Nok (Makati City): Serving Thai Chicken Rice and Everything Nice!
My favorite route for brisk walking is the perimeter of Ayala Triangle Gardens (ATG) in Makati City. For a long time, I’ve been passing by a boarded-up spot in the ATG walkway with the name Nok. It advertises itself as a Thai chicken rice spot.
Finally, it opened in November this year. And little did I know that it’s a sister restaurant of my favorite Thai restaurant in the country, Krapow.
Nok specializes in Khao Mun Gai or Thai-style Hainanese chicken rice. Like its Singaporean counterpart, this dish has four components: Poached chicken, rice (which is cooked in chicken broth along with some aromatics), soup, and Thai sauces.
Nok’s poached chicken is tender and deliberately on the plain side. That’s because the rice and sauces are flavorful, and the soup is tasty. When eaten all together, it makes a satisfying meal!
If you’re not a fan of poached chicken, then you can opt for the crispy chicken, which is crunchy and juicy.
Aside from chicken rice, Nok also serves other Thai dishes. One of our favorites is the Som Tam Khao Pod (sweet corn salad), which is recommended by Nok’s chef and owner, Reggie Prospero. The corn has a nice sweetness and crunch, flavored with a sweet and tangy dressing. It’s really like a Thai papaya salad sans the papaya but replaced with corn.
They also serve Moo Ping or grilled pork skewers, which is sweet and smoky. However, I still miss the texture (and price!) of the moo pings in Thailand!
For drinks, we tried their Cha Yen (Thai milk tea) Slushie, which is refreshing, and the Thai Green Milk Tea, which has nice floral notes.
And for dessert, we got the Kanom Nok Grata (sweet potato balls). These balls are naturally sweet, delightfully chewy, and simply addictive!
Of course, a Thai meal won’t be complete without Mango Sticky Rice.
Nok is a refreshing Thai concept (just like its sister resto, Krapow, which specializes in Pad Krapow or holy basil stir-fry). It’s unlike the typical Thai restaurant that serves Pad Thai, curries, and pandan (screwpine) chicken (is this dish really Thai?).
More importantly, Nok serves good Thai food. So I highly recommend it to you. And kudos to Chef Reggie and the Nok team for this new endeavor!
Address: Ayala Triangle Gardens (Walkway), Makati City, Metro Manila, Philippines | Operating Hours: Daily, 11AM-10PM | Contact No.: 0927-8681108 | Facebook | Instagram