Monday, July 14, 2014

ShopHouse Southeast Asia Kitchen Summer Squash Review

Grilled Chicken Satay Bowl with Summer Squash

ShopHouse Southeast Asia Kitchen... without my beloved Eggplant & Thai Basil topping: Cue nervous hand-wringing. ShopHouse recently announced a seasonal change, swapping Summer Squash for the aforementioned eggplant; so understandably, I was a little concerned. I love to mix it up by sampling different meats & sauces, but the one constant in my ordering arsenal was eggplant (over corn, green beans and the recently introduced kale.) Turns out, my fears were for naught: Summer Squash makes quite the splash.

I stopped by the Georgetown branch (still haven't made it out to Bethesda) on Saturday for a late lunch, and... surprise, surprise, the dining area was almost full (again.) As per usual, I received an enthusiastic greeting from each person along the line (three associates, this time around.) Clinging to a fall sense of hope, my eyes darted back & forth in search of eggplant. No such luck, but the summer squash was there... green and yellow, mixed with the same Thai Basil. I added that to a bowl of Grilled Chicken Satay Bowl with Brown Rice (almost chose Chilled Rice Noodles... almost) and topped that off with some Spicy Red Curry sauce and a generous garnish of tart pickles.


As luck would have it, I was able to secure the last available table... smack dab in front of the fountain soda dispenser, which came in extra handy due to an especially spicy red curry sauce. I dove into my bowl of goodness, searching for squash (there was plenty) but noticing little change to my dish, save for a most welcome, added crunch. Ingredients were deftly proportioned (as always) and I could have sworn that the yellow squash was more tender than the green (the more tender, the better.)

The red curry sauce had particular snap on this visit (1¼ soda refills, a new record at ShopHouse) and it didn't take long to clean out my bowl. Once again, another home run. So many flavors, so affordable and so good: What more can you ask for? Besides seconds.