Sonam

27149742

There has been a funny television commercial running since Christmas. It features a man and woman dining in a swanky restaurant. They talk about how difficult it was to get a reservation, how the service and wine are spectacular. A waiter places a plate in front of the man. It contains a single piece of food and some sort of culinary squiggle.

"It looks like elf food," the man says.

In the world of Philadelphia dining there is good elf food (pretentious and expensive but filled with flavor) and bad elf food. Cousin Carl and I ate dinner at Sonam, which falls into the latter category — the plates are tiny and the food is tasteless.

Sonam is submerged below street level at 223 South St. When it housed the restaurant Next, the food was carefully prepared and delicious. I suspect the location had something to do with its demise.

The place is still BYOB. We settled in as our server opened out sparkling wine from France.

The d�cor is beige and brown. There are uncomfortable banquettes lining one wall and chairs facing them. The tables are dark, set with beige napkins and dark brown chop sticks.

The menu is poorly written and filled with little plates with no focus.

Our server told us they recommend ordering about eight dishes. Carl and I decided to start with two and go from there, as we do in Chinese restaurants. I will state each dish as it appears on the menu.

"Hamachi nachos, flour tortilla chips, yellow tail, avocado puree, pico oil" ($7) consisted of four small chips that lacked crispness topped with tasteless tuna. In the center of the plate was a teaspoon of flavorless guacamole topped with a teaspoon of microgreens.

The next dish was "steak yakitori, cubed strip, sesame seeds, cucumber noodles" ($8). Our server told us cubed strip was strip steak. There were three little beef squares, which arrived rare as ordered. One was topped with white sesame seeds, one with black sesame seeds and one with a mix of the two. The bite-sized beef was OK. At least the cucumber was fresh.

"Bouillabaisse scallops, rice paper wrapped, lemongrass, bouillabaisse" ($8) was so confusing neither Carl nor I had a clue what we were to receive. Bouillabaisse is a classic fish stew from Provence. It is rich with flavor. We received three scallops wrapped in rice paper threaded on a stick of lemongrass. The scallops were sandy and arrived without any liquid at all. I am still trying to figure out why the word bouillabaisse was used.

"Chops & chips, lamb chops, sweet potato fries, remoulade, malt vinegar" ($12) was strange indeed. Two rib chops were coated in some sort of tempura-type batter and either fried or baked, I am not sure. The batter tasted like cardboard. The fries were wimpy and greasy. Not even dipping them into the bland sauce helped.

"Curried chicken, Israeli couscous salad" ($7) was totally devoid of any trace of curry. Two small cubes of boneless chicken breast, which were dry as dust, were on a wooden skewer that sat on a small mound of cool Israeli couscous, which looks like tapioca. It was bland. No amount of salt or pepper — which Carl and I wielded — helped any of these dishes.

Desserts included waffles and ice cream ($8) and some sort of bananas Foster egg roll ($7). The waffles, which were burnt in areas, were cool. I love waffles and ice cream; It is one of my favorites. This rates a two out of 10 because the small scoop of ice cream was tasty as were the strawberries. The banana dessert, which Carl thought might be a take on a cannoli, was tasteless. Mushy banana was stuffed into a sweet wrapper that might have been good had it been crispy.

Service was attentive. There were a few customers at Sonam while we were there, including a family of four with a 2-year-old.

The city can expect more elf food in the future. At least some places that specialize in it give you bread. These plates are really bar food. They are the kind of dishes served at happy hour at lower prices.

One half tip of the toque to Sonam.