course we couldn't resist going to see what all the fuss was about, since the new NYC location is just a quick ten minute walk away from home. Reservations were surprisingly not too difficult to score this week, during the soft opening, especially given the very reasonably-priced-for-NYC seven course tasting menu, which rang in at $65 / person and featured quite generously portioned plates. For the soft opening, the restaurant offered only this set menu; on Thursday, November 11, exactly one week after opening, they'll begin offering an a la carte menu, as well.
Lotus of Siam serves a refined, but not dumbed down, version of Thai cuisine, featuring precisely balanced, nuanced flavors and very high quality ingredients. Despite occasional issues with oversalting, the tasting menu did a good job of highlighting these qualities.
Let's clear one thing up before we get into the nitty gritty: The food, here, is NOT "Thai spicy", so those of you who only care about this aspect of Thai cuisine can leave the room, now. The rest of us, who appreciate the balance and strong flavors of the cuisine without necessarily having our digestive tracts incinerated from the inside out, will, I think, appreciate this restaurant. Now onto the food.
Two, three and four were served at the same time and meant to be shared.
(2) Koong Sarong -- fried shrimp roll wrapped in bacon and spring roll wrapper. This was as good as it sounds! Shrimp were fresh and plump, exploding bacon-tinged juices into our mouths on first bite. Bacon was crisp and of course -- being bacon -- delicious. An impossibly thin, crispy and delicate spring roll wrapper encased all of this goodness without even a hint of sogginess. 
(3) Kao Satay -- grilled chicken satay with cucumber salad and peanut sauce. Not mind blowing, but the chicken was pleasantly juicy, flavorful and charred from the grill, not strongly seasoned. I interpret the kitchen's restraint in spicing as a mark of self confidence. Cucumbers were properly crispy and lightly dressed, not too sweet or vinegary. Peanut sauce was completely smooth -- I prefer more textured ground peanut sauce -- but thankfully not overly sweet. 
(4) Nam Kao Tod -- crispy rice with Thai sausage, fresh chili, ginger, peanuts & lime. This was my favorite dish of the evening, probably, a nice juxtaposition of light textures with robust flavors. Nam is a northern Thai sour fermented pork and rice sausage. The few small cubes in this dish were very mild in flavor, carrying far less pungent a punch than their Bangkok street vendor counterparts. They also seemed to have a firmer consistency than I remember them having in Thailand. Peanuts were nicely toasted. Crispy rice stayed perfectly crispy for the 10-15 minutes it took for us to finish the dish.
(5)(a) Tom Kha Hed -- spicy coconut milk soup with oyster, maitake and shimeji mushrooms. The broth was a bit oversalted, but flavors were otherwise nicely balanced. Mushrooms were all very tender and fresh, with nice bite.
(5)(b) Tom Yum Koong -- spicy sour soup with head on prawn, lime, lemongrass & cilantro. This soup was wonderful in every way, with a bold, pungent, elegantly seasoned broth. Prawns (two) were absolutely delicious, tender and sweet as only very high quality seafood can be. I could easily eat five bowls of this soup for dinner. 
(6)(a) Laarb Issan -- warm minced beef salad with red onion, roasted chili, kaffir lime & scallion. This might've been the only dish of the evening I didn't really love. The beef was high quality and tender -- clearly made from a very good cut of meat -- but it was oversalted and I found it a little monotonous after a while. I would have appreciated more of an acidic note and perhaps something crispy in the dish like toasted, ground rice. It may partly have been a matter of portion size. The dish served was a disconcertingly large pile of meat, without much of a textural break other than the green cabbage and cucumbers served on the side. 
(6)(b) Som Thum -- green papaya salad with chili, lime, peanuts and tomato. I liked this simple, woman's dish, usually made by women and for other women in Thailand. This version was a harmoniously composed sweet, sour, salty and pungent concoction, a good break from the meat laarb -- actually, the two dishes were best eaten side by side -- but not particularly memorable. 
(7)(a) Soft Shell Crab "Drunken Noodle" Pad Kra Pao -- crispy soft shell crab with flat rice noodle & fresh chili, Thai basil sauce. Soft shell crab was expertly fried and very light. It was presented, slightly askew, over rice noodles that some might consider too soft. I liked the textural contrast of the crispy crab with soft, almost creamy noodles, though. 
(7)(b) Seabass King Sot -- steamed seabass with ginger sauce, napa cabbage, black mushroom, celery & scallion. Very fresh seabass, pleasantly firm and meaty in texture though a wee bit overcooked, stood up to the assault of flavors with finesse. Ginger notes were strong, but not overwhelming. Portion sizes for both soft shell crab and seabass were thankfully small, given that this was the final savory course of the evening. [We did not order the third main course option, which was Khao Soi Shortrib -- northern Thai egg noodles with braised shortrib, coconut curry sauce, pickled mustard green.]
(8) "Thai dessert" (not pictured... we forgot to take one!). In our case, this was a sweet soup (common in Thailand and much of the rest of Asia) with lightly salted coconut milk ice cream, sweet water chestnuts encased in glutinous rice, young coconut strips. Justin adored this dish because, as he put it, "you can eat a lot of it without filling up". I thought the dish was pleasant for the genre, but this is not the type of dessert that really moves me. Also, I was far too full to really enjoy it. I will say that the salted coconut milk ice cream was a nice touch, perhaps referencing the way that juices are often served lightly salted in Thailand.
Early reviews of Lotus of Siam have really been all over the place. Just to add my two cents to the opinion piggy bank: Though our meal was too safe to be mind blowing, I thought it was genuinely delicious, consistently well executed and good enough to make me want more. Much more. In fact, I've already made reservations for next week to try the a la carte menu. That is perhaps the clearest distillation of how I feel about this restaurant.
Notes: revisited November 18, 2010
No comments:
Post a Comment