Nue

It would be a time-​consuming and rather difficult task to scour the Seattle area and find authentic international street food options-​I think Nue recognized this as well and sought to create a menu in which they would bring street food dishes from many nations to one location. I like the idea, but when you take dishes that would be $ 1 local money and make it a hip little tapas plate in a cute spot in Capitol Hill and charge 5x the price, I see a bit of a problem, in both the concept and execution.
Having lived in a country where street food is one of the nation’s pride and joys, there is something about buying your dish in a paper sleeve from some janky street vendor that makes it that much more of an experience. International street food is also incredibly complex and it’s hard to narrow it all down into a neat little menu as Nue has done.
My party of 3 tried the chicken hearts, ChenDu chicken wings, and I had the Bunny Chow. All in all, food was pretty good but I’m not sure of the authenticity of each dish. In my opinion, Nue put a slight fusion-​type angle on each dish. I, for one, am not a fan of fusion food.
I think Nue is a great local place to try to widen your palate a little without committing to a table of international food that may not be to your taste. However, I think with some more effort, one could find better spots for specific international dishes that would be more authentic and better executed.

This is one of those places where adventurous eaters like me just love. Fried chicken hearts? Grilled Barbados pig tails? Omg yes! The kale and carrot salad was also surprisingly good. Basically, I wanted to order the entire menu. It was a problem since I came by myself… Next time, I’m bringing a group. And I usually question a place that tries to do too many cuisines because that’s not easy to do. But, the food absolutely reminded me of street food from around the world.
Oh, and don’t forget to order one of their pineapple cornbreads. It’s like if a Taiwanese pineapple pastry combined with a regular cornbread and had babies. It was awesome. Their happy hour from 5−6pm will help you save a few bucks.

Nue is based on what I think is a very cool concept: bringing international street food into the consciousness of Seattle diners. I love trying new cuisines and dishes, and I’m glad this restaurant finds that important, too. You can tell from the way their menu is set up and the restaurant is decorated that they have similar passions.
I do admire a place that tries to put twists on ethnic favorites. I think that when done correctly, «fusion» type food can be really interesting and good. The caveat here is that it is extremely hard to do fusion type food in a way that is purposeful and doesn’t just pale in comparison to the original. There is something kind of offensive about being served a weak imitation of a really delicious street food and then being charged out the butt for it. Unfortunately, this is the type of fusion experience I had at Nue. We ordered the Taiwanese chicken heart poppers, the Chengdu spicy chicken wings, and I had the Trinidad goat curry.
The Taiwanese chicken heart poppers were pretty solid – interesting without trying too hard, but the batter was flimsy and it kind of felt like I was eating a thin layer of batter and then separately eating the heart. The chengdu spicy chicken wings were really meaty and crispy and all the things that make a good chicken wing, but it was a) not spicy and b) so sweet that I couldn’t really taste any chengdu spices on there. You can’t really call it a chengdu chicken wing if it has no semblance to the original. The goat curry was tasty as well, but had a really crazy amount of coconut in it and on the cornbread that came with. I am not a huge fan of coconut to begin with, but it didn’t seem to go well with the curry flavors, in my opinion. The cornbread was actually quite good – dense and perfect for dipping in the curry. So I’d say the ideas for these dishes were all good, but fell short in the actual execution.
Service was fine, and I did appreciate that they gave us wet naps with the chicken wings. Those things are messy! All in all, Nue was decent. But when you can find real authentic street food that doesn’t come with a hefty ambiance/​scarcity tax, I really don’t see myself coming here again.

Everything we ordered was spot-​on fantastic community seating the people we were sitting next to wear very pleasant and helpful have been here before the server was very helpful I wish they had Splenda instead of only sugar for the coffee would be my only rock to throw but hey bring your own Splenda

Perplexed as to why this establishment has been so highly rated. Food is just OK. In fact, they went overboard with the spices on the dishes we had tonight — kale salad had an overpowering chaat masala taste, excessive garam masala on the bunny.
Dear connoisseurs of creativity, when it comes to certain spices, a little goes a long way!

I was a little skeptical about the multi-​cuisine menu that Nue carries but was pleasantly surprised with my brunch there. I’m a firm believer in sticking to your specialty but I do like the concept of «international street food». Between 3 of us, we ordered pineapple corn bread, dutch pancake with bacon and apples, chengdu fried chicken & waffles, and a South African snow bunny.
The dutch pancake split the table, as it was a very interesting mix of sweet and salty. People probably either love it or hate it. The fried chicken & waffles were amazing. The chicken wings were ridiculously tender, perfectly fried, hit with a little bit of spice, and topped with a drizzle of maple syrup. The waffles were fluffy and the portion was huge. The snow bunny was a curry spiced chicken stew poured over a thick cut of unsliced white bread that had been scooped to form a bowl. It was topped with a fried egg. The stew was hearty and flavorful, and the egg went well with it. Also a huge portion, I wasn’t able to finish it, especially with all the bread. The cornbread was topped with toasted coconut flakes (YUM) and was a little sweet and perfectly crusted on the outside. It was served with a huge glob of butter and syrup.
The food took a little longer than expected to come out, which was surprising since there weren’t that many parties there. However, the service was great!

I give Nue a 3.5 star rating. I really love the concept of Nue (international street food from all over world) and think they have a wonderfully unique food perspective; however, the execution of certain dishes were a little disappointing.
In my opinion, there was one hit dish. The must try of the night are the grilled Barbados Pigs Tails. Though a little rich, they had that sticky, salty and sweet BBQ flavor I’ve come to love.
Everything else was okay (e.g. Bunny Chow, Cubano, skewers, etc). However, I wasn’t a big fan of two dishes: Chendu fried chicken wings and the «secret» menu item water beetles. The fried chicken was overwhelming with it’s fish sauce taste, and the water beetles, though cool to say you’ve tried, tasted like overly salty watermelon jolly ranchers. I don’t mind eating weird stuff, but it has to taste good and it has to make sense.

Service was fast and I like the décor and open kitchen concept. We were seated at a longer community table which was fine for our group of 4, but maybe not for a date. I like the concept of ordering dishes and eating them family style. Lots of unique and innovative street eats. The spicy chengdu chicken wings were more sweet than spicy, but was so tender. If you are a coconut lover, get their cornbread — it’s sweet, delicious, and covered in coconut. Their goat curry was a little salty, but really flavorful and perfect with the sweetness of their cornbread. I had the Cuban which was ok — it wasn’t the best Cuban sandwich I’ve had, but it wasn’t bad by any means. The plantain chips that came as a side were way too salty — basically inedible. I would save the $ 15 next time and order something different and unique. Definitely worth a try if you are in the cap hill area!

Service was amaaazing. Made reservations here for a double date. Arrived in time on a Saturday night and was seated immediately.
Jerk Chicken ($ 21) — the boyfriend’s friend raved about this and shared some of his dish. Super delicious.
Curry with noodles, fish ball, and shrimp — I wasn’t a fan, this wasn’t executed well in my opinion.
The Fried Chicken ($ 14) is where it’s at. So delicious and moist! Can’t get enough!
I would definitely be back if we lived in the area. The space is decorated with random Asian things and the food here is reminiscent of Asian street food.

I came here for a early birthday dinner with my friend! I had heard a little bit about this place, but wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Upon walking in, the place seemed small, but thankfully we had made a reservation so we got seated promptly.
To drink, I got Nue’s version of a Gin & Tonic, which was pretty basic to me! There drink lists could be improved. I’ve recently checked out their drink menu, and it looks to me that they have been getting more adventurous with their drink offerings — which is a major plus. To eat, we got the Trinidad Goat Curry & the South African Bunny Chow. I know what I was getting myself into, but I was intrigued by the thought of eating a bunny, and a South African one that that! (i’m joking of course). Both dishes have a heavy Indian influence. The Trinidad Goat Curry was easily a portion split between two people, and the pineapple cornbread was the icing on the cake. The cornbread went perfect with the blend of caribbean spices! The South African Bunny Chow was basically chicken curry on top of a thick piece of bread. The flavors were robust, yet it made sense on the palate. One thing to note was the sogginess of the bread near the end of the meal. I would of liked the bread to be served separate.
While both were very basic dishes, I appreciated the thoughtfulness that went into constructing the flavor profiles of each dish. Perfect portions and I realized I was stuffed after scarfing down both those dishes, with the help of my friend. Definitely worth a second visit!

What a ingenious name for their restaurant! When I read about how they found their name, I thought it was unique and catchy. It wasn’t until I ate there that I could feel the different flavors swimming in my mouth. When I walked in, I was amazed to see all the artwork and décor. I felt I was at home chilling out with a book and good company. I loved the feel of the restaurant and I thank my friends for wanting to try out this place.
What caught my attention was really the balut. I never thought I’d say this because knowing what it was, I never found it worth tasting. However, being the adventurous eater that I am, I had to and didn’t have to fly thousands of miles away for the real thing. Now I tried it and I’m NEVER eating it again. The soup at the top and the egg yolk was flavorful, but the actual underdeveloped duck fetus and the rock hard egg white below was unpleasant. I examined it for far too long only to let it get to me before swallowing it whole. (Insert shuddering here).
A few other signature items:
Chengdu Chicken Wings — If there’s two places where I love eating wings, it’s now Nue and Pok Pok in Portland. How do people make their wings so flavorful? I know how to make chicken wings, but I wonder if they poke holes in the wings so the marinade sinks through? This wing is flavored from skin to meat to bone. The one thing that Nue and Pok Pok succeed at is making my mouth completely numb with spiciness and even then, I can STILL taste the marinade! How do they do it?
Grilled Barbados Pig Tails — I’d take another few plates of this. Crispy deliciousness that’s in a pig’s tail and grilled to tenderness with a sauce that enhances the taste.
Trinidad Goat Curry — I don’t like goat for it’s gaminess. Having said that, this dish doesn’t have that at all. Either that or I was too busy stuffing my face with the cornbread side, I forgot about the gaminess. The dish actually comes with decent chunks of goat meat, a piece of cornbread, coconut shavings, and parsley. All the food I mention here was shared among four people and winded up to be quite filling.
I LOVE cornbread and preferably the kind without corn chunks. The pineapple coconut cornbread was fluffy and full of that pineapple corn flavor. It’s been the best cornbread I’ve had in Seattle. It’s so good, I’d be glad to just go there and have cornbread and a cocktail. Haha.
I recently saw pictures of the water beetle they serve, but is not on the menu. It’s intriguing, but I promised myself I wouldn’t voluntarily eat bugs. My adventurousness stops there. To anyone who’s tried it, let me know how it tasted. I will live my bug eating days vicariously through you.
What’s even more creative is their desire for customer to share ideas from your home country. You never know, but your idea could wind up on their menu one day!
Hats off to you, Nue. I await your new creations.

Aside from the fact that the origin of the resto’s name is pretty cool (re: Japanese mythology), the fusion of flavours offered at Nue deserves this belated review. The concept of elevated street foods/​tapas makes Nue a winner :)
Trinidad Goat Curry — Slow roasted goat/​Caribbean spice/​ginger, + Coconut & pineapple cornbread. The cornbread is excellent. I liked it by itself and not with the curry, the two didn’t sit well together but standalone very delicious. The curry could use less spice, because the meat itself was tasty enough
Cubano Sandwich, Crispy Plantain Chips — Demi baguette/​house smoked pork shoulder/​ham/​house pickle/​aioli/​dijon/​Swiss cheese — Unfortunately, not a huge fan of the sandwich. Combination of flavours was boring and lacked a fusion element, but those plantain chips were to die for. Maybe I just like plantain chips, but I’m convinced they make it better than my grocery store.
Maracas Shark and Bake — Pacific rock fish/​green seasoning/​fry bread/​cabbage slaw/​
tamarind & habañero; served w/​coconut corn cobette. Never had a Pacific rock fish before this but now enlisting it into my favourite seafoods. This was all kinds of delicious. Not entirely sure what the green seasoning was, but the tamarind & habañero were the bomb. And the fish. And the slaw. And the bread. This dish has 100% turned me into a fan of Trinidadian cuisine.

If you have to try just one thing — bunny chow! It’s heavenly delicious. And no — it doesn’t have bunny meat. We also ordered the goat curry which I would have preferred it with rice even though the corn bread by itself was delish. Their shrubs are way too sweet for my taste. But they happily remade it for me with less sugar (still too sweet though).

Came here to have lunch with a girlfriend/​fellow Unilocaler who wanted to try this place out. I haven’t heard much about this restaurant, except it had a variety of different ethnic cuisines from around the world. We ordered the Cubano Sandwich with crispy Plantain chips and Trinidad Goat Curry to sharee. The Cubano sandwich was good, albeit a bit messy. But my favorite dish was the Trinidad Goat Curry-​I highly recommend it. Ooh and with that pineapple cornbread! Next time I want to try the chicken wings and the bunny chow.

What does it say about a place when you eat here and then return two days later with your immediate family members?
In the backdrop of the bustling Capitol Hill gayborhood, where, frankly, the competition is something fierce, Nue would be considered a bit more tucked away along 14^th Ave and between the two arterial streets Pike and Pine. (code for: yes, you can snag street parking on a Sunday afternoon).
The menu seems to vary month to month, according to the owners, but here is my assessment of Seattle’s international gastropub.
1) Israeli mich (sp?) wrap with meat, egg, something crunchy dish, so fresh with a side of kale salad, julienned carrots, and raisons — wonderful, and to invoke a bit of Neruda, so brief the encounter, so lasting are the savory memories — please bring this back on the menu!
2) S. African bunny chow in a baked bread bowl — unexpected but delicious. Down side: I had to share it with my toddler.
3) Trinidad goat curry with pineapple corn bread — what a brilliant pairing; the dense and desserty corn bread was so delicious, I could have eaten it as a meal all by itself. I liked the coconut shavings garnish, too.
4) Now wait for this … the liquid nitrogen Mexican street corn ice cream with lime zest — out of this world!!! Yes, I’d come here just for this. Not to mention the other ice cream flavors like Vietnamese coffee flavor and haven’t yet gone there, but maple bacon?! Yeah, they went there.
The interior is so lovingly designed by the husband and wife co-​owners, who, full disclosure, I was introduced to by a fellow internationally-​based friend, so I do want them to succeed and to win you over like they have me.

Saw the Unilocal ratings and decided it was the perfect stop before heading out to my daughter’s dance performance, and Unilocalers you nailed it.
We arrived in time for happy hour and were seated immediately along the end of a large banquet table. There was only one other party in the restaurant at the time, which meant our food came out quickly.
We ordered the following:
Golden Gai Crispy Noodles, served room temperature with just the right amount of sauce and flavor against the crisp fried egg noodles;
Vietnamese Spinach and Herb salad, a little heavy on the herbs which made the greens lean bitter;
East Indies Brussel Sprouts, grilled perfectly with just enough crisp on the edges (why did my mother steam instead of grill or roast brussel sprouts!!!);
Cubano Sandwich with Plantain chips, the only thing that warranted a box for leftovers because it was the last dish we ordered;
Grilled Barbecue Pig Tails, served with the yummiest glaze with a little something something added by squeezing the lime all over those little tails (a tip from our server);
and a side of the Pineapple Cornbread, served with coconut flakes on top.
It was amazing.
The plates were all beautiful to look at and even better in my mouth. The service was great, and the menu offered a unique take on small plates Asian fusion style. We would’ve ordered more and maybe tried a cocktail or two, but I didn’t want to overeat… but after the first few bites I really did want to overeat.

I am THRILLED about all these new restaurants popping up around 14^th and 15^th and Nue has been part of that influence!
We stopped in for lunch and sat out in the sun and had such wonderful service. The food is beautifully presented (so much so that everyone walking by was eying our plates and walking in) and tastes fantastic.
The menu is full of diverse and tasty choices. I would recommend the bunny chow! They serve your bill in a little travel guidebook complete with notes from previous guests. It’s a fun idea and we enjoyed flipping through it.
We will be back!

It’s been over a week since I’ve been to Nue with a friend and I keep thinking about the wonderful service and selection of food curated and served here. It reminds me of home — comfort food at its finest. I’m a lightweight when it comes to drinks and I thought the Kat Chai nailed it! Just enough vodka to start the weekend mixed with salted plum (bringing me back to my childhood when my mom use to buy for me as candy), and some lemon juice. We got a few small plates to share:
— brussel sprouts with fish sauce and peanut sauce (taste better w/​the fish sauce)
— oyster mushroom skewers (not a fan of mushrooms but I wanted to try — the mayo sauce was great! ended up dipping the brussel sprouts in this)
— Malaysian prawn saksa — the prawns were huge! I’m glad they put the chili pepper on top, making it easy to scoop out.
— and of course, we had to try the katsu sando w/​chips! Our favorite out of all the dishes!
The liquid nitrogen ice cream selection that we got today was mango and I think it was vanilla with bacon inside. BACON! in ICECREAM! The bacon sounded strange and still taste strange to me — my friend enