A few weeks ago found me at Kittichai, a fairly well-known Thai fusion restaurant in the West Village. Though I didn’t photograph them, I must say that the drinks were fantastic; my pineapple caiprinha was absolutely delicious and I liked the pieces of sugar cane they included for me to attempt to discreetly chew on. Hehe.
We started off with the seabass tempura, despite my casual remark that I don’t like tempura. These were okay; I didn’t think this fish was best showcased with a tempura preparation, and the accompanying chili tamarind sauce was milder than expected. My friend thoroughly enjoyed it, however.
We also opted to start with the Thai baby back ribs & chocolate; these were tasty though definitely not very Thai. I thought the mild flavor was really good, while my friend said the fish dish was much better. Extremely meaty.
The Thai bbq pork chop, vine ripened tomato & Meyer lemon salad with sticky rice was very juicy and tender, though the tomato salad, which looked cool and refreshing was only deceivingly so. I put a tomato in my mouth and suddenly big, fat tears welled up as I gasped with pain. It was unbearably spicy, even though I’ve been introducing spicy foods into my diet, this was just way too much. The sticky rice tempered out the heat a bit, thankfully.
Our final dish, Hudson Valley Duck Breast, crispy duck leg and spicy tamarind sauce was scrumptious. The interesting part of the presentation was not captured on camera, unfortunately; when our very cute waiter brought out the dish, on the plate was also what looked like a chop stick that had a bunch of scallions tied to it, in broom fashion. A “scallion brush”, if you will; this brush was dipped in the sauce and then brushed over both the sliced duck breast and the leg. The duck was gorgeously fatty and brilliantly flavorful; the leg proved a bit hard to eat so I let my companion devour it. Yummy.
We were too stuffed at this point to order dessert, and so ended on this high note.
Yvo says: Overall, a pleasant experience, though I would not go back for dinner. I found the prices to be way too high for what they were serving; and nothing really spoke out to me on the menu, so there isn’t much I still want to try. I would go back just for drinks though… yummy.
middle of the road
Mona says
bummer i’ve always wanted to try kittichai…those pix certainly make the food look outstanding.
Anonymous says
I couldn’t disagree more. My fiance and I had dinner at Kittichai and absolutely LOVED it. The service was incredible, the atmosphere was enchanting, and the food was delicious. Did you also go up to the rooftop bar? If not, you should; it offers the most impeccable views of the city.