Tasting Collective at Pig & Khao

Tasting Collective is a cool new company operation that comes in to restaurants on nights when they are closed and begs and pleads (and pays) the chef to create a huge multi-course meal to be served at one communal seating and served totally family style. The idea is to give the guests an opportunity to try a wide range of the chef’s cuisine, and for the chef to have a little more freedom to show off maybe a different aspect of their food or at least more variety than a guest would traditionally experience in one meal. It is also quite affordable– only $50 for nine courses, and $10 to add all you can drink Yuengling. How can you say no to that?

Unfortunately for us, Pig and Khao was not closed on the night we dined. Nor was Chef Leah Cohen at the helm in the kitchen. This was a bit disappointing not because the food wasn’t good. The service was incredibly slow at first though (because they had a full restaurant up front and a party of close to 40 in the back and a kitchen about the size of my kitchen in my Lower East Side apartment). We got very hungry since it was dinner time and not much food came out for a long time, so after the smallish chicharron, burmese eggplant salad, and green papaya salads were passsed around and everyone (family style) politely took a small amount, the coconut sticky rice arrived. Famished, we dove in. And then the largest portions of everything else followed. It was all so good. Nothing on the menu tasting anything but heavenly. After stuffing my face with coconut sticky rice (which also helped to cool my tongue after all the spicy stuff) though, it was harder to enjoy.

Tasting Collective rating: solid 6. Great idea, execution was off.

Pig & Khao rating: food so good!! 9! I don’t blame the kitchen for the crazy circumstance they were in, though maybe Chef Cohen should’ve made the executive decision to not be both open for service and an event of this size. Maybe if trendy restaurant real estate on Clinton Street weren’t reaching over saturated levels (Clinton St. Baking Co, Thelma, Ivan Ramen, and Black Crescent are all within a block), she would have.

Below, check out the full menu:

Chicharron
with ten spice and coconut vinegar

Burmese Eggplant Salad
with peanuts, dried shrimp, mint and shrimp chips

Green Papaya Salad
with charred chicken, green papaya, crispy taro, peanuts, herbs, fish sauce, and lime juice

Sizzling Sisig
with pork head, chili, and whole egg

Khao Soi
with red curry, coconut milk, chicken, egg noodles, pickled mustard greens, and red onions

Mussels
with dashi, yuzu, chinese sausage, and fried mantao buns

BBQ Baby Back Ribs
with p&k bbq sauce and asian slaw

Seafood Sinigang
with cod, littleneck clams, shrimp, seasonal vegetables, and tamarind broth

Coconut Rice

Turon
with banana fritter, salted caramel ice cream, and chocolate sauce