Kin Shop

(photo courtesy of Serious Eats)

There's a great little restaurant called Kin Shop on 469 6th Avenue near 11th Street. I used to go there a lot last summer and enjoyed Harold Dieterle's interpretation of Thai food - not authentic by any means, but the flavors are definitely Southeast Asian with a well balanced blend of heat, sweetness, acidity, and salt.

I dropped by last week to try the Thai fried chicken which has been discussed considerably on Chowhound but alas, my server said that they were taking a break from it while figuring out "timing issues." She did assure me that the fried chicken would be back on the menu soon.

At any rate, I tried a few new dishes:

Miang of Fluke, lychees, shiso leaves, chili jam and fried garlic - I have no idea what a "miang" is but the fluke was chopped and served like ceviche on whole shiso leaves. The flavors were remarkably strong, not something that you would associate with delicate raw fish but I loved it, especially the fried garlic.

Fried broccoli, Chinese sausage, young coconut-gooseberry chutney, fermented plum vinegar - Fried broccoli is the best invention ever though you rarely find it in restaurants. Kin Shop's version is lightly battered, non-greasy, and totally crispy. The Chinese sausage was used sparingly so this was a pretty light, almost healthy dish. What more can you ask.

Massaman: braised goat, fried shallots, purple yams, mustard greens and toasted coconut - Goat kind of freaks me out but I decided to try this anyway and was glad that I did. The dish didn't  taste goat-y at all. It was almost like osso bucco in a curry sauce. I'll definitely get this again.

Thai iced tea ice cream - I've has this before and I still think it's the best ice cream in New York. There's a peppery zing going on, maybe ginger, which is really nice after an Asian meal.

It's not too hard to get a table and there are plenty of seats at the bar and kitchen counter. Service is always charming and attentive. I'm glad that Kin Shop is still going strong and am looking forward to returning soon for the Thai fried chicken.

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