Nav: Modern Thai Cuisine

I have to come clean here.  I’m biased.  I’ve said it before, but I think I need to qualify this statement: I love the traditional taste of certain cuisines. I mean, the best way to eat anything for me is to eat it the way locals do.  Like, if I’m in Rome, you won’t see me putting ketchup on my spaghetti.  You won’t see foam on xiao long bao’s in the streets of Shanghai.  You’d most likely to find goat’s brain in masala in India rather than tofu. Not that these are bad, by the way.  It’s just my preference to do what locals would do.  So when you see a word like “modern” next to “cuisine,” I worry.  I’ve never been afraid to try anything, but it really does give me doubts.

Still, I’ve had a couple of Facebook friends that routinely check-in to Nav and you’d have to think, “It can’t be that bad, right?”  I’m getting ahead of myself, but boy, was I wrong.

First thing really is the area.  Place doesn’t look like much really.  Tucked between Uncle Moe’s and Slice and Dice¹, it’s a small space to rent.  And then you get in.  It looks surprisingly nice.  Interior-wise, it’s bigger than it looks and they have some really cool and clean interior design.

I tried their Home-made Iced Tea². It definitely wasn’t my favorite one.  Had a hint of tamarind, but I don’t know what else.  A bit overpriced I think.  Thai iced teas are usually more milky in taste, but since I’m not a fan of milk, I can’t complain here.

For starters, we ordered Shrimp Rolls with Sweet Chili.  I’m not sure how to be diplomatic here, but this really sucked.  Let me qualify.  It’s perfectly edible like kikiam you can buy on the street or in the supermarket because it tasted exactly like that.  Fine if you’re paying 20 bucks for it, not if you’re shelling out 250.

Next was Wok-Fried Tender Pork with Lemongrass and Basil.  Basically the worst dish of the day except it’s not as overpriced as the appetizer.  First of all, pork wasn’t tender.  Second, you can’t taste the basil.  Tasted more Chinese than Thai.  I’d be happier if I got this dish in a Chinese restaurant.

Probably the best dish was the Bagoong Rice.  They had a healthy serving of pork, green mangoes, and some fresh red and green chili’s to go with the dish.  I’d probably pay for this again.

My personal barometer for Thai joints are usually the curries.  I stick with the classic Chicken Curry.  They use a green curry variety, which just means that they use green chili’s (if prepared fresh).  Let’s just say I didn’t like it.  It was really bland and really lacked spiciness to it.  I can let the not-so-spicy variety slip, but this really had no kick to it.  I was actually a lot nicer because my mom found this inedible.

Overall, I hated the place.  I expect bold flavors from Thai cuisine and this one seriously fell way below standards.  I’d have given this place about 2/5 even with the mosquitos we had to fend off and the good service.  I just couldn’t get past the price, which was WAY overboard, so I had to deduct some points for what we semi-officially call “poor value for money.”  I could get a WAY better meal at a fraction of the cost³ over at Som’s.

Nav: Modern Thai Cuisine 2011-11-29

have to come clean here.  I’m biased.  I’ve said it before, but I think I need to qualify this statement: I love the traditional taste of certain cuisines. I mean, the best way to eat anything for me is to eat it the way locals do.  Like, if I’m in Rome, you won’t see me …