This is the third Tasting Collective dining club event we attended. (You can read about the previous posts about Tasting Collective events here: http://www.foodlovergirl.com/win-son/ and http://www.foodlovergirl.com/f-o-b/) I really love Tasting Collective!!!  Tasting Collective is a dining club for food lovers, and they offer brunch and dinner at great NYC restaurants. They close off the restaurants for the club, so we get to have the entire restaurant and chef(s) all to ourselves. So, this is more than just eating food at a restaurant, but you get to have the background story and its passion from the chef(s), eating 8- to 12-course brunch/dinner created specifically for Tasting Collectives. This event was held at Seafood, Thai restaurant called Fish Cheeks. My husband and I both love seafood, and since we discovered some amazing authentic Thai food in NYC (you can read about them here: http://www.foodlovergirl.com/uncle-boons/ and http://www.foodlovergirl.com/pok-pok-ny/), we were excited to try yet another authentic Thai restaurant! It was easy to spot with bright, colorful awning in fish scale design.

The inside is also very bright and colorful, I really liked the interior. I took the photos right after the event ended, so the tables are not cleaned off yet. Also, they arranged the tables to accommodate the event as well. I liked the colorful chairs, it just brings out the fun atmosphere, just by looking at them! It is not a large space, but not too small either. Just the right size for a cozy, homey dining.

They have a bar at the back, also with colorful fish scale tiles under the bar counter. How cute is that? And they do have hooks for your purse and small items under the bar counter as well, which is always helpful. Another thing is that the white tiles behind the bar is also in the fish scale design, although you don’t really notice it until you really look at it. But I really liked the design of the whole place. Clean, fun, and cheerful.

 

Right behind the bar is their kitchen, kind of open kitchen so if you are sitting at the bar or close enough to it, you can see them creating the tasty food right there. I like open kitchen, it is interesting to see where the magic happens, and also I feel that it keeps them more honest.

Back to the interior, I especially liked their lighting fixtures. They have large overhead lights made with bamboo in the main dining area, which brought out the “Asian” feel to it. The ceiling are covered with wood, that really goes with the theme. But most of all, I really loved the light fixture at the bar. They are in the shape of fishes, hanged in the way that looks as if they are at the fish market! How awesome are they???!!!

They have few more welcoming touches at the entrance, hanging live plants addition to large plants at the bar. I always like seeing live plants in the restaurant. It is so refreshing, and love the bright, green color. I also believe that they help provide cleaner air in the space. They had an old looking No Smoking sign at the entrance, also written in Thai. I liked the antique-look to it.

The best part of it all was their sign on the wall about their menu. It has Chef’s Favorite item, with “Only For Adventurous Eaters” indicated, since it is really, really spicy and exotic, from what I heard. On the bottom of the sign, it also says “NO PAD THAI ZONE” which is great! It is not one of those Americanized Thai restaurant with all brown-colored noodle and rice type of place. Another sign I spotted near the bar, which was really funny, was the instructional picture of how to take care of chocking victim. What is so funny about it? Well, the “chocking victim” on the picture is a fish, and the one helping the chocking victim is an octopus!!! Come on, it is so genius and funny!

 

Before our feast began, the chef Chat Suansilphong came out to greet us and explained some background of himself, restaurant, and his experience with the opening of the restaurant. One interesting thing he told us was the he loves Italian food, and how much he enjoyed learning how to cook Italian cuisine while he was attending culinary school. He even thought of opening an Italian restaurant before deciding to open Thai restaurant, but then his father said not to do it, which seemed like it was a great advice. We are happy he listened to his father, as I would want more authentic Thai restaurant or any other exotic restaurant, rather than having another Italian restaurant in NYC. Thank you dad! He also told us he named the restaurant after the best part of the fish, its cheeks. Hmmmm.

For this event, we were offered 9-course brunch, created especially for Tasting Collective. At Tasting Collective event, almost every dish will be served family-style. Sharing the yummy food with other people at your table, among four to six people. This time, we again made the right choice, we sat next to a really great couple, who are friendly, nice, and very fun to talk to! That really made this whole experience to the next level. If you are interested in joining, I will provide a link to join the club at discounted price at the end.

Back to food. The first course was Fried Calamari, made with cilantro, dried red chili tossed in tamarind, fish sauce glaze. It was soooo good! It was very crispy on the outside, juicy in the inside. It was very meaty, nice and thick. The sauce was awesome, a bit sweet with great kick to it from red chili. Love!

