Nan

Kasabian playing at the Theatre of Living Arts provided the perfect excuse to take a couple of days off work for a visit to Philadelphia. This was an opportunity to try out some new restaurants and help my eldest son figure out places to eat when he needed a break from university life. One of our tasks was to find good Thai options to compare to Tamarind in Ithaca. Nan bills itself as a French-Thai restaurant and has gained a good reputation but it was still going to be interesting to see how the French and Thai elements mixed. The on-line menu has a very brief presentation and lists atypical ingredients like venison and sweetbreads.

The restaurant is west of University City on Chestnut St. It was empty when we went in but the frosty welcome we received had us wondering if they were open for business. The restaurant decor tended towards starchy white tablecloths and pastel shades. Combined with the lack of atmosphere it made it difficult to relax, particularly knowing that the waiter was watching us from his station at the end of the room.

Crusty bread rolls and butter were brought to the table to get things started while we looked the menu. This was more descriptive than its on-line counterpart. Our first starter was chicken sate smothered with a creamy peanut dressing and garnished with chives. Pickled carrots and cucumber were added to the dish and added a sweetly refreshing counter to the tender chicken. Our other starter representing the French side of things was crostini. Roasted red and yellow peppers on toasted baguette were topped with goat’s cheese. This was a very simple but satisfying starter.

Unfortunately the venison was off the menu so I ended up choosing one of the two duck options on the menu. The roasted boneless duck half was served with thyme, plum and tamarind sauce. This core of the dish was excellent. The duck had a lovely crispy skin encasing the succulent meat and it was seasoned just right. The sharp tamarind sauce was a good combination with the luscious flesh. Oddly, it also came with a dish of steamed broccoli, cauliflower, green beans and carrots together with scalloped potatoes. This gave the impression that the chef had put a lot of thought into cooking the duck but got bored and added the vegetables because he couldn’t think of anything better to do. Genuinely puzzling. 

The restaurant had filled up by now and acquired a bit more of a buzz. However, no one was interested in dessert and we called it quits at this point.

Overall verdict.
The menu is a bit of an odd mix with French & Thai elements but most of the food that we had was very good. The formal approach to the dining area could benefit from being more relaxed. I hope we caught the waiter on a bad day rather than the abrupt service being the norm.

Would I revisit Nan? 
Yes. The food justifies going back and it was nice to sample Thai dishes that used expected flavours in more innovative combinations. 

Overall Rating - 3/5