![]() ![]() It's all glorious, and not just in the context of its environment. She then lavishes it with tamarind-heavy vinaigrette, which has enough acidity for a chemical peel (as it should). She fillets the fish, cuts them into bite-size pieces, coats them in light batter, and fries them in oil until they curl before arranging them back on top of the fried carcass, splayed like a pirate ship, along with the slaw. Ahmed has renditions of whole fish across her restaurants at Khâluna, snapper is at its most virtuous. You'll find a slaw of the mango, as well as apple, with yet another dish - among my favorite in Ahmed's repertoire: whole fried red snapper. This is Salat Mak Mai, a kind of fruit salad, as pretty as a deity offering. The fruits make another appearance alongside red dragon fruit, grapes and strawberries, cut into thumb-sized bites, adorned with edible flowers, mint leaves, crushed peanut and kissed with just enough fish sauce to savor. These are her Pineapple Noodles, but not quite as you know them: There are dried shrimp flakes, as heady as anchovies fat prawns, perfectly steamed a warm, coconut milk broth served tableside with just enough Thai chiles to seethe. Pineapple and green mango, sliced into strips as thin as matchsticks, lend mild sweetness and an appealing crunch to soft, chewy rice noodles. ![]() ![]() In Ahmed's deft hands, the often cloying and tannic tropical fruits, like mango and pineapple, transform into something ethereal. Her fruits certainly do, and they warrant your attention. Some of these are emphatically forthright some subtle. Yet the rest of her menu is filled with many dishes less common even in the Southeast Asian countries by which they are inspired. And Ahmed still makes her secret spice mix at home. Yes, the Basil Wings, a Lat14 hit, make a loud, familiar reappearance. When Lat14 came along, some 13 years later, she wisened up and executed fare more reminiscent of her Laotian heritage.īut it's at Khâluna where Ahmed is in her element, finally accepting that she's done enough to bring Twin Citians along in her journey. Last year, Ahmed told me that when she opened her first restaurant, Lemon Grass, in Brooklyn Park, nearby residents repeatedly requested non-Thai dishes, like Kung Pao Chicken, for years. To label Khâluna by this accolade would understate the efforts of its chef and owner, Ann Ahmed, who is devoted to educating the Twin Cities on the nuances of food from her home country, Laos, and beyond. And judging from what it takes to score a reservation, they seem to have found it. Certainly they are the younger, après-spin segment who are looking for the next "it" restaurant. "Edina moms," my dining companion observes, confident of his intel based on whispers among said community. You won't have to pay (nearly) this extravagantly at Khâluna, which opened last fall inside the restaurant, gigantic, inverted salad bowls double as pendants, casting a honeyed glow on the white oak, glistening quartz countertops, tropically styled rattan chairs, porcelainlike chopsticks and its well heeled, expensively coifed clientele who won't mind paying $25 for duck fried rice. ![]()
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