Souvaly takes new direction
Pearl City Chop Suey restaurant was such a fixture at the Pearl City Business Plaza that former patrons still stop by looking for it, turning away when they find out they can't get Chinese food there now that it's given way to Souvaly Thai Cuisine.
For others, Souvaly is a welcome addition, one of only a handful of casual-elegant dress-up restaurants on the Leeward side, and one more beautiful than most of the mom-and-pops that fill Honolulu.
Owner Souvaly Khamphoui has worked hard to create a pretty setting with tranquil yin energy. Just to the left of the door is a sitting room where guests may sit against plush cushions of Thai silk while waiting for a table or for take-out while eyeing potted plants that surround a glass sheath waterfall. The requisite Thai restaurant orchids are present on tables, as well as in paintings that line the walls.
Often, neighborhood restaurants are newsworthy only within their community, a convenience instead of a destination. Souvaly deserves attention from those who must take H-1 to get there, because of the depth of its menu and dishes rarely seen elsewhere in the isles. Why, for instance, is no one else making Lao poke ($9.50), a dish inspired by Hawaii's ahi poke, but with lime juice substituting for soy sauce, and refreshing flavors of chopped mint, cilantro and basil replacing limu? Those who love herbal flavors may not want to go back to standard poke after sampling this dish.
FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
Maile Kawai, a server at Souvaly Thai Cuisine restaurant in Pearl City, holds two dishes: one of Pineapple Fried Rice with Shrimp, left, and Crispy Fried Fish with Curry Sauce.
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OK, so you're saying, "Hey that's Lao-Hawaiian, not Thai." Khamphoui is Laotian, but grew up close to the border of northern Thailand, where some cultural creep was inevitable. In addition to enjoying Thai cuisine, she watched Thai TV programs and listened to Thai music.
Upon moving to Hawaii, Khamphoui paid her dues working at a string of restaurants including Champa Thai, Paesano, Assagio's, Shogun and Phuket Thai, in positions from dishwasher to waitress to cook. It's taken 14 years for her to establish a place of her own, and it's evident from decor to presentation that she wants every detail to be perfect.
Not that it's easy, as we found upon biting into dry pieces of Chicken Inside Blanket ($7.95). Here is a really good traditional idea that could use a contemporary update to make it more palatable to today's picky eaters. I respect all the labor that goes into wrapping bite-size pieces of chicken in pandanus leaves, the bundles secured with toothpicks and dropped into hot oil that renders the normally inedible, though fragrant, leaves as crunchy and brittle as a potato chip. Unfortunately, it also renders the little pieces of chicken as chewy as jerky. Maybe some other technique is needed to infuse the chicken with the pandanus fragrance, while allowing the meat to retain its moisture.
If you don't mind the strong flavor of onion, larb is one of the dishes consumed in Laos and Thailand to bring good luck in the new year. Here, larb is served with your choice of chicken, beef, pork or tofu. We chose the beef for this salad tossed with lime juice, roasted rice powder, lime leaves and onions.
FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
A Souvaly signature dish is whole Dungeness crab with yellow coconut curry and basil.
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With our good fortune assured, we moved on to a dish I haven't seen elsewhere, crispy curry. This can be ordered with chicken ($8.95), shrimp or fish ($9.95). We ordered the fish, and it arrived deep-fried after being coated in a sunny yellow batter. A mild red coconut curry is drizzled over the dish, not enough to turn the fish soggy. Even so, this dish is best enjoyed straight out of the kitchen, because sitting for 20 minutes will cause the batter coating to turn flabby.
Veering from a typical restaurateur's male perspective, Khamphoui's feminine world banishes the Evil Jungle Prince in favor of a dish called Naughty Princess, a chili-infused curry with a choice of chicken, beef or pork ($8.25) or shrimp ($9.50). Stuffed chicken wings are rechristened Angel Wings ($8.50). The wings are preferable to the calamari stuffed with vermicelli noodles, pork and vegetables just because the squid, as big as a fist, is too big and chewy to handle.
Volcano fried rice ($7.95 with tofu to $10.50 with seafood) isn't fiery at all, but starting with jasmine rice, it makes a fine stand-alone dish with entrées such as black pepper garlic pork ($8.25) or a Holy Basil stir-fry ($8.25 with chicken or beef, $9.50 with shrimp or $10.50 with seafood) if you're not in the mood to pair it with curry.
The highlight of the menu is Dungeness crab curry (market price) with a whole crab in a yellow coconut curry flecked with shredded crab meat. It's messy, but worth the effort to get at the sweet meat.
Save room for desserts ranging from the expected warm (Thai style) or cold (Lao style) tapioca ($3) to crispy fried bananas with vanilla ice cream ($3.75) and more Western treats such as New York cheesecake ($3.75) and tiramisu ($2.75).
Wouldn't you know it takes a woman to know how important this course is and to bring all these elements together so beautifully. If this venture is successful, a Laotian restaurant may be Khamphoui's future. That would make her mom happy.
