Naisa - Revisit

I met a friend for lunch at Naisa for the first time in ages and ages---they had been closed down for many months and honestly because of that, it had sort of left my mind as an option. But we remembered it and went back to see how they were doing.

The meals (all around $8) come with a soup and a crab Rangoon. We both chose the hot and sour soup. It had a nice flavor and a sufficient amount of heat, as well as nice chunks of tofu and mushrooms. But it had a lot of oil floating on top, which kind of stuck to your lips. It tasted good, but I just would have preferred something a bit lighter and would try one of the other options next time. I do love the little crunchy wontons they serve along with the soup. They are nice in the soup.

I also ordered some of the pork dumplings ($5.95) and asked for them pan fried (you can get them steamed as well). Ok, they were basically pot stickers and honestly, they weren’t my favorite. The dumpling filling just sort of fell out in a ball—they weren’t overly integrated and the skins a little chewy. 

The entrees were decent. I had the chicken with garden veggies because the veggie options with it sounded the best. It had broccoli, zucchini, baby corn, carrots and mushrooms. I am not a fan of bell peppers, so I skipped the dishes with them in it and went for this one. The chicken was tender and the sauce was nice—not spicy but had a decent depth of flavor. The veggies were nice and crisp tender—not just crisp. I hate it when Chinese dishes taste like they just threw the veggies in raw. I also liked the little crab Rangoon they serve with your entrée, just to give you a little treat. They never blow my mind anywhere, but this one was good and crunchy.

Overall, it’s good to see Naisa back and in business. They have a nice interior and the service was very good. It’s a good to have at least one option for Chinese food in Fountain Square—heck, it’s good to have an option for Chinese food downtown—there are so few. It’s solid, even if it’s not spectacular.

Naisa

1025 Virginia Avenue

Indy 46203

319/602-3708

www.facebook.com/naisacafe/ 

Naisa -- Revisit

Recently I stopped into Naisa for a follow up lunch. I couldn’t believe how long it had been since my last visit.  I hadn’t been to Fountain Square in awhile, and I really like this part of the City.  Recently, I have also been reading articles about Fountain Square’s struggles with the construction in the area and I wanted to make sure to support the area.  Indy has a lot of really great restaurants in this area and I would hate to see any of them lost because of the hassle of the parking and traffic in the area.  Getting over there was a bit of a challenge because at the time, there were several roads closed into Fountain Square (which look like they have since re-opened), and you just have to plan on parking off the main streets, but if you go in knowing that, it isn’t a really big deal to just park on a side street.  Wow, though, you had to feel for Naisa, they don’t even have a sidewalk in front right now, just a bunch of crushed gravel right up to the door.  But once I was in, I was happy to see that pretty much every table was full. I also saw a lot of people coming and going in Siam Square across the street. These are two of my favorite Fountain Square places so I was glad they seemed to be doing okay.

Anyway, I wanted to get something different than I got the first time we were there, so I started with the hot and sour soup this time.  I quite enjoyed it. It was your traditional hot and sour soup with lots of stuff in it—bits of egg, tofu, and bamboo shoots.  The broth was a little thicker than is my personal preference, but I thought it was good. It wasn’t super spicy (some I have had other places gets me in the back of the throat) but it had a nice peppery flavor.  I also always like the little fried wontons on the side to throw in and add a little crunch.

For my entrée, I tried the chicken with garden veggies.  It was all white meat chicken pieces sautéed with lots of different veggies—broccoli, snow peas, mushrooms, cabbage and carrots.  On both my visits, I found the chicken to be well cooked—nice and tender.  The veggies were nice—still crisp and fresh, but still cooked enough that you don’t just feel like they are raw.  The soy-based sauce was pleasant, although I can’t say the dish overall had a ton of flavor.  There was a little seafood fried wonton on the side.  It wasn’t overly cream cheesy, and was a nice variation of flavor.  These in general don’t tend to be my favorite thing but I enjoy one or two with a dish.  The meal for lunch (including the soup) is around $7.50 (sorry I lost my receipt).

Overall, this is a place I enjoy. I don’t find it amazing, but compared to a lot of casual Chinese lunch places, the food is much fresher.  It tastes like they are making an effort in the kitchen to put out high quality, fresh dishes. If I was downtown a lot, I would probably frequent this place.  But now that I think about it, are there other good Chinese places for lunch downtown? I am down there about once a week for lunch, and I would be curious to know if you can recommend other downtown Chinese places.

Naisa

1025 Virginia Avenue

Indy 46203

317/602-3708

www.naisacafe.com

Naisa- Lunch

I am getting on a roll these days getting out to some new lunch places. The other day hubby and I headed out to Naisa, a place that has been on the list for awhile. Hubby told me he would go anywhere so I trucked him off to Fountain Square.

Other than the giant snow bank along the curb to negotiate (not really their fault), we had no problem getting in for lunch. The place had only a couple of tables full when we got there, although people came in fairly regularly the entire time we were there, and several picked up carry out.

I was a little surprised by the menu, in that is was very classic Chinese dishes. For some reason, I sort of expected it to be a little less traditional based on what I had heard. You’ll see all the classics--- things like chow mein, General Tso’s chicken, sweet and sour pork and chicken, and even moo goo gai pan. I haven’t seen that on a menu in ages. Maybe the dinner menu is more extensive, but the dishes for lunch were pretty old school. Not that there is anything wrong with that, just not what I was expecting.

Each lunch item comes with a choice of soup (egg drop, hot and sour, or wonton) and a little seafood puff. You also get your choice of steamed or fried rice. I asked our server which soup she preferred and she said the hot and sour (which I do like) but then told me about their wonton soup and the fact that their wontons were made smaller so they are actually more bite-sized. That sold me on it, because while I generally like wonton soup, I often don’t order it for that reason---who wants to try and cut a wonton in half? The soup itself was very light and the wontons were smaller (there were three of them) and obviously quite fresh. However, it lacked much flavor. I think I would go with the hot and sour next time.

For my entrée, I ordered the garlic chile chicken which was sliced white meat chicken with broccoli, celery, baby corn, hot chile peppers, snow peas and bell peppers and in a thick slightly garlic-y sauce. The menu listed it as hot and spicy and I am happy to say that it actually was. I drank quite a bit more with my lunch than usual. It had quite a little kick. And I loved that the veggies were actually cooked a bit—so often the broccoli in Chinese dishes is so raw it is just too hard (and often too large) to eat. This broccoli was actually cooked to where it was still crisp, but also tender. The chicken was plentiful and balanced by an appropriate amount of veggies. The little seafood puff was more cream cheese than seafood, as they usually are, but was obviously freshly fried and super crispy. A great deal for lunch.

Hubby substituted an egg roll (they have spring rolls and egg rolls-the spring rolls are veggie, the egg rolls contain pork and are larger with a thicker shell) for his soup. He was impressed with it and said it was probably the best egg roll he has had. It was clearly freshly fried (can you say burn your mouth hot?) and had two layers of the flour wrapper—the outer one was fried super crispy, but there was an interior layer that added a nice chewiness to it that was tasty and different. I also liked that when you took a bite, long strings of the cabbage didn’t come dangling out. They must have chopped the veggies more and I appreciate things like this.

He had the General Tso’s chicken which is dark meat battered and deep fried and served with hot chiles as well. This is your classic General Tso’s, with the slightly reddish spicy yet slightly sweet thick sauce. He thoroughly enjoyed it. I had a bite and it had a nice bit of spiciness to it as well. He ordered the fried rice (I had steamed) and while it was quite dark in color, it didn’t really seem to have a lot of flavor to it really.

All in all, this is a great little Chinese restaurant from what I can tell. The ingredients seem super fresh and the food is clearly being made to order. We both proclaimed that if it was in our neighborhood, it would certainly be on our regular rotation for carry out. And hey, if you have been for dinner, let me know what you thought.

Naisa Café
1025 Virginia Ave
Indy 46203
317/602-3708
http://www.naisacafe.com/