Narunya's
Narunya came to Central Texas from Surat Thani in 2007, could not find the food she grew up on, and went to Le Cordon Bleu so she could cook it herself.1
Why go
She graduated in 2014 and found the building on the last day of her final semester.1 She cooks the curries of her home province and makes everything on the menu except the noodles, down to the mango sorbet.1 Nothing goes out until the staff have eaten it. Her rule, in her words: If they won't eat it, or don't eat it, it will never go out to a customer.
1 She trained as an artist first, and her own paintings hang on the walls of a room done in electric green and pink.1
Order this / avoid
- Order: the spicy dumplings. She lists them as an appetizer and says plenty of people make a meal of them.1
- Order: the Mussels Tom-Yum, mussels in coconut milk and broth with julienned carrot and celery.1
- Order: sticky rice with mango sorbet to finish. She churns the sorbet.1
- Avoid: Sunday. She closes.1
What locals & experts say
- Narunya, on why the food tastes the way it does:
People come here with an open mind. They will feel what we do for the food.
1 - Narunya, on watching the room:
When I see a customer eating and I peek out there and they are smiling, I'm happy. If they are unhappy I want to find out why.
1
Good to know
- She published her Rad Nah. Flat rice noodles with broccoli, carrot and baby corn under a brown gravy, and her note on how it goes out at home:
The addition of pickled peppers adds a lot of dynamics to the final flavor.
1 - Timing: Monday to Saturday 11am to 8.45pm, closed Sunday, off her own site. The magazine's older printing had it closing at 9.21
- It is 316 East Central Avenue, in downtown Belton, with easy parking.2
Verdict
should-visit — A cook who went to culinary school because the Thai food she found here was not the food she grew up on, then opened in the building she found on her last day of class, is cooking to a target she can describe. Surat Thani curries made from scratch and a mango sorbet churned in house for one dessert is a level of work most small-town rooms skip. Her rule about the staff tasting first is the kind of thing that shows on a plate. What holds it off the top rung is that one magazine piece is the only published account, and it carries no date anyone has recovered.