When people mention dining in Kansas City, many will think of barbecue. While it is certainly a popular subject in our hometown, it is far from the only cuisine to be found here. In fact, there are tons of great eats to be found tucked away all over town. Kansas City, Kansas is our neck of the woods and it is filled with a broad spectrum of ethnic cuisine options. We like to think of our city as the “melting pot of the Midwest”. A trip along State Avenue landed us at Naree Kitchen Thai & Sushi where we always find tasty Thai meals.
Local Eats
Naree Kitchen is one of the spots that is hiding in plain sight. Located in a strip mall, it is easy to overlook this stop. That would be a huge mistake since we have found their dishes to be consistently good. For the past year, we have had to resign ourselves with carryout, due to Covid restrictions. Some of this may also have been related to the limited amount of workers. Fortunately, they have reopened their inside dining room. While we still frequented during the restrictions, it is dine-in that we like the most. There is just something special about enjoying the atmosphere of a place.
Let’s Get Started
One of the reasons we like this place so much is its broad range of menu choices. This allows us to enjoy a tapas-style meal where we combine a grouping of small dishes. There are certain tastes that we always fall back on and these help us judge the quality of a restaurant. It’s a must to start with some Crab Rangoon and we have sampled this dish in so many places. Naree Kitchen does a great job with theirs and it makes a nice accompaniment for some sushi. On this visit, we chose the Spicy Shrimp Tempura Roll, which is about as fishy as we ever order. This was a good start to our meal.
Peanuty Protein
Another good appetizer dish is their Chicken Satay. The pounded chicken strips are grilled to perfection and served with a tempting peanut sauce. If we have any issues with this dish, it would be that there just isn’t as much as we would want to eat. Fortunately, there are other dishes to help buffer our disappointment when the chicken is all gone. On this visit, we didn’t order it, but the Calamari is another bite-size option we enjoy. It is served with a sweet and spicy Thai chili sauce that has us coming back for more.
Fried Rice Galore
Crystal and I have become experts at piecing together a meal using a variety of small dishes. Our go-to main course is almost always Chicken Fried Rice. This protein-rich meal provides the filling touch to hold us over until the next mealtime. Naree Kitchen does this dish very well and abundantly. The huge pile of rice was more than we could finish. We like that they have been consistent with the delivery of this item, as too often it can be extremely oily at other restaurants. They also have a good grasp of the proportions of each of the ingredients to make this dish scrumptious.
Tasty Thai
Being empty-nesters means that we find ourselves dining out frequently. It’s nice knowing that we live in a city filled with plenty of options. Naree Kitchen is our KCK stop for sushi and fried rice, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t other good options around town. That’s one of the reasons we love living in Kansas City. With so many great dining choices, we know that we can always find a good meal without traveling too far. What are some of your favorite choices for tasty Thai cuisine?
