We have always enjoyed MIE N YU in Georgetown, and Samuel always has had fun there as well. We all love the decor with a Middle Eastern cushy feel almost like a seraglio. Indeed, our evening ended the other day with Samuel being MESMERIZED by a belly dancer who came to our table to dance for quite a while!
Samuel had a good time playing with a new friend, the 7-year old daughter of a friend of mine who joined us with her husband and 2 girls. The evening turned sour when he tipped over one of the big candles and got hot wax in his hair; these really are not the safest things to decorate with. Sam was not as happy with the food this time as he would not touch the LACQUERED DUCK SPRING Roll which is a Mandarin Pancake (think burrito) wrap with lots of meat and a very spicy sauce luckily far removed from the plate's center. He did enjoy some of the delish BANANA HUMMOUS which is a huge portion and we even asked for more fried plantains. As always, he adored his tropical fruit sorbets! Our server, John was most accommodating, but we sometimes had to search him out as the place was quite busy.
John also told me the $65 THAI NAA RAAWN 6-course tasting was very spicy, and I later joked that he must think ketchup is spicy. He said anything with vinegar is spicy; so I need to gauge next time. Indeed the first course was the spiciest of the tasting and one of the best, but nothing was intense after that. The VEAL & CRUNCHY THAI BASIL came in a Coriander & Scallion Pancake with a Thai Red Finger Chili & Kaffir Lime Dipping Sauce that packed a nice punch. We had already finished our first wine, a creamy WIMMER CZERNY 2005 GRUNER VELTLINER, as our friends were not familiar with the varietal (I think they may
have found a new wine!). The spicy food went great with our second wine an Oregon PINOT GRIS from ELK COVE that had a very sweet nose, but was dry and worked so well with the foods. The NORTHERN CORN FRITTER had interesting Pickled Chilis and Shallots but was an uneventful dish, while the ROASTED SQUID SATAY was special because of the Chopped Peanut & Chili Relish that was different but still many of the lime & coriander ingredients were repeated a bit too much. The
highlight was the SOFT SHELL CRAB with Red & Green Curry, Stir Fried Pineapple and Grape Tomatoes. We had moved on to a magnificent ELK GROVE 2005 PINOT NOIR "La Boheme" that is a lesson in how to make wine--BIG fruit, rich and smooth...a wine I forgot was so fabulous. The largest course of the tasting was the DUCK VERMICELLI which had the most chewy fried rice vermicelli on top of a huge beautiful panko crusted Duck, Shrimp, Black Mushroom, Crab & Sweet Chili Sauce mixture.
Sadly the meal ended with a PAPAYA SOUP that was marred by two gummy Sweet Coconut Rice Balls that could have been left out, or replaced with something much more exciting.
Will felt the spice was lacking in his PULLED DUCK & LOBSTER SHUMAI appetizer and freaked with the shrimp heads and lobster shells in the tasty SHRIMP & LOBSTER IMPERIAL with Fermented Black Beans, Sherry, Ginger & Pork Fried Rice. Our friends seemed to like their dishes, but I can't help feeling that some of the spice was missing, although we had a great time just being in the casba-like setting with friends.
