Andrew L.
Yelp
Just had dinner here tonight and something is really really weird.
I was a fan of Chef Thaimee Hong when she was running her place in the East Village so I was excited to try her latest spot on Houston St earlier this evening.
Greeted by a friendly Chef Hong upon walking in. She informed us that she had to work the dining room and the kitchen this evening as she was down on waitstaff. Running a restaurant is not easy these days.
There were 3 of us, and Chef Hong was pushing rather insistently that we order the fixed menu rather than a la carte. When we asked how much the fixed menu would cost, she said she would give us a good price rather than giving us the price for it. Even after we asked it a couple of times. We said we would think about it and would look over the menu first.
In the meantime, we ordered a bottle of white wine. Chef Hong brought the wine out for us herself and opened it. When she poured a little for my friend to taste , I noticed the quantity of the wine was much lower than a new bottle (it was two-third full only) and quickly asked her why the quantity was low. Chef Hong then said it's a new bottle as she opened it herself and she proceeded quickly to pour it into two glasses. After that two glass pour, there was only a quarter left in the bottle. I politely asked Chef Hong again how this was possible (on top of that, the wine was room temperature), she then got visibly upset and said it was a new bottle and then swiftly went in the back and got another bottle. The second bottle she brought out was cold and filled all the way to the top like how an unopened bottle of wine should be. Plus it was twist cap so when she opened the new bottle the sound of the twist cap was that of a tightly shut twist cap being cracked open which was not the sound we heard when she opened the first bottle. We then received the second bottle and asked Chef Hong to take the first opened bottle back. This was when Chef Hong became dismissive and said we could drink the first bottle if we wanted (which we definitely did not want to). Instead of being apologetic, Chef Hong's behavior took a 180 degrees turn and made us feel like we were attempting to scam her for a bottle of wine. So bizarre. If I was not giving her the benefit of the doubt, I would say the attempt was on her end to mislead and serve us a bottle of wine that was already opened and served previously.
We then decided to order a la carte instead of the family menu Chef Hong suggested and with a rather cold attitude (which is so different than when we first walked in). she took our order and swiftly walked into the kitchen and was rarely seen again throughout our dinner. There was no asking how our food was during the meal or even acknowledging our presence after the whole wine incident. We felt like pariahs that she could not wait to get rid of. This made for an uncomfortable meal to say the least.
Speaking of food, we wanted a couple of items on the menu that were not available. So we ordered the Ruam Mit appetizer platter, Hormok Pla Flounder (fish souffle), Khao Soi and Laab Ribs. For the ribs, we were informed no pork ribs were available but it could be replaced with fried chicken. The tastes of the food were delicious, and some dishes were definitely creative, but the fried chicken consisted of a lot of batter and little meat , and the fish souffle had more tofu mixed in it than fish meat. The appetizer platter and khao Soi were amazing however.
Perhaps times are tough and to combat rising food cost, restaurants have to be creative to make ends meet. But the way the Laab fried chicken and fish souffle were prepared, and the whole experience with the wine ordering with Chef Hong's attitude doing a 180 after we asked her about the wine validity really make this an unenjoyable dinner. It seems I had looked up to the wrong chef all this time. So disappointed!