Noho’s straight to the soul thai seafood restaurant
A restaurant in one of the most enjoyable neighborhoods of NYC – Nolita. This area has the coolest shops, jewelry stores, galleries and fashion boutiques. It’s great to walk the narrow streets, explore the interesting stores and take a break in one of the many great restaurants, like Fish Cheeks!
The outside of Fish Cheeks is accentuated with funky colors (yellow, red and blue), which pop against the sleek white walls. As for the inside, the woven wicker chandelier brings a friendly and relaxed vibe to the space. The kitchen has a very welcoming aura. It is visible from the front door, welcoming guests into the space with a peek behind-the-scenes. In the back of the restaurant, you can spot a cute colorful space right next to the bar which offers a variety of flavorsome cocktails.
We couldn’t decide on what to order, everything looked tasty. We asked the waitress for recommendations on the menu, and she knew exactly the way to our heart.
For starters, we had the market oysters served with fried shallot & nam jim seafood. The raw oysters on the half shell were so fresh as if they came right from the sea. The second starter we ordered was the grilled pork cheeks marinated in a mouth watering fish sauce and served with their unique Jaew sauce. As for the third starter, we had the Shrimp Sao Nahm, which is a perfect combination of pineapple, ginger, mint, shallot, cilantro, chili, fried garlic, shrimp floss with a coconut cream dressing.
I thought that nothing could beat the starters we had, but that was before the main dishes entered the table!
For the main dish, we’ve been told that the Crab Aob Woonsen, the coconut crab curry and the steamed fish are a must, which I totally agree!
The Crab Aob Woonsen is basically a baked crab meat, with a thinly sliced pork belly in a glass noodles with cilantro roots and celery leaves. As for the steamed fish, it comes as a whole striped chili bass in cilantro and fresh lime broth. The coconut crab curry is essential to add a little spice to your mouth! It’s mainly a southern style curry with crab meat house-made curry and sea beans served with rice. A must for spicy lovers. In addition to their food menu, Fish Cheeks offers a bunch of Thai-inspired twists on bar classics. New cocktails include the refreshing Passion Trip, Cheeky Green, and the technicolor Butterfly Effect.
With all of the key parts of the restaurant the food and its presentation, the variety of cocktails, the crowd, the design of the place and of course, the service -- hitting the right notes, I’ll be sure to go back.
