Chef Angelo Sosa takes Valley diners on a long overdue culinary tour of Malaysia, Indonesia and other Far East climes at his instantly essential new resort restaurant.
By Nikki Buchanan | Photography by Tim Chow
When you yearn to get out of Dodge (as I do every blazing minute of July and August) but you can’t (because, for whatever karmic reason, you’re tethered to the Valley in the summer), consider an evening at Kembara at JW Marriott Phoenix Desert Ridge Resort & Spa. For the price of a semi-fancy dinner, you can pretend you’re somewhere far-flung and exotic and take a fantastic pan-Asian dining journey from your chair.
Celebrity chef Angelo Sosa (whose Dominican roots are deliciously manifested just across the lobby at the resort’s Latin-inflected Tía Carmen restaurant) turns to Asian street food for inspiration here, and the menu roams Southeast Asia (kembara means “to wander” in Malay), offering modern riffs on classic dishes from Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Japan. Truth be told, not much of it resembles street food. It’s far too pretty for that. Then, too, the day-to-day heavy lifting is handled by talented chef de cuisine Penny Tagliarina, who beat Bobby Flay on Food Network and worked for a time at artisanal butcher shop Saucisson in Cleveland. The girl’s got chops.
As for that getaway vibe, a portion of it comes from the inventively designed space – a visually stunning mash-up of heavy beams, elegant wallpaper, lavender neon lights and anime-style graffiti. The patio also creates a blissful sense of another time and place.
Cocktails, cleverly named for famous Asian novels, incorporate Far East spirits and ingredients. My frothy, mezcal-based Thirst for Love gets the getaway underway. Meanwhile, an extensive sake list, curated by sake ambassador Eduardo Dingler, highlights Japan’s important regions, styles and producers. (As an aside, the restaurant claims to have the Southwest’s largest collection of Asian spirits, including Japanese and Taiwanese whisky, shochu and baijiu, a Chinese grain spirit).
Tuna Thai Jewel, the first dish of the evening, is a knockout – tuna sashimi, kiwi, turmeric-dusted crunchy jicama and Thai basil afloat in a lilting, flower-bedecked broth scented with lemongrass and ginger. Crunchy lamb spring rolls, dusted with a brilliant green powder of cumin and coriander, are rich and heavy – a 180 from the Thai tuna, but every bit as memorable, especially after a dunk in cilantro yogurt.
Mee babi, an Indonesian noodle dish, is pure comfort, combining springy house-made egg noodles with pork belly and pea tendrils in garlicky, ginger-scented soy sauce. And naturally, there’s rice. Nasi goreng Malaysia, a fried rice dish, derives its gently salty, umami quality from fried anchovies offset by earthy turmeric, oyster sauce and lime leaf. It has the same rich, savory appeal as Glai Baan’s mackerel fried rice.
Kembara’s entrées are just as strong and sexy as its appetizers, a rarity in my experience. Ketam cili – aka chilli crab – the national dish of Singapore, eloquently proves my point. Alaskan king crab legs, split for easy eating, are cooked, then coated in a mesmerizing sauce composed of tomatoes, sambal (Indonesian chile paste), ginger and tamarind. It’s sweet but not too sweet, spicy but not too spicy, sour but not too sour. Messy, too, but that’s half the fun.
Black pepper Maine lobster, based on a Thai recipe, is similarly addictive. However, it’s far less sweet and seriously peppery – so peppery it leaves our mouths pleasantly aglow. Next time, I’ll order a side of steamed rice to cool the fire.
Heo nuong sa – grilled pork collar – epitomizes everything I love about Vietnamese food. The pork, marinated first in sweet Vietnamese soy sauce, fish sauce and lemongrass, is charred and ever so lightly lacquered. Accompanied by a verdant heap of herbs, lettuces, baby vegetables and edible flowers, the sweet, smoky meat is transcendent when eaten with the greens for fresh counterpoint.
Very little of the menu is Japanese – but that’s fine, because Japanese food is everywhere. There’s a Wagyu ribeye, steamed pork dumplings (maybe Chinese, maybe Japanese, certainly the least interesting thing on the menu) and two elegant little veggie skewers threaded with shiitake mushrooms and leeks, brushed with thick, sweet tare (the flavored soy sauce used for Japanese grilled items) that’s infused with truffles.
There’s also a clever Japanese-inspired dessert called buckwheat taiyaki, which begins with the fish-shaped, waffle-like sweet treats the Japanese fill with everything from red bean paste to sweet potato.
At Kembara, buckwheat gives the cake-like fish a nutty flavor and deeper color, but what really makes it interesting are accompaniments of strawberry jam, Thai basil and matcha cream, the latter dotted with shaves of chocolate. It’s a pleasantly startling mix of sweet, earthy and herbaceous flavors. Weirdly, I love the tiny, sugar-dusted Vietnamese coffee doughnuts just as much. Light as air and served with syrupy condensed milk infused with real Vietnamese coffee, they’re something I can imagine wanting every day, and I don’t even like doughnuts.
And that’s how I’ve felt about pretty much everything I’ve eaten – surprised and delighted. Kembara takes us places the Valley has never seen before, and it’s always a pleasant trip.
Kembara
Cuisine: Pan-Asian
Contact: JW Marriott Phoenix Desert Ridge Resort & Spa, 5350 E. Marriott Dr., Phoenix, 480-293-5000, kembaradesertridge.com
Hours: Daily 5-9 p.m.
Highlights: Tuna Thai Jewel ($23); lamb spring roll ($18); Malaysian fried rice ($27); chilli crab (MP, $55); lemongrass pork collar ($39); Vietnamese coffee doughnuts ($13)
