Eat Fine Design By Khun Kung — Restaurant in West Chicago Township

I am always on the hunt for good Thai food. After seeing some reviews on this joint, this immediately became the next on my list. However, it turns out that it is not very easy to get a reservation at this reservation only joint, even though they open until 2am! I had to wait a couple of weeks before we can get in before 9pm. Once we got in, we know the reason why. It is a small joint, the hostess is also the waitress, even with only 3 tables, it took a while for the food to come out, and we pre-ordered actually. They have a lot of carry outs as well, and they put priorities on the carry outs from what I can see. You have to be patient, because it is all worth the wait. My suggestion is to skip the regular menu and attack the specialty menu only. There are unique dishes from all over Thailand. The hot pots from the North East region, which you will never find in Bangkok and surrounding areas. Fried Chicken from the south and other unique dishes which fits it's name, Eat Fine Design. Next time, we will need to meet Khun Kung and find out where they got the inspirations from. The Taro Puff is basically taro fillings in a pastry, the pastry layer is puffy and crispy at the same time, with mouth watering sillky smooth sweet taro fillings. I normally don't want to eat dessert type of appetizers as a starter, but if you mix it with the accompanying sweet sauce and the light curry sauce, it makes perfect sense as an appetizer. Sweet and savory, I never thought that combination would work. The Basil Crispy Duck was made perfect, the two large pieces of Duck Confit was crispy on the outside with tender meat deep fried to perfection. I can tell you this, it is better than some of the French joints around Michigan Ave. The spicy sauce has a bit of kick, not overly spicy even though we ordered the SPICY level (Mild, Medium, Spicy and Thai Spicy). Your taste buds really get kick into over drive. Then it was the house favorite Fire Cup Noodle, we ordered the Beef Ribs to go with it. It is actually not easy to stir fry instant cup noodles, the noodles have to be cooked juts before al dente, and then let the heat and moisture from the stir fry and sauce to complete it, it was just right. The beef ribs were on point as well, tender and flavorful. I do have to warn you, the spice level of this dish is far beyond the traditional scale, even when we ordered the medium level, it was far more spicier than anything we have had here by at least 2 levels, but it was so good. The last dish we had was the Hor Mok Talay, which has to be ordered one day in advance (pre-order) because it takes 45 mins to cook. It is basically minced fish mixed in with curry, and baked inside of a hollowed coconut shell with calamari, prawns and other spices. The consistency of the curry mixed with the minced fish is like a thick paste, the flavor of this dish is explosive! I have never had anything like that in my life. It is very unique that is for sure. The dessert mango sticky rice was not the typical ones you would expect else where. The coconut sauce was served on the side, warm sweet sticky rice and mango. There is a hint of jasmine aroma infused into the coconut sauce, similar to what you get in the jasmine bubble teas. It really puts a different spin on this traditional dessert. The only thing is, no alcohol here, no BYOB, but you can always try to cool down the spice with a bit of Thai Ice Tea. I will definitely come back to try the other specialties in the menu, if...

This place has super fancy authentic Thai food. It was nothing like any other Thai place I've been to. Thai food is one of those hook, line and sinker ways to lure me anywhere so when a friend said this was the best Thai restaurant they've ever been to, of course I had to go.

I could have gone the safe route and ordered something familiar, but I was a little overwhelmed at the diversity of the menu.

I'd say the only down point was that the menu is online and not a physical menu, but I was told that it's always changing so it's difficult to keep an accurate printed copy. So this is a good and bad thing. For one you'll always have fresh, seasonal, new and innovative things to try. But on the other hand does it also mean your favorites might not always be available?

When I asked our very sweet server what she likes to eat here, instead of just naming something, she asked great questions to help find something that would suit me. Great customer service skills!

I ended up with the Lard Na Talay. Our server said it had crispy wide noodles (but mine were not crispy unfortunately) topped with thick seafood gravy (jumbo shrimp, squid, scallop, fish filet) and Chinese broccoli. I trusted her suggestion and took the leap.

I ate the whole thing so obviously it was good, and I'm glad I tried it... however I don't know that I would order it again. I loved the seafood but wasn't really in the mood for soup in humid weather and this dish wasn't in the soup section but it was quite liquidy and felt more like a soup to me. It was tasty but I would still be on the hunt for what I like best on the menu, so I'd definitely come again to discover more.

Their strong suit seems to be their seafood game. They have a lot of very intricate, artful concoctions that seem to center around seafood, but they also are conscious about vegetarian and vegan options as well. In fact it was a vegan friend who lured us here!

The prices are a little on the high side, this is not your late night alcohol soaking Thai, this is the kind of Thai for the more discerning palate when you want to experience art as food (as indicated in the name!). It is obvious that the staff and chef take pride in offering exciting but subtle flavors with a beautiful visual array in all the dishes I saw.

I heard the drunken noodle was very good. I don't quite remember what my friend exclaimed about the Fire Cup Noodle but it was something along these lines of "a banger" or "slaps" (or some other slang for really good). So perhaps I'll try one of those next time.

All in all though this is quite a fine establishment. Thanks to our server and the chef for all their hard work making it a...

Upon arrival these gringos were a little nervous that we might have dropped in to a slightly TOO authentic restaurant. Have you ever done that? You’re looking for something delicious and fresh and authentic, but the food turns out to just not jive with your palette? Well thankfully that wasn’t our experience here. In fact, it was probably the best food I’ve had in months.

We had to wait a bit for the waitress to clear and clean the tables and sit us down. But she worked fast and was very kind. We were offered a business card with a QR code menu. I chose the Signature (Guay Tiew Kau Gai) with chicken. The wife chose the Pad See Ew with tofu. When my wife asked for medium heat the waitress made a face and asked “are you sure?” My wife changed it to mild with heat on the side. I went ahead with medium heat, and then my wife reminded me what happened the last time a waitress told us the food was spicy. After some hemming and hawing I asked the waitress to change it to mild with heat on the side, and she ran back to the kitchen. I felt bad, imagining my food being thrown aside and started over.

My food came out first and smelled good. I waited a minute or two for my wife’s to come out, and we dug in. At first the crispy noodles were challenging, as no knife was provided and the texture was too tough to easily chew through. But persistence paid off and as I made progress I realized how wonderful it was to exert myself in chewing this stuff, as if the textures and flavors were being unlocked in my mouth like a hidden treasure. The defining flavor of my dish was this powerful saltiness that was somehow offset by a mild sweetness, which was salty in the most satisfying way without ever feeling overwhelming or off-putting. I had to fight through this tangled mess of crispy noodles, fried wontons falling off the plate and onto the table and me happily picking them up and placing them right back onto the plate. For me cleanliness is typically sacrosanct, that’s how good this was, and as I worked through it I found hidden layers of lettuce, scallions and egg, which at one advanced point in the dish ran with a golden delicious creaminess. I dipped the chicken in the sauce provided, which tasted like a mix of Louisiana hot sauce, BBQ sauce, and Sri Racha, and felt appropriately spicy in moderate increments.

I ate a little over three-quarters of my meal and my wife ate a little more than that. We finished it the next morning with our coffee and were once again deeply and thoroughly satisfied. Do yourself a favor and eat here, but don’t come too often and don’t tell your friends, because you know what happens once...