… and just like that, it’s December. I’ve been saying all weekend that it feels like we completely skipped fall this year, only to realize that it’s because I’ve spent the past few months constantly leaving New York. It turns out, I skipped fall. Viraj and I spent the last week of October in Copenhagen, where we ate a lifetime’s fill of pastries, became obsessed with a hot dog stand, and had a very, very nice evening at Kadeau, even as my stomach was fighting back after the aforementioned pastry overdose. (There is such a thing as too many cardamom buns!) I went to Orlando for a conference and then spent a week in California for Thanksgiving. It’s all been a bit of a whirlwind, which means not much time spent dining out in New York.

Last Friday, for the first time this season, I stepped out the door and into the type of chill that makes you forget how to breathe for a second, which I hope is a universal experience and not a quirk I should tell a doctor about. (Let me know?) Regardless, at least to me, this feeling is a harbinger of many cold months to come, which has been… a bit inspirational? Let me explain.

In all seasons, I’m the opposite of a homebody, and this impulse to go outside gets more urgent as the weather grows colder. Maybe it’s because the threat of cabin fever looms more acutely this time of year, but there’s something about the chill in the air that makes me crave the (warm) intimacy of dining out: the glow of tabletop candles, the electric hum of hundreds of conversations around you, a generous helping of whatever your heart desires… And, there’s no time I’ve ever felt more cozy than watching others walk by a restaurant window, exposed to the elements. Schadenfreude, the season’s warming spice.

This is all to say that I’m back!!! I’m feeling inspired and motivated to dine out, which is great news for this newsletter and my stomach. (My wallet declines to comment.) Right after Thanksgiving, my friend Lauren spent a week in New York, which gave me an excellent excuse to try somewhere new. I combed through The Infatuation’s comprehensive list of new restaurant openings and settled on LenLen. The cold also inspires cravings for Thai curry, after all.

Though it was a Monday night outside, the inside of LenLen was anything but. The entire restaurant feels like one big wink, with a retro-feeling interior filled with an infinite supply of little details to discover, like a stylized drawing of a cat who shows up throughout the restaurant, or what must be a parody of Matisse’s Dance in the bathroom.

Maybe it’s just because I’m always seeking them out, but there are so many Thai restaurants in this city, many of which are very good. Yet LenLen managed to surprise me throughout the twists and turns of our meal, presenting dishes familiar to me with an unfamiliar flair. A good example of this was the papaya and strawberry som tum, or papaya salad. I’d say that I’m a papaya salad veteran—the balance of acid, sweetness and heat makes it my favorite way to start any Thai meal… and I’ve had many Thai meals. But I had never had it with strawberries before, and Lauren and I initially met the addition of it with suspicion, until we had a few bites.

The thing about a salad is that it’s the type of dish where ingredients (save for the dressing) don’t tend to bleed into one another, and the forkfuls of som tum I had without the strawberries tasted totally normal. Delicious, but like any other version of the dish I’ve had. And then I had a bite with a piece of strawberry… On the outside, the fruit was coated in the spicy and sour goodness like everything else, and then suddenly, a burst of sweetness. It’s absolutely sacrilegious to call it a “Sour Patch Kids effect”… but it sort of was that? First they’re sour, then they’re sweet.

The other dish that took me by surprise was the crab durian curry. Whenever durian comes up in conversation (admittedly not often), I have an impulse to defend it in the same breath as defending the many other foods that are characterized as “weird” in the United States from my culture. But, my confession is that I don’t like durian. Or thought I didn’t: I accidentally bought a durian mooncake earlier this fall and ended up enjoying it, and then this crab durian curry convinced me that my liking of durian wasn’t a fluke.

We were reassured a few times that durian was just in the curry itself—lump crab and spaghetti squash is hidden within the velvety sauce instead. But, the curry is still unmistakably durian-forward, the sweet funkiness of the fruit swirling with the delicate flavor of crab and coconut milk. I found my first taste of just the curry to be a bit odd, but was immediately sold when I had it with the other components. I don’t know if it’s my favorite crab curry—I think my palate prefers a more savory dish—but it’s certainly unlike any other curry I’ve had before. And writing this, I’m dying to have it again.

Though there were no surprises, we also enjoyed the eggplant and tofu krapow, which was phenomenal: garlicky and sticky with sauce. Absolutely no notes there. And Lauren and I both can’t turn down ice cream, so we ended the meal with their sticky “r-ice” cream topped with strawberries. The ice cream texture landed somewhere in the middle of a spectrum from gelato to sticky rice: much heavier than normal ice cream and capturing the essence of sticky rice in flavor and in mouthfeel.

Going to a new restaurant is always a bit of a risk, and having an out-of-town visitor increases the pressure. Lauren and I have been dining together since we first became friends in college, and we’ve had our highs and lows, but it never lessens the feeling that I want us to have a good meal when we’re in what I’ve claimed as my city. Fortunately, LenLen was an excellent welcome back to the city for the both of us, and it was reassurance that despite the cold, everything might be alright.

Bite It!

Book LenLen on Resy. Reservations are available two weeks out, and it’s not an absolute nightmare to book… yet. Let’s keep this crab durian curry between us until I’m able to go a few more times, okay?