Pedalicious is the sort of restaurant we would want to run after retiring from food writing: a cozy but smartly decorated place where the menu is a brief selection of homemade, Jamie Oliver-style recipes and the owners hang out every night to help serve a clientele comprised of many regulars with shared interests. It’s sort of similar to bars like WTF, minus the diversified program of events and with a real emphasis on food rather than booze. Pedalicious is run by a group of cycle-crazy friends and has a lot of athletic-hipster-Brooklyn appeal, thanks to the workshop-like neat lines of the décor and long wooden tables, the added touch of elegant bikes hanging off the walls (which are also for sale) and the carb heavy menu. At first glance that menu looks similar to most cute Thai cafes (fusion pasta, Thai rice dishes, a few cocktails) but the marked difference here is in the execution. Take their steak hamburger (B180 with pork, B190 with beef). The patty is homemade and has some spicy, fermented, naem-like flavors and is topped with carmelized onions and a perfectly-cooked fried egg. Our only gripe is that the bun has a tendency to fall apart. The pasta selection is a nice combination of Thai fusion, Western and some original preparations, including options with wasabi and matcha cream. On our last visit, we got the simple penne with meat sauce (B150) and were pleasantly surprised by the full flavor of the sauce and the restrained handling of the pasta. No silly diced carrots and runny tomato juice here. But the dish that arguably embodies the cooking philosophy at Pedalicious is the secret pan-fried eggs. It’s cheap and involves very few ingredients (eggs, ham, bacon, herbs) but the result is wonderfully umamilicious and comforting. Some dishes are good in concept but don’t hold up in reality, like the lychee Parma ham appetizer, a local take on the Italian version with melon. Execution aside, the dish employs an unnecessarily fancy ingredient when the rest of the menu works so well by staying simple. Still, it’s hard to go wrong with the hipness of the space, the hands-off friendliness of the owners and the spot-on dishes. Best of all, the prices mean that you can pedal along for a special, bike-themed night as often as you like.
