Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Little Uncle on East Madison St


I quite like Little Uncle for a quick dinner before we head out to catch gigs in the area. Of course we go to Kedai Makan for a spice fix, but for a change, this little eatery works. One could hardly compare between Thai and Malaysian food. I just want chillies.

Wiley Frank and Poncharee Kounpungchart closed their Pioneer Square location in February 2015, left the takeout window open on East Madison Street, then closed it. Half a year ago, they opened this new tiny eatery just up the same road on the Hill. No more takeout windows. Just this dining space and a limited menu. Which works fine for me.

It's pretty casual, and because of its size and crowd, it isn't a good place to linger. Just eat and adjourn for drinks or dessert elsewhere. It's warm and cozy on a cold night, which makes it perfect for many to hop in. Otherwise, takeouts are much more hassle-free. You won't be stinking of oil and grease. The exhaust ventilation seems okay. At least my woolies smell all right so far. Apparently Little Uncle's chicken rice is great. The chicken is poached and the rice is quite fun with chicken fat and garlic. It's served with spicy-soy-ginger sauce, and a small bowl of melon broth. Hehehehe. But that's only available at lunch, and well, I'm certainly not having chicken rice. Because, chicken.

Its khao soi was sadly not as robust or complex as Isarn Soul Kitchen's. Opted for tofu instead of chicken. Those dry chilli flakes were helpful. The flavors are kinda watered-down; I'm not even looking for authenticity. Simply looking for a balance and some sort of depth in the bowl. I'll not bother trying the phad thai. I saw many orders of it and it didn't look particularly appealing. However, the Dungeness crab fried rice was really delicious. The kitchen used a mixture of brown and white rice. It even came with tiny slices of chilli padi sitting in fish sauce. Awesome.

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