Full Disclosure: I had extremely high expectations for Nari. Why? Nari is the sister restaurant to my favorite restaurant in San Francisco: Kin Khao. Kin Khao has been a place where I have brought many a visitor and celebrated a few anniversaries, but sadly it has been closed since the beginning of covid. It even had a brief, but amazing, stint in the Dogpatch, doing a bit more casual fare, but sadly, that didn’t really last too long. I’ve been craving that amazing food, and I just never made it out to Japantown to give it a try, as most of my trips to Japantown end up with way too much sake to be enjoying a nice meal. However, over the holidays when my parents were visiting, it seemed like a great opportunity to give it a try.
There’s a full a la carte menu, which had quite a few amazing looking things on it, including one of the authentic Thai relishes that I love getting so much from Kin Khao, but with four people it seemed easier to just go for the chef’s pick at $100pp to just try a selection and be adventurous. On the wine front, they have quite a great wine list, and as a top tip, they will cover the corkage on one bottle if you buy a bottle, so bringing one of your amazing coveted wines from your collection won’t really cost anything if you follow it up by one off of the list. We ended up bringing a great blend from JCB Winery, one of our favorite wineries in Napa.
The food started coming out in waves, first with a small bite that really whet the appetite for what was to come. There were crispy beans, duck parcels and duck egg dishes that came out, and they all looked so appetizing and ended up being incredibly tasty with just the right mix of Thai flavors that I have grown to love. It definitely started out as good as Kin Khao, and I was extremely glad I was finally getting to give Nari a try.
When the branzino came out, it looked brilliant, as the carcass had been deep fried to perform as a bit of a serving vessel for the dish. We also had a pork belly and octopus dish that was well received by the table, and a delicious pork chop that they served with lettuce and rice to make wraps.
At this point, we were all starting to get quite full, but the dishes kept coming. Now we were presented with two curries: One a sour fish curry without coconut, and the other a chicken green curry. Of the two, the green curry was the best and most of the sour curry went uneaten as we were quite full. Howerever, the chicken curry was a bit underwhelming as well. It just felt like it needed a bit more of that Thai flavor I love. We were also given some XO Brassica which was amazing, and some spicy spicy pork ribs that are not for the faint of heart. I ate several, but my mouth was definitely on fire after (which is something I enjoy). They also provided an amazing flat bread to go with the curries.
Last up was dessert, and we were very stuffed at this point, so it was nice that the desserts were quite small. One was a pandan mousse or semi-freddo type of thing, and the other some sort of rice pudding. However, both desserts were served with crushed ice which watered down the flavor and didn’t really add anything to either dessert. Of the two, the pandan was definitely my favorite.
I really enjoyed Nari. The food was interesting and most of it had amazing flavor. The service was also fantastic, and the flow of food was fairly steady. For a $100pp tasting menu, we definitely did not leave hungry which is always a bonus. The desserts didn’t wow me, and overall I think I enjoy Kin Khao slightly more, even if the dishes weren’t that different. However, there was a lamb massaman curry on the menu that will have me coming back, and it’s definitely bigger than Kin Khao, so probably a bit easier to get a reservation. If you are excited about interesting, gourmet Thai food, Nari should definitely go toward the top of your list!
Score: 4.5/5
Recommendation: Ribs if you like spice, or a bunch of small plates if you want to order off the menu. Plus bring your own bottle and buy one!
Nari
1625 Post St
San Francisco, CA 94115
