Every month I will share with you the best meals, appetizers, etc. that I have eaten. I eat out a great deal and across myriad cuisines. And I’ve tasted some mind-blowing food. But every once in a while, I taste something so delicious, so memorable, so special, that I will think about it long after the meal is finished. From here on out, I’ll share those glorious moments with you and maybe, one day, you’ll get a chance to sample the “bite” and see if you have the same rapturous experience.

January 2022
The location: kō•än, an elegant retaurant in Cary, N.C. featuring the cuisine of Southeast Asia
The bite: From the dinner menu, small plate:
Steamed Buns
yuzu lobster salad, scallions, sambal aioli, sesame

I love lobster rolls and I love steamed buns but until trying yuzu lobster salad on a perfectly steamed bun at kō•än, this combination never occurred to me. My dining partner and I ordered this as an appetizer. As soon as we both bit into our buns, we both looked at one another and exclaimed, “OH MY GOD! THIS IS INCREDIBLE!” We decided to get two more orders and make this small plate the center of our entire meal. I often recall the experience of taking that first bite, the sweetness of the lobster, the tang of the yuzu, the heat of the sambal, and the fluffiness of the bun. I crave these “lobster rolls” and would gladly eat one every day of the week until I was burned out on lobster.
Alas, I ate the lobster buns up so quickly that I didn’t take a picture of them to share with you. So, I have pulled a lobster bun photo from the food site, Food52, that is a fair approximation.