From the Mesopotamians to Aristotle to Queen Cleopatra and beyond, humans have been eating pickles for thousands of years. But how many have tried pickles and jalapeños together? A few weeks ago, I had my first experience on a date. The combination is sweet, sour, salty, and spicy. It has this yin and yang twang to its tang – cool and fiery, slick and crunchy, bold and briny. Then when you add a bucket of popcorn with a little secret spice to it, from the moment you sit down at your table at Pickles Eatery, your taste buds are salivating, your stomach is grumbling, and you know you’re in for a show tonight. And to think that was just a welcome dish!
Plate 1: The beginning of the meal was like a countdown to an explosion of flavor. 5… cherry tomatoes… 4… fresh cucumbers… 3… pita bread… 2… eggplant… 1… baba ghanoush! We have liftoff.
Plate 2: Tuna tartar time. Homemade crackers with tuna saku, garlic chive, spring onion, black sesame, and some chermoula sauce. As the menu says, “Pick it up, pop it in, no chopsticks, just fingers.” No magic tricks, yet the flavor lingers.
Plate 3: Gotta go with the sorpresine pasta al dente topped with spicy butter sauce, duck chorizo crumble, and a pinch of thai basil. Instead, you can also opt for duck confit tortellini, lamb fagottini, or beef brisket ravioli, but as far as I’m concerned, even though sorpresine means “little surprises” in Italian, there are no surprises why it sits at the top of the list.
Plate 4: Hispy cabbage with crispy chickpeas. Dressed with whipped feta, more spicy butter because why not, and then guanciale — it’s like bacon but fatter, richer, and better. While you’re at it, take the final piece of pita bread, saved for one reason and one reason only, and clean your plate. Or, as I learned the French say, “saucer.”
Plate 5: We’ve come to the star of the show — 180g of roasted duck breast. Good news is the main event features other performances by a moat of red wine jus, tender pumpkin buds, and herb butter because everything is better with more butter. Needless to say, the main stage did not disappoint.
Plate 6: Last but not least, a pair of churros to bring us home. Sugar, cinnamon, dark chocolate sauce, and a shot of espresso for good measure. A bittersweet finish to round out an otherwise great meal.
All in all, Pickles Eatery was definitely worth the trip. Terrific food, kind staff, relaxing atmosphere and a rather unique piece of art behind the bar I liked featuring a conversation between what looks like a deer and a gorilla. Thank you Louis and Thomas for the awesome recommendation.
Pickles Eatery is awesome not just because of already having a great evening there but because I feel as though we barely scratched the surface of the menu. The premium selection of bone marrow. The many picklettes à la mano. The cold cut and cheese platter. And yeah we had a couple cocktails too, but the wine, how could we have forgotten about the wine?! This all means only one thing — we’ll be back because the show on Nguyễn Công Trứ must go on.
