Kin Shop - Another Top Chef Adventure

After thoroughly enjoying our birthday meal at The Marrow, we heard that Harold Dieterle's third restaurant - Kin Shop - is equally amazing.  To the Top Chef's credit, his places have very different cuisines and Kin Shop features a Thai menu.  One coworker whose husband is in the restaurant business said that though they usually travel to outer boroughs to get legit spicy food, Kin Shop is one place in Manhattan they know they can count on for true levels of spice heat.

In order to try as much as possible, we decided to split a few appetizers and one main dish.  Though the noodles were tempting, we wanted to focus on proteins after a carb-filled Thanksgiving weekend.  So we tried:

Grilled Prawns

(perfect smokiness with a sauce that was so good we would have drank it like a soup)

Red: Roasted Duck Breast

(melt-in-your-mouth amazing)

Fried Pork and Crispy Oyster Salad

(perfectly fried with a delectable dressing)

Marinated Skirt Steak Salad

(the spicy heat of the meat balanced nicely by the coolness of the pickled salad)

On the menu the Marinated Skirt Steak is one of two dishes marked with "****", which they define as: "These are the spiciest dishes on our menu.  They're hot and we mean it."  One would think that would be a very clear and sufficient warning, especially after hearing people go there when seeking spice.  But Mel interpreted it as, "Oh, they're exaggerating so that people who don't like spice won't complain."  But in actuality, there was no exaggeration.  After a few bites of the steak, Mel's mouth felt like it was on fire.  Water didn't help, nor did the coolness of the salad.  It was a 5-alarm situation on the tastebuds for about 10 minutes.  

 But of course, DJ was LOVING that level of spice so the dish was finished with no problem at all.  :)

We finished things off with the Coconut Cream Cake, which was tasty but way too much to finish.  They gave us a slice that seemed like it was nearly a quarter of the cake!  Great for sharing with a group, no doubt.

 We loved every bite of every dish at Kin Shop, so much so that before we even stood up we vowed to keep coming back until we've tried everything on the menu.  So Kin Shop - we shall return!