Some people like to spend happy hour sitting in traffic or hitting the gym and shredding calories. Our idea of happy includes drinking them by way of mezcal, charred pineapple shrub, lemongrass, and cilantro. All together in a glass. With some Thai avocado-less guacamole to go along. That’s right: Thai Guacamole with no avocado. Instead Chef Bee uses grilled eggplant, hard boiled egg, jalapeno and nahm prik noom to make the popular Mexican dish Oriental. It’s a dish you can’t and won’t find anywhere else, along with the rest of the $7 offerings on NaiYaRa’s Happy Hour, which by the way runs seven days a week from 5 to 7 p.m.
Offerings like slurp-worthy Kumamotos with nahm jim talay sauce and crispy shallots; Pork Ramen (we dare you to find decent $7 ramen elsewhere on the beach); Chicken Liver Stir Fry; Tamarind Chicken Pad Thai crowned with crispy wontons; tempura papaya; Kimchi Fried Rice with a sunny side up egg on top; and can’t-eat-just-one and finger-licking-good Fried Chicken Wings with a lemongrass, kaffir lime and coriander seasoning and oyster sauce for good dipping measure.
And since no happy hour is complete without good (and strong) cocktails to wash the comestibles down, NaiYaRa’s offering everything from $3.50 Sapporo and $7 Wine and Cocktails to Sake by the carafe (for $21). We can happily vouch for the cocktails, which aside from the mezcal based Tom Kha-Pina we already told you about include a zesty Stone Sour Jerk with jerky infused redemption rye, hella ginger-lemon bitters and lime; the aromatic Kai-Piroska with kai lychee, creme de cassis, and prosecco); and tongue-in-cheek S(h)angria-(L)a (get it?) made with pinot noir, veev acai, pear, honeydew, and cantaloupe. We know, we know: we were sad that the Killer Bee didn’t make its way on to the happy hour menu either, but you’ll just have to order one once the clock strikes 7 p.m., along with a Ginger Milk Chocolate Pot de Creme topped with chocolate puffed rice. Happy is the word.
