Specialising in most things Asian, Nom Nom Asia is resto down Maya Avenue. It’s another venture by Heritage Hotel – Anuradhapura, and a sister restaurant to Thai Heritage Food Truck.
Ambience
Dripping with plastic vines and flowers, the dining area at Nom Nom Asia had slight hints of the Mediterranean mixed with a touch of a swamp, all combined by the impeccably clean, gorgeous tones of their seating.
They have a capacity to seat more than two dozen people without batting an eyelash and also the option of dining outside. With Classical Thai music playing in the background and air conditioning to save you from the heat, we had nothing to complain about.
Food
The food menu at Nom Nom Asia was big. Spanning from options like rice to noodles to soup to spring rolls with the option of going with chicken, seafood beef and even crab. We decided to go with the Vegetable Fried Rice as per staff recommendation (Rs. 850), Fried Tofu in Mushroom (Rs. 750) and the Lime and Honey Chicken (Rs. 895).
Fried to the point of being so soft, and almost gooey in the centre, the tofu was great. Amidst a combo of sliced carrots, bell pepper, tomatoes, cauliflower and mushroom, this is essentially a tofu-ed up version of chop suey and was one of the nicest takes on tofu I’ve had so far. The portion is enough to serve two or even three people and it goes really well with the vegetable fried rice.
Next up we have the Chicken in Lime and Honey. Crispy on the outside, cooked to perfection from the inside and absolutely revelling in lime and honey, this was our instant favourite. Deliciously salty and packed with flavour, we just kept nomming on it. Plus, the bok choy was slightly crunchy too – which works really well with the chicken.
Then came the Vegetable Fried Rice. A heap of well well seasoned, slightly MSG tasting plate of fluffy basmati rice. With lots of cut up veggies and a slight density which we’re not very familiar with but tasted really well with the other dishes, we had no complaints. Nonetheless, we found the rice to have a little too much butter in it. We weren’t really bothered by this, but, if you’re not into lots of oil in your dish, we suggest getting something else.
As for dessert, we went with the only dessert option available that day, the Chocolate Mousse. It wasn’t necessarily bad, but we’ve had better. Taking a slightly gelatinous state but with perfect amounts of sugar and chocolate, it was alright. Plus, it had a rocky road biscuit base. Huzzah!
Drinks
Limiting themselves to just fruit juice and tea, the drinks section doesn’t have a lot of stuff. We decided to go with the Lime Juice (Rs. 300) and a Chrysanthemum Cold Tea (Rs. 350).
Icy cold, sickly sweet and completely smothered in lime, we loved the Lime Juice. Refreshing as hell, this was ideal to get you out of the heat.
The Cold Tea was brilliant too. Essentially a bowl of shallow ice, sugar syrup and chilled Chrysanthemum tea, we loved it. Subtle in almost every way possible, this is ideal for anyone who doesn’t like sugary things but would prefer to go with something super light.
Service
The Service at Nom Nom Asia was superb. The staff was helpful and friendly throughout our experience and they even managed to bring our food within 10-15 minutes of ordering.
We think you should know that we happened to bump into the chefs on the way out. They turned out to be 2 exceptionally friendly Thai ladies who were completely in turn with the rest of the staff because of how nice they were. Made our day, they did.
Conclusion
We had a lovely experience at Nom Nom Asia. The food was great, the staff, some of the nicest we’ve encountered and the ambience left nothing to complain about either. We definitely see ourselves going back.
