Kratiem (with Pictures!)

[Jason Perlow]

Rachel and I went to Kratiem Asian Fusion Restaurant today in Englewood -- Its been open less than a week.

I must say, I am VERY impressed with this place -- the decor, the food, the presentation, all well within NYC standards for a high-end Thai restaurant. The flavors were multi-dimensional, although nothing came out ridiculously spicy (I intend to ask them to up the ante next time) but because pictures usually speak louder than words:

Exterior of restaurant on Palisade Ave

Interior shot of dining room

Kratiem's version of thai dumplings (Kharnom Jib)

Tom Kha Gai soup, very flavorful, with great mix of sour, spicyness.

Spicy Duck Salad (I was told this was very good)

Mussel Appetizer (excellent)

Panang Curry with Pork (excellent)

Larb Gai -- this will meet with the Tommy Seal of Approval. Fantastic.

Pad Thai -- an excellent rendition but next time I will ask them to make it spicier than normal.

Banana with Sticky Rice topped with Ice Cream on Banana Leaf

If you have a serious broadband connection here is the full Appetizer and Main Section of the menu. These are the lunch menus, the dinner menus are a few dollars more expensive per main dish.

Bergen County has needed a real world class upper end Thai restaurant for a while. This is it.

I spoke to one of the owners, aptly named Tommy, about the relationship between Thai Chef and this restaurant, in order to finally get the correct story. He confirmed for me that they are the same family, same owners, and that Thai Chef in Englewood will be more formal than Kratiem is and even MORE high end, if it is to be believed. Two high end Thai places in Englewood owned by the same people? We'll have to see. At the very least, you don't want to miss out on Kratiem. With Saigon Republic, Kratiem and Thai Chef all in the same town, Englewood is about to become little Southeast Asia.

Edited September 18, 2003 by Jason Perlow (log)

[jhlurie]

Thai Chef has good Chocolate Souffles for dessert. Any sign of them here?

[tommy]

holy cute waitress batman!

[dumpling]

Trust Tommy to notice the important things! Food looks great, have to give it a whirl soon.

[Rachel Perlow]

I didn't notice the desserts. With Jason taking all those pictures, they brought that one out comped. BTW - we didn't order all that food. We had a nice conversation about eGullet & stuff with a neighboring table and we traded bites of our dishes.

[tommy]

address/phone number?

[Rachel Perlow]

(running to my purse to get the takeout menu...)

Kratiem Asian Fusion

4 East Palisades Avenue

Englewood, NJ 07631

201-894-0343

201-894-0344

I'm interested in returning for dinner sometime soon, as the dinner menu did have some additional selections,

including many fish dishes and Gai Yang. Mmm, gai yang.

[Jason Perlow]

Here are the dinner menus (1.5MB per image, high resolution, only download if you have a fast connection)

Kratiem Dinner Menu Side 1

Kratiem Dinner Menu Side 2

They have a larger array of stuff including fish dishes during dinner.

[tommy]

there's only one thing worse than not having a proper outgoing message on an answering machine, and that's not picking up at all even though there are a bunch of employees in the place.

clearly, as i found out, they're not open for lunch. however, the phone thing pissed me off just enough to make me not bother going back.

[Jason Perlow]

I was gonna ask if anyone wanted to go there for dinner tonight, because we DO want to go back.

So you went assuming they were open for lunch on Saturday? I wouldn't of made that assumption, dude.

I'd go back, dude. Sour grapes is totally unbecoming on you, man.

[tommy]

I was gonna ask if anyone wanted to go there for dinner tonight, because we DO want to go back. 

So you went assuming they were open for lunch on Saturday? I wouldn't of made that assumption, dude.

I'd go back, dude. Sour grapes is totally unbecoming on you, man. 

well, we were in town anyway. the phone thing is what bothered me. no hours posted on the door either.

[Jinmyo]

I've just run into this thread now.

Not only does the food look "Iwantsome" good, but the photographs themselves are great as well.

[Jason Perlow]

Here's some more pics from our dinner this evening, our second visit. Note, because I didn't shoot these in natural sunlight like the others and I didn't use a flash, they came out like crap and I had to do a lot of post-processing in Photoshop. But it should give you a good idea of what these dishes are like.

Sikok Esan Kratiem Sausage, the cubes of stuff include diced ginger, red onion and tiny little wedges of lemon (Very good)

Chicken Curry Puffs (very good, but very strong palm sugar flavor)

Thai Northern Tomato Dip, with Ground Chicken (excellent)

Pad Gra Prow with Beef (chili and thai basil saute, ordered Thai Spicy, Very Good)

Dumpling's Gang Keow Warn (Green Curry with Shrimp, very good, had nice array of different veggies in it)

Pla Jeian (Red Snapper, nice assortment of veggies, very good)

Pad Prew Wan with chicken, had sort of a mild sweet and sour flavor

Edited September 21, 2003 by Rachel Perlow (log)

[Jinmyo]

Very nice stuff indeed. Good plating too.

[Rachel Perlow]

My fish was yummy. An added benefit was getting to tease dumpling with my fish head puppet, as jhlurie dubbed it.

[herbacidal]

holy cute waitress batman!

except for them shoes. she should have like ten foot heels on instead.

nah, can't do that to 'em. but at least nice looking flats.

[tommy]

holy cute waitress batman!

except for them shoes. she should have like ten foot heels on instead.

nah, can't do that to 'em. but at least nice looking flats.

it's pretty dark, but those look like they could be the 3 inch platform type shoes. that works for me.

[herbacidal]

holy cute waitress batman!

except for them shoes. she should have like ten foot heels on instead.

nah, can't do that to 'em. but at least nice looking flats.

it's pretty dark, but those look like they could be the 3 inch platform type shoes. that works for me.

really? i think they're definitely sneakers based on the visual.

but psychologically, i can imagine her 3 inch platforms to work.

[tommy]

really?  i think they're definitely sneakers based on the visual.

i think you're right

[Rachel Perlow]

Oh my! You guys are such geeks. At first I couldn't figure out what the hell you guys were talking about (shoes? What shoes? there's no shoes in the pictures?) I can't believe you photoshopped the waitresses feet. Unbelievable.

[dumpling]

My fish was yummy. An added benefit was getting to tease dumpling with my fish head puppet, as jhlurie dubbed it.

And despite that I was nice and didn't blow up your jello mold. And then you tease me with the pig head? You are asking for it, but good! (But you brought my pocketbook back so maybe I have to let you go).

The green curry was really quite good.

[tommy]

(shoes? What shoes? there's no shoes in the pictures?)

yeah, i was thinking the same thing until herb ruined my whole thing.

[Jason Perlow]

New kratiem pics from lunch today:

Tom Yum Goong Soup

Thai Ravioli Soup

Soybean and Ground Chicken Dip

Thai Beef Salad

Flat Noodles with Pork, Chili and Basil (Pad Kee Maow)

[tommy]

so they're open for lunch on tuesday but not saturday.

[Jason Perlow]

They're open for lunch during the week, but not on Saturday or Sunday, correct.