Pig & Khau, Lower East Side, NYC

NOTE: After visiting, we saw this notice online: “Our last day of service will be June 22.” Both the UWS and Chesea (Piggyback) locations are open.

Earlier this year, my daughter-in-law raved about a Southeast Asian restaurant on the Lower East Side where she met a colleague when in town. I couldn’t resist trying it, so I made a reservation with some friends I had met on a recent trip to Ecuador.

We squeezed into a cozy corner booth, and right away, the atmosphere was lively and casual, with loud 90s hip-hop music playing in the background.

I love the family-style dining experience, as it encourages sharing.

Once we sipped our perfectly blended cocktails, we knew we were in for a treat. If they could create these refreshing drinks with such unique flavors, we had high hopes for the food. We weren’t disappointed by the bold and unexpected flavor combinations.

To start, I sampled the IBON on a wire ($16) with mezcal, Thai chili tequila, Aperol, grapefruit and grapefruit bitters; one friend, The Green Hour ($16), a smooth blend of Thai basil gin, pisco, cucumber, lime, mint, aquafaba (whipped chickpea water!) and orange bitters. The third chose the Kentucky Pig ($15), which featured bourbon, ginger, curry leaf, lime, mint and Angostura bitters.

We opted for their Family Meal special ($45 per person), which included bottomless rice and a choice of donuts or Jell-O shots for dessert. It’s quite the meal, considering the crab entree we chose is $33, the duck, $49! For three people, we were able to choose two small plates, both noodle options and two large ones. We three shared the donuts and had one Jell-O shot to sample it.

As we were perusing the menu, Kenny, our excellent waiter, mentioned that they were already out of their famous Kare Kare brisket dumplings and had only one serving left of the crab foo young ($33), the super crunch jumbo lump crab omelet with foo young gravy. We grabbed it as one of our large plates! So glad we did.

We started our meal by sharing the green papaya salad, which we added to our Family meal for an extra $15. This dish features a refreshing blend of green papaya, crispy taro, and chopped peanuts, flavored with herbs, fish sauce, and lime.

My dining partners swooned over the pork belly adobo, flavored with soy, garlic, and Szechuan peppercorns, topped with a slow-cooked egg.

They insisted I had to try the sisig, the famous Filipino street food made from chopped pig’s head, jowl, ears (maskara), pork belly and chicken liver, seasoned with the slightly sour calamansi citrus fruit and, of course, chili peppers. And, like many of their dishes, topped with an egg. I’m glad I sampled it.

We three loved both noodle dishes, Noodles Khao Soi and Chili Pan Mee. The first dish featured red curry with coconut milk, chicken, egg noodles, pickled mustard greens and red onions, while the second dish had spicy pork ragu, ramen noodles, crispy anchovies, and another slow-poached egg. Thai, Vietnamese, and Filipino cuisines often incorporate eggs.