Well, not entirely too sure where to place my post about Kin Khao, but I tried this place recently with a friend.
Note, I have absolutely little idea what to order here and it was more of a spur of the moment choice. Also I honestly have very little knowledge of Thai food (mostly pad Thai or Drunken Noodles…).
I first ordered the Namprik Long Rua. Per the menu, it is a spicy, umami-bomb Kapi shrimp paste relish, served with caramelized pork jowl, crispy Passmore ranch catfish, seasonal vegetables
My idealized version was a stir fried version where the pork jowl and catifsh was placed in high heat with the seasonal vegetables with that spicy shrimp paste. Instead I felt like I got a veggie dip. The shrimp paste definitely had heat, though the saltiness from the shrimp paste pretty much overpowered everything. There were bits of pork jowl within the paste and crispy bits which I presumed was the catfish. The seasonal vegetables that I could easily pick out were the Thai eggplants, the pink radish, green mango, cucumber, bitter lettuce, daisy greens, and essentially fried eggplant. I’m glad I had a relatively sizeable amount of jasmine rice as it was pretty much munching down on a very salty salad.
Next up were the pretty hot wings. There are three of them, and these wings pack a powerful punch. The burning sensation persists in the back of your mouth for a very long time even though I was alternating between the rice, veggies, and the wings.
My friend ordered the Yaowaraj Noodle which are
Bangkok Chinatown stir-fried rice noodles with shiitake XO sauce & Hodo Soy tofu, green onions, cilantro
I personally liked that dish more than whatever I got. Had a good spiciness though I would have liked to try the non-vegetarian version and see how their version of XO sauce tasted like.
Anywho, personal take would probably not order whatever I did. I’d try the curries on the menu or the Yaowaraj noodles again, but I don’t think I’ll be back any time soon. Prices weren’t staggeringly high (for downtown SF), but … I’d come back if someone else treated and ordered.
I didn’t have too much to say about service, thought they were alright. Just their chicken wings kinda mirror my experience with Pok Pok in Portland and their wings. Though I found Pok Pok to be even more salty somehow. I like a little bit of fish sauce but dunno, just thought there was more salty notes than savory.