 

The second course was Namtok Pork, made with grilled pork, roasted rice, shallot, scallion, cilantro, and chili. This was also spicy, and the meat was nicely cooked so that it was soft, juicy, and had great texture. The chef told us this dish is from the South Region of Thailand. This is the only non-seafood dish. It had nice kick to it, and the sauce was really, very flavorful.

 

The third course was Prince Edward Island Mussels & Herbs, made with steamed mussels with lemongrass, galangal, & Thai sweet basil. It comes with a side of fish sauce dipping sauce. The chef told us get fresh mussels everyday. Only the best at Fish Cheeks! The broth was really nice and flavorful. The side dipping sauce was really nice too, we all liked it, so we poured it into the whole thing. The mussels itself was ok, it didn’t stand out, but then again, I think that is only because when compared to other, super flavorful dishes, it was not as strong or spicy as others. My husband really loved it though.

 

The next course was Shrimp Fried Rice, made with rice, egg, scallion, and onion. The rice was fluffy and the shrimp was really plump! It had really nice, a bit sweet flavor. It was comforting and homey. I enjoyed the fluffy, tasty fried rice. They use Jasmine rice instead of regular white rice, which also added the rich flavor to the fried rice. The chef told us his secret technique in making this fried rice, which was quite interesting, but I can NOT share with you…we were sworn to secrecy. Sorry!

The next one was their popular Coconut Crab Curry, a Southern style curry, made with jumbo lump crab meat with mortar & pestle crushed curry paste and betel leaves. It is normally served with rice, but it didn’t come with it. It was really, so very spicy, that I need to have rice to calm down the spiciness. We asked for a side of rice, and the waitress brought it out to us with no issue. Then, it seemed like many others asked for rice as well, they started to bring lots of side of rice out. Regardless of its spiciness, it was so deep and rich with flavor, and the “chunk” of crab meat was very true. It contained several big pieces of blue crab meat. Very plump, juicy, soft, it was really nice. Underneath the spiciness, there was the subtle sweetness to it from the coconut. The deepness of the flavor is so interesting and very much addicting!

The next one up was Steamed Fish with Thai Herbs. It is made with filet catch of the day, holy basil, mint, cilantro & lemongrass broth. It came in a really cute fish-shaped pan with fire still going underneath to keep the dish nice and hot.

The chef told us that the catch of the day was pollock. The broth was really good here too, they know how to do broth! The fish was really nice, tender, flaky, juicy, packed with flavor. The herbs were really nice, I liked the complicated flavor coming all together to create such harmonious, balanced taste. Another comforting dish that warms you up from the inside.

Then we were presented with Sautéed Cabbage, made with garlic and fish sauce. This one was a surprise hit. It didn’t look like much, but it certainly was super flavorful. It had really nice garlic flavor, and the fish sauce turned the simple cabbage into something completely different. We all enjoyed this one very much.

Another vegetable dish we received was Kana Fai Dang, made with Chinese broccoli, bird’s eye chili, garlic, oyster sauce and soy sauce. It was refreshing and had a nice kick to it from the bird’s eye chili. It was kind of a good palate cleanser after all the very spicy, very flavorful dishes.

Then they came the dessert. It was a Thai Tea Panna Cotta, made with crispy rice, whipped cream, and coco powder. When I heard “Thai Tea” I assumed it will be super sweet, but it really wasn’t sweet at all. It was like unsweetened Thai tea flavor. Another thing was that it didn’t have the texture of panna cotta, which is more firm. This one was more like mousse, which I was ok with. The whipped cream was nice, and I liked the rice crispy on the top to add that airy, light, crunchy texture.

Their bathroom is located closed to the bar, and has a nice waiting area, as they only have one bathroom. I loved the vivid, colorful wallpaper. The furniture and door here are all wood, and with the plant at the corner, it looks really relaxing and kind of tropical in an Asian way.

 

The inside of the bathroom had the same colorful wallpaper. It was spacious and clean. The best part of their bathroom is their faucet. It is a golden fish sculpture art looking thing, really cool! I loved that little touch to make the simple bathroom to be a little oasis.

 

This was another very successful event, with amazing food and great people. I am really happy the chef decided to open a Thai restaurant, instead of Italian restaurant. I enjoyed all the dishes, I would love to go back for more spicy, addictive, super flavorful dishes. Thank you Tasting Collecting for introducing us to another fantastic restaurant!

For those of  you who are interested in joining this great dining club, Tasting Collective, you can use this link to get a discounted annual rate of $115 (over 30% off the normal $165/year) for the first year: https://tastingcollective.com/?invite_code=JUN4346

Fish Cheeks – 55 Bond St, New York, NY 10012