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Made in Kitchen, Eaten in Dining Room
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In the past month, I’ve been lucky enough to eat at such places as Rover’s, The Herbfarm, Inn at Langley, and Crush. As much as I enjoy these fine dining experiences, I’m not pretentious; I can be just as happy, if not more, at a hole-in-the-wall joint in the International District. Such restaurants typically have less ambience, limited service, or lower prices—and sometimes all three.
It’s unusual to find a place that aspires for more in that part of town. For a long time, though, I’ve walked past a place called Made in Kitchen that looked oddly out of place. “Too clean, too fancy,” I thought, for the International District. And never enough on my radar to give it a try. Until recently. And perhaps just in time.
The by-the-front-door VIP room is beautifully tempting, but too big for our group of four—which got seated in the still-nice general dining area. It’s a little hard to get a handle on the cuisine. At first it feels Vietnamese, with items like Sour Catfish Soup, Golden Shrimp Cake Wrapped Around Sugar Cane, Black Pepper Tofu, and La Lot Beef, but the menu is sprinkled with other Asian dishes like Hai Nam Chicken, Singapore Curry Seafood and Spicy Malay Eggplants. There are also Thai, Japanese, and Chinese influences. Made in Kitchen bills itself as a Southeast Asian fusion restaurant.
We skipped small plates, skewers, salads and soups and got right to a few bigger dishes, included the aforementioned eggplants that were fresh, meaty, and nicely spicy. Grilled pork chops were smoky with lemongrass and other herbs in the marinade prominent. I also liked the claypot fish filet—the fish deliciously simmered with homemade deep-fried tofu, mushrooms and bamboo shoots. Least appealing for me was the stir-fried seafood udon. I liked the assortment of seafood and vegetables, but I prefer noodles with a different texture.
Back to what I wrote earlier: I believe I got there just in time. Made in Kitchen is suddenly closed. Some say it’s just for the month; others believe the restaurant is permanently closed to be reopened as something different. I like what I’ve eaten in dining room at Made in Kitchen, and will be a bit sad if this “upscale” restaurant is permanently closed.
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