Normally, ethnic restaurants feature only one type of cuisine.
But Nan is a unique blend of the food from two vastly different cultures -- probably one of the only places where you can order lemongrass soup and follow it with a filet mignon drenched in a red-wine reduction sauce.
Located at 40th and Chestnut streets, the French-Thai restaurant is a place that every gastronomic Penn student should know about.
Chef Kamol Phutlek, a native of Thailand, started the restaurant in the late 1990s.
He has been involved in the Philadelphia restaurant scene since the '70s, cooking at restaurants like La Terrasse and The Frog.
He helped jumpstart what was called the "Philadelphia renaissance," bringing the city to the illustrious food scene that it is today.
Nan is a BYOB and is fairly casual for its cuisine. It has a simple, minimalist decor -- off-white colored walls complemented by wall hangings in pink and lime green and ficus plants running down the middle of the room.
The food, in contrast, has great flair.
Appetizers include several salads, some soups and dishes like crostini or chicken sate.
I ordered the squid salad -- an assortment of onions, peppers and grilled squid heaped over romaine lettuce. The dish had a spicy sauce that included mint, lemon, lime juice and fish sauce.
The salad was spicy, but certainly tolerable. The slices of marinated red peppers as well as the squid were both tender. The combination of flavors meshed nicely to make a sharp plate that was more filling than expected.
For the main course, I had two of Nan's showcase dishes -- the pad thai and the chicken and shrimp.
The pad thai -- made up of myriad ingredients like shrimp, tofu, rice noodles, peanuts, bean sprouts, egg, tomatoes, carrots and scallions -- has a colorful presentation and a nice, sweet taste that is uncommon in entrees.
It went well with the grilled shrimp and tofu; the sauce, which was almost absorbed by the food, was mainly comprised of tamarind, oyster sauce and sugar.
The chicken and shrimp, with simple, clean centimeter-thick slices of chicken, a few whole shrimp with rice on the side and a flavorful red curry cream sauce was honest, with no flash at all; still, it ended up as one of the best dishes I tasted.
For dessert I had a warm chocolate cake topped with a tangy raspberry sauce and whipped cream that was not overly rich -- instead, it satisfied with a solid and not too heavy texture.
Nan has many places to compete with around campus -- there are four other ethnic restaurants within view from the corner -- but it is a great dining option for people searching for a little French flair with their exotic cuisine.
