Ciao Aug/Sep 2017 Digital Digital_CIAO_AugSep2017 | Page 31

ciao! reviews
comfort food” embraces and intro-
duces dishes beyond the mac n’ cheese
bowl. Chef Randy Khounneraj, for-
merly of Bonfi re Bistro, showcases his
Laotian heritage through a menu that
delivers specialties like laap, kalapao,
and naem khao in an intimate
atmosphere.
Beneath a leafy canopy on
Sherbrook Street, step into this
house turned to a warm, ‘homey’
setting. Earth-tone walls hung with
a collection of mementos and family
photographs add to the hospitable
comfort, as do clever South Asian
inspired cocktails spiked with ingre-
dients like coconut water, shiso, and
black tea.
The menu is a collection of plates
for sharing, family style, which high-
light traditional dishes from across
Asia. Some, like the kalapao—a pil-
lowy steamed bun stuffed with earthy
mushroom and hard boiled egg and
served with a mouth-numbing chile
oil—or an umami-bomb pork ramen,
deliver traditional tastes with expert
technique.
Other dishes feature blasts of
creativity in the form of unexpected
flavour pairings. A dish named,
understatedly, ‘cheese and noodles’, is
a symphony of fl avours punctuated by
the sweet-sour tang of pickled grapes,
creamy notes of goat cheese and ched-
dar, and fresh hits of mint. A salad of
smoky charred corn, avocado, red
onion and herbs arrives cupped in a
leaf of lettuce, tossed in addictive miso
peanut dressing.
Don’t shy from the fried chicken—
under a drizzle of Japanese mayo and
a pile of fi lmy bonito fl akes, the bird
is slathered in gochujang, the spicy
Korean condiment made from fer-
mented chiles, which livens the juicy
meat with just enough zing. Do,
however, spring for a side of fried
rice, which is dotted with full slices of
garlic clove.
Laotian cooking is, by its very
nature and history, fusion food,
birthed out of a migration from
Northern China and influenced at
turns by French occupation and
greater mobility between Laos,
Thailand, and Cambodia. Signatures
of the cuisine appear on the menu,
like shaved papaya salad and laap, a
raw meat salad. Housemade Thai sau-
sage is a standout dish, savoury and
spice-kicked, crumbling gently into a
pile of pickled veggies and accented
with jeow som, a tangy tomato-based
Laotian salsa. Khao soi is a belly-
warming bowl of rice noodles and
veggies set in a pool of creamy Thai
curry broth dotted with chile oil.
With 36 seats and 11 menu items,
Khao House proves the adage about
small packages; this one is packed with
a world of fl avour.
Khao House is open for Mon,
Wed-Fri 11:30 am-2 pm, 5 pm-9 pm,
Sat-Sun 4 pm-9 pm. Closed Tuesdays.
ONE-OF-A-KIND • INDIGENOUS ART • CONTEMPORARY CANADIAN CRAFT • JEWELLERY
Visit our two locations
and discover unique,
handmade pieces
by Manitoban and
Canadian artists.
Ceramic Vessels by
Terry Hildebrand
Gallery Shop Winnipeg Art Gallery, 300 Memorial Blvd • shopwag.ca
WAG@The Forks Johnston Terminal, 25 Forks Market Rd
Doowah Design Inc.
Client: WAG / Insertion: Ciao! magazine - Aug/Sept issue
ciao! / aug/sep / two thousand seventeen
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