Poleng Lounge

(NoPa)
1751 Fulton St.  
415-441-1710 Map it
www.polenglounge.com

Dinner only
$$
Pan-Asian
bar scene, dine at the bar, family style, good for groups, late-night dining, live music, romantic

SCENE: This pan-Asian restaurant doesn’t just have boundary issues; it celebrates them—in its food and its dining room. The latter, decorated with Balinese art and artifacts, is split into a bar and, against the opposite wall, a beige banquette lined with two-tops. In between, a few tables serve as an ad-hoc teahouse (well into dinnertime, you’ll see people sitting there, hunched over their MacBooks). At 10 p.m. sharp, the lights dim, a DJ starts spinning and—voilà!—it’s a nightclub.

EATS: The menu (all small plates) is sans frontières as well—you’ll see dishes reminiscent of the usual Thai/ Vietnamese/Malaysian/Chinese suspects, but nothing is an exact match. For instance, whole shrimp (rather than the shrimp paste you’d expect in chao tom) are skewered on sugarcane and then served over a green papaya salad mixed with mango and Thai basil. Don’t miss the Poleng coconut curry, two tea-infused variations on a Thai-basil-and-eggplant theme.