Nara Thai – Reviewed

by Anuki Premachandra

Thailand’s best is now in town!

Claimed to be Thailand’s best restaurant since 2007, Nara Thai launched in Sri Lanka a few months ago. They serve some very authentic and cultural Thai dishes that so far, we haven’t seen anyone else in the country serve dishes like these. It’s a fine dining restaurant so the prices reflect the experience accordingly. For one, we can guarantee that you get a first-hand experience into both Thai cuisine and culture from the minute you step into Nara Thai.

As you enter, a joyous young host shows you to your seats. It’s best to make a reservation to avoid wasting time waiting for them to get a table arrangement ready for you.

Ambience

It’s by far one of the most beautiful restaurants I’ve been to. Some may say it’s nothing much but the attention to detail really must be appreciated. The dim-lighting and the modern yet cultural furniture and set up of the place really gives the place its oomph. Their ceiling fans look so cool; they’ve got these super quirky wings and to me, one of the highlights of the place was definitely the fans (lol).

Nara Thai is definitely a great place for a date. The vibe and the whole look and feel of the place makes you feel extra special and delivers a great dining experience. The service was for us, was the only let down. The waiters weren’t very cordial, they appeared absolutely clueless and in one instance had to run to the kitchen to find out if the dish I wanted to order had lemon grass in it – nope, not a smart move there. Our food came to the table pretty fast, but it wasn’t cleared up as fast after we were done and neither did we get the table water we asked for.

The oriental music plays in the background played through the over-head speakers really add something to the whole dining adventure. Nara Thai really does try their best to bring to you, Thailand to your plate.

Drinks: Iced Lychee Tea – Rs.290 and Nara Energy Boost – Rs.490  

The Iced Lychee Tea is something you’ve definitely got to try. And unlike most places, or Sri Lankans, they aren’t stingy on the lychee. It’s a great combo of sliced lychees and iced tea. The iced tea isn’t overpowering and it tasted more of a lychee infused tea than a tea infused lychee drink – I hope I didn’t confuse you there ☺

The Nara Energy Boost is a signature cocktail. Apparently it’s got a whole bunch of interesting ingredients, but to me, it tasted pretty banana-ish. But all in all, it did taste pretty great.

Appetizers: Selection of Nara’s Appetizers – Rs.1390  

This is such a jackpot for a 1390 bucks!!! If you, like me, have very high gastrological demands and is tempted to try out all/most of the amazing yet interesting dishes they have on their appetizer menu, then make the smart choice and opt for this dish. The Selection of Nara’s Appetizers have a mix of Spring Rolls, Chicken Satay, Fried White Radish, Fish Cakes and a Prawn Salad with a selection of 4 disparate sauces. So these are all dishes you can find separately on their appetizer menu (with the exception of White Radish and Prawn salad) but this appetizer combo offers small portions of each for you to try out – the portion is enough for about 2-3 people.  

Let’s take it down one by one. The Spring Rolls are amazing! I have never spring rolls as long as cheese sticks and as so crisp and light as these. Unlike your usual spring rolls, they haven’t placed the filling on the center of the sheet and rolled in it. Rather, the filling is in between two very thin sheets that have then been rolled and fried just enough to keep the freshness of the meat and the crisp in the spring roll. The slow crunch with every bite makes this dish a show stopper.

The chicken satay was not amazing – we’ve had better satays for sure. The meat was slightly dry and this was possibly because the chicken was fried too much. The sweet chilli sauce and the other sauce which was a honey based one worked so well with the satay though.

The Fried White Radish was amazing! The radish masked itself as some good mushroom strips with every bite. It literally felt and tasted as good as fried mushroom does, and we aren’t complaining. It did feel slightly soggy, but that’s a given because a few minutes after the dish is made, the oil tends to soak the fried batter up.

The fish cakes were a beautiful, juicy and flavorsome fish patty. It looked intensely marinated and had a lot going on. It was fried to a crispy golden brown and they’ve managed to keep them juicy as hell, I’m not even kidding. The patty was so neatly aligned and the cakes pulls apart beautifully with every bite.

The prawn salad was a water based one. At first sniff, I thought the prawn was raw or under-cooked, but having taken my first bite, realized that the prawn was boiled right on the top. It was softer than a baby’s bottom and tasted silky soft inside your mouth. Again, the tail was super crunchy and the honey based sauce worked wonders with this.

Mains: Stir Fried Seasonal Vegetables w/ Oyster Sauce- Rs. 690, Fried Rice w/ Thai herbs- Rs. 590 and Nara Chicken Fried Rice- Rs. 590

The vegetables was literally bathed in oyster sauce. It was your typical chop-suey, just only more cocooned in some thick and absolutely spot-on oyster sauce.  The vegetables were boiled but remained crunchy – there were a few super crunchy carrots here and there that were super fun to chew.

The Fried Rice with Thai Herbs was BLUE, yes it was BLUE! Oh my god, never have I been this excited to see a dish come to my table as I was with this one. The rice was a beautiful mystical blue topped with cashews and some shreds of fish on the side that looked and tasted like coconut shreds. The only thing that I didn’t like about the rice, was the fact that it was too herby for my palate.  Other than that, this beautiful rice was default #mermaidgoals.

The Nara Fried Rice was definitely our favourite – don’t tell the mermaid rice that – because it was both a lovely take of a sticky rice and the spices in it worked so well together. It almost tasted like a sticky version of a McDonald’s rice. Don’t get me wrong though, it’s not too sticky either. The only down side to it was the fried diced chicken cubes that came with the rice. They were inedible! Literally and figuratively. They were so hard if I attempted to chew more than I had, my teeth would have fallen – they were oveeeeer fried to the point that it felt like I was eating rocks. But, if you can overlook this, the rice is definitely a recommend.

Dessert: Mango with Sticky Rice – Rs. 590, KluayTord or Banana Fritters – Rs. 690, Sago PiekMamuang or Sago with Mango – Rs. 590

This is a Thai exclusive and Nara Thai did justice to it. See, I’m not a fan of super sticky rice – if you know what I mean. The texture needs to be just right, it cannot be too kiribath-like. This is why I loved their dessert take on the sticky rice. A cup of rice was swooned with some super sweet sugary sauce and accompanied by raw mangoes. A bite of the mango with a spoonful of rice is a heavenly combination in your mouth. It also looks like a Michelin Star dish, the tiny blob of rice and the mango came in a pandan leaf. In terms of plating, it looked spectacular.

The banana fritters were massive rolls of crunchy-on-the-outside, soft-and-warm-on-the-inside goodness.The dish was a journey of textures on account of it being served with syrup and ice cream so we were able to relish a crunchy and soft, warm and cold, amazing and tasteful journey.

This dish was a warm porridge-like bowl full of sago and diced mangoes that felt like home and love. It was light on the palette and a truly amazing way to end the meal – quite delicious!

Let us know what you think of Nara Thai in the comments below! Is there anything we’ve missed?

Tip: Go for their appetizer combo – Selection of Nara’s Appetizers – it’s definitely a home run!