"I tend to be skeptical about the inclusion of oysters in an elaborate dish, given how complex and complete the bivalves are on their own, barely seasoned and sitting in their shells; it feels somehow wrong to remove them for anything other than immediate slurping. As such, I skipped the Lumpu Salad the first two times I ate at Chalong, a new southern-Thai restaurant in Hell’s Kitchen. On my third visit, I wised up. A cluster of milky-looking oysters (usually from the East Coast) are dressed in chili paste, spooned into a pool of seafood sauce (made with green chili, cilantro, garlic, lime juice, fish sauce, and sugar), piled high with fried shallot, raw red onion, fresh mint, cilantro, and Thai bird chili, and finished with a frilly tangle of tender, curling pea shoots and a few coins of radish. It was spectacular: sour, sweet, briny, refreshing—the cool, creamy, slippery oysters playing foil to the sharp heat of the sauce and the crisp herbs and vegetables. The salad is one of a half-dozen appetizers currently on offer at Chalong, which was opened in January by the chef Nate Limwong—who grew up in Surat Thani, on the coast of southern Thailand—and a group of her colleagues from previous jobs at restaurants including Fish Cheeks and Soothr. Each dish is a standout—on the menu, in the neighborhood (which has been home to dozens of other Thai restaurants), and in the city at large." - Hannah Goldfield
