For some reason, warm weather always has me craving Lao/Thai food….along with the other usual suspects. On one recent hot summer day, I decided to check out a place I’d had on my “list” for a while; Kin Saep. One thing that drew me here was the location….4710 Market Street. Folks who’ve been reading this blog forever will recognize the exterior.
Yep, this used to be Asia Cafe, which I first posted on back in April of 2006! Asia Cafe was the place where I developed my love of Lao Cuisine…which culminated in our wonderful visit to Luang Prabang! Eventually time passes and Asia Cafe changed ownership…Cathy even did a post back in 2017. Asia Cafe then closed and became So Saap, which eventually moved to University, in what used to be Ban Lao and before that Que Huong. Man, I’ve been doing this blogging thing for too long!
Ok, returning to real time, I arrived a few minutes after the 11am opening time and the parking lot was empty…….something that really wasn’t common here in the days of Asia Cafe. The open sign lit up and I walked on in.
For some reason, this tiny restaurant seemed even smaller than before? The nice woman brought me menus, then turned on the music videos while her son watched his own personal tablet.
Looking over the prices, I was shocked at how inexpensive things seemed. I ordered three items off the menu…all predictable dishes for me these days.
First to arrive was the Peppered BBQ Pork ($10.95)…which was pork neck.
While I expected chewiness, this was really bland…whatever marinade they used was quite weak. No caramelization….so not my definition of “BBQ”. That Jeow Som was spicy enough for my taste, it had a bracing sourness, but lacked a savory-umami component.
Of course I got the Lao Sausage ($10.95).
This was pretty good. I enjoyed the “tight” casing, giving things a bit of snap. The filling was adequately moist and tender, with good savory tones, though I like a hint of sour and a more herbaceous flavor.
I had ordered the spicy version of the sausage, but this wasn’t spicy in the least. Still, this was not bad.
And of course, I got the Nem Khao Tod ($14.95). First to arrive was a plate with a huge amount of lettuce!
And then the Nem Khao.
I ordered this medium spicy…but should have gone for more! I liked the amount of sour sausage and herbs in the nem khao.
But there was one short coming. I think you can see it clearly.
Yep….there were no crispy-crunchy bites of rice in this! What the heck? It could have been a winnah!
I took leftovers home and when I heated the nem khao it got really mushy. And when I looked at the receipt I saw that the woman had ordered my sausage “mild”.
But check out those prices! Did I just go back in time to the days before Covid? The owner is very sweet and I enjoy supporting these mom-and-pop places. If we lived closed I’d do a revisit. But unlike the food prices….we’re still in those days of crazy gas prices….so maybe one day. After having my leftovers; the Missus wanted to head back to So Saap….so I guess we’ll be there soon.
Kin Saep
4710 Market St.
San Diego, CA 92102
Current Hours:
Daily 11am – 730pm