dineLA: Starry Kitchen & the Beef-tacular!

 

It’s dineLA again! Last year, I loved Starry Kitchen so much it was the only restaurant I repeated this round. There’s something to be said for great food for not a lot of money. Although it’s stated it’s $16 for lunch and $26 for dinner for the 3 courses, it’s actually $16 for both lunch and dinner so take advantage if you can.

 

I loved the egg rolls so much the last time I was in for the special pho night at Starry Kitchen, I got them as my starter. However, the thing to get is the silky tofu! The citrus was a fresh and dominant flavor for the flavor sponge tofu.

Your other choice is the savory pork wontons which I had the last run. If I were you, I’d keep the sauce just to dip something else in.

I was talking to owner Ngyuen about his wife, Chef Thi’s wings. I’ve had quite a few versions of chicken wings now from Starry Kitchen and they’re all good. Definitely get them with plain white rice to fully enjoy the galangal (a type of ginger) flavor.

Vegetarian? VEGAN?  Not but still love culinary surprises? Get the coca cola braised jackfruit. It may look like meat and has a “chewy” meaty texture but it’s fruit! This was a tasty dish that happened to be vegan. Pictured above with the (in)famous garlic noodles.

I chose the beef-tacular because the darn thing had a fried egg on it! C’mon, strong showing from the team and lots of comfort food points. I got this with fried rice and it’s served with fish sauce (a different fish sauce than the one served with egg rolls). I really admire Starry Kitchen’s attention to detail for things like that. I chose the soba noodles as my side and all the dishes came with the crunchy salad I love so much.

 

The soba noodles do get soggy so only add the sauce when you’re ready to eat. I was in serious carb food coma after this meal but it was so worth it.

 

The edible flowers on the two desserts tasted like watermelon! Wouldn’t it be funny to eat a bag of these tiny orchids as a snack at a movie theatre? Healthy, right?

Starry Kitchen was out of the coconut pandan panna cotta with rum banana jam but we had the lychee panna cotta with salted plum sauce and pandan flan. I am into lychee so this was perfect for me. The pandan flan is classic and always solid.

You have one more week (until February 3) to get these delicious eats.

Starry Kitchen

350 S Grand Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90071 – (213) 617-3474