€€€€Prix : cher • Indonésienne/Malaisienne • Walnut Creek
Traditionally inspired from dishes, ingredients & techniques spanning the Malay archipelago, namely Singapore & Indonesia. Regionally influenced by Northern California’s palette of producers, produce, and presentation. Essentially: expressing these tropical, cosmopolitan island flavor profiles through the abundance of what thrives in Northern California’s Mediterranean climate and terrain. Nusantara cuisines could be characterized as intense, rich, spiced (more than spicy). Steeped in time and layers of complexity, both in the kitchen and in the long history of diverse peoples in this part of the world. Chef Nora Haron draws from this wealth of culinary knowledge, plus contrasting Californian influences, which some could say to be the polar opposite: that deconstructed-composed, whole-ingredients-laid-bare simplicity, the lightness that has evolved in California eating through the few decades of this relatively young place.