Room Service is quite the room. Not just the interior of this new Japanese/Thai restaurant but the building in which it is located – a $2.5 million “complex” called Ground 59, which looks like it was dropped in the middle of a block of old Bay View storefronts from 50 years in the future.
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Inside, the dining room is cloaked in sumptuous green upholstery and elegant gold accents, with a striking mural behind the cocktail bar. The refinement just doesn’t end – it’s the soft lighting, the exquisite tableware, the stylish and comfortable seating, and yes, oh yes, the food. The old adage about eating with your eyes first could not be more true.
I never see the owner – executive chef/Bangkok native Kanokporn “Joey” Phadungsil – on my visits to Room Service but her head chef, Martin Baxin, is building raw beauty behind the sushi bar. I ask for a printed menu, which is easier to navigate than the QR code version that pops up on my phone. Therein, the food photography is stunning. I didn’t find that quite matched in the real world – plating felt rushed.
Getting a reservation here has been difficult and I don’t expect that to change any time soon. Just as summer began, the then 2-month-old opened a rooftop patio set up like a boutique hotel lounge with chaise lounge chairs and coffee tables. With seating for 32 and drink and snack menus exclusive to the outdoor space, it will likely make this place even harder to get into.
When it comes to the food, the visual mismatches between the menu and actual plates are only mild and brief disruptions to overall good meals. Integrating Thai and Japanese isn’t in itself complicated – it’s found pretty straightforwardly at, for example, Rice N Roll (which incidentally is run by the owner of the development that houses Room Service). At Room Service, a dish’s packaging sometimes gets in the way of the storytelling.
One of the starters I’m most excited about – Royal Flower dumplings ($14) – turns out to be my least favorite. The Thai name for these carved flower-appearing dumplings means “purple bouquet,” and their striking violet color comes from the butterfly pea flower. Four small dumplings are served in a bowl placed inside a hanging basket, accompanied by another basket filled with leaf lettuce wraps for the dumplings. The customary filling is peanut-based, tangy, sweet and salty. Room Service’s Chor Muang (the dumplings’ Thai name) is too easy on the seasoning, tasting more like peanut butter.
When the pork belly (chashu) bao buns arrive (a duo, $12), I take one, my dining companion aims his chopsticks at the other. The cute pillow-like buns are imprinted with the Room Service logo. I take a big bite, the fatty soy-braised belly, crunchy peanuts, cucumber, scallion and hoisin smashing explosively together on my tongue. It’s delicious, but the belly on my bao bun is dry.
Perhaps I’ll like the gyoza more. These pan-fried Japanese pork dumplings ($9) are prepared Osaka-style, which is with the crispy bottom side facing served up. Here the oily, rich dumplings have a crisp, crepe-like “skirt” – a very thin layer of batter that adheres to the top of the gyoza. In theory, the lacy layer should enhance the crispiness that is so essential in gyoza. But these dumplings are not crispy at all. I’m also eager now to move on to the larger-format plates so strikingly captured in photos.”
Among those mains, I hit the jackpot with two and get close to that with the third. The Hung Lay short rib ($28) is a northern Thai curry, and it’s the short rib you want it to be – falling-off-the-bone, meaty to the point of plumpness, in a lavish braising sauce that develops rich, sweet flavor and subtle heat. The basil mushroom medley ($22) is a not-so-simple, expectation-exceeding mushroom stir-fry. Tender enoki mushrooms and lots of Thai basil swim in a spicy oyster-sauce with a funky hit of fish sauce.
And the third – my quasi-jackpot – is a dish called somtam kaitod ($18), which combines Thai papaya salad, fried chicken, sticky rice and tamarind sauce. It comes on a three-tier serving dish, each component on a different tier. Part of the fun is bringing the flavors, textures and temperatures together on your palate – sweet/spicy/tangy, crispy/crunchy/chewy and cold/hot.
The papaya salad traditionally has a kick, the bits and pieces of chiles visible in the mix of string beans, tomato and papaya. I know to proceed with caution, but I’m not prepared for giving up on it entirely. I like the dish otherwise – it’s just the heat of the papaya salad that is too much.
The sushi side of the menu is a whole other deal – stylish, playful creations like build-your-own temaki (cone-shaped hand rolls wrapped in seaweed) and tuna tango pizza, chirashi (a bowl of sashimi atop sushi rice) and serpentine sushi rolls drizzled with spicy soy mustard and sesame yuzu mayo.
The temaki “sets” deliver drama and a very good entry to Room Service’s raw artistry. Of the three options, I get the Samurai Set ($28) – five hand rolls that arrive in sequential order.
The one I like the most is unagi – rich, fatty, oily eel – folded inside the crisp sheet of seaweed along with sweet, starchy rice.
It’s easy to feel you’ve barely scratched the surface of this menu – but that’s more inspiring than daunting. And there’s no rush. Room Service makes tasting, seeing and inhaling it all, while not the perfection it’s trying to achieve, still such a cultivated and pleasurable experience.
Room Service
2159 S. Kinnickinnic Ave., 414-414-9789
Hours: Daily 4:30-10:30 p.m.
Prices: Appetizers $6-$28; mains $18-$28; sushi/sashimi/rolls $5-$29
Reservations: Recommended; bar seating available for walk-ins
Service: A bit scattered but gracious and helpful
