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| - Nana is known to be the sister restaurant of Khao San Road (one of my downtown favs). But all in all, I wasn't too amazed by its food and service comparatively based on several reasons.
I came as a group of six without reservations on a Friday night. They apparently take reservations made 24 hours prior only. So our first time around, we waited for an hour and still no table available, part reason was the requirement that the entire party must be there to be seated. We gave up and went to a restaurant nearby instead. Second time around, the wait was still bearable and we ended up getting seated in an hour, again.
Based on size, Nana is much smaller than its sister yet more hipster. The have that ??? (dai pai dong) Asian layout where the chairs are colourful, round and plastic. The walls are also covered in retro posters and artworks, alongside their simple menu. Majority of us ordered the same main dishes including the khao soi kai, mi ga ti moo, and khao pad pong kra ree.
For myself, I tried the Khao Soi Kai. It's an egg noodle dish mixed in golden curry coconut broth, which also comes with crispy dark meat chicken cutlets on the side. It's topped with cilantro, bean sprouts, onion, and a slice of lime. I felt the bowl didn't have enough noodles to be entirely filling. Nevertheless, the sauce was just right - not too sweet nor too spicy. The soup base wasn't too thick and didn't make me too thirsty or bloated. I had some previously that could give a bad aftermath feeling.
As for the Mi Ga Ti Moo, the texture and visualization is similar to my Khao Soi but its soup base is much sweeter. This dish apparently uses thin rice noodles mixed with red curry, coconut, bean sprouts, tofu and sweet basil which perhaps gave it the sweeter flavour.
Service was mediocre as our water wasn't always refilled given the spicy dishes. I also find the seat spacing more squishy and it would be tough during winter to put everything down (coats, bags). Near the end of the meal, they were pretty quick to rush us with the bill as our table is cleared as well. Overall its not much of a service yet they charge an automatic 18% gratuity on top of your bill. I find the Nana's food is a bit too expensive for its value.
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