Culture Bitch

Last night, Book Bastard and I decided to check out Ronnarong, a small place in Union Square, Somerville which bills itself as a “Thai Tapas Bar”. We originally heard about it from a neighbor, and the reviews on Yelp have been great.

When we arrived, we realized the place was indeed tiny, with about 8 seats at the bar and only a handful of tables, all of which were full. The proprietor, a petite Thai woman, greeted us warmly and said it would be about 15 minutes for a table, so we decided to wait. There was one seat open at the bar, which I took, and no sooner had I done so than she reappeared with a stool for Book Bastard, two glasses of water, and a basket of those delectable shrimp chips I love at Thai restaurants. Even though the place was tiny and there was very little room, she made us feel welcome and brought menus right over for us to review while we waited.

Ronnarong has a decent selection of wine and beer. The wine list was not huge but thoughtfully covered a range of styles and grapes, including Verdejo, Riesling, Gewurtztraminer, Torrontes, as well as the usual Sauv Blanc & Chard. Just one wine of each type, but well chosen for the given style.

I actually decided to start with one of their “house” cocktails, an unusual choice for me, but this sounded very good for such a warm night: Thai Sangria, which was a combo of sake, rosé wine, basil, lemongrass, ginger and tropical fruit. It was sweet, as you’d expect, but not overpowering and a really nice starting drink for what turned out to be a delicious meal.

Within about ten minutes a table opened up. All of the tables are lined up along one long wall, with the wall side being a bench seat with large, comfy pillows behind your back. It’s cozy without being awkward.

The menu included one page of “tapas” - small plate items that you could combine to make a meal, or simply order as a starter. We opted for three of the tapas: Spicy Asian Broccoli, Paradise Beef, and a Shrimp Fresh Roll. All three were very good. The first was lightly sauteed with a rich sauce that had a tangy and garlicky flavor. Not as spicy as I expected, but delicious nonetheless. The Paradise Beef was a dried beef, that was then deep fried and had a sweet, sticky glaze.  Definitely a more unusual appetizer - a bit like a dried satay, it had a lovely flavor but there was more than we really wanted even on the small plate.

Easily the standout of the three was the Fresh Roll. On the plate were two whole spring rolls, sliced into five pieces each, and they had clearly been freshly made, with large chunks of shrimp and crisp vegetables rolled inside the rice wrapper. The dipping sauce was a light, sweet/sour sauce with minutely diced cucumber and carrot. At only five dollars each, the tapas are an amazingly good value and great way to try a few different tastes.

For an entree, we shared an order of Pad Kee Mao, or “Drunken Noodles”, is a dish made with wide egg noodles, chili peppers, garlic, and both yellow and green squash as well as whatever protein you choose to order with it. We decided on chicken, which was good - nice strips of white chicken, well cooked but still moist. The dish was a great size to share; anything more would have been too much food.

We will definitely be going back to Ronnarong, especially to try other of the tapas. The service was lovely, the atmostphere comfortable, and the food very, very good. I suspect this may supplant Tamarind House (Mass Ave, Cambridge) as our new favorite Thai place.

Ronnarong
255 Washington Street
Union Square, Somerville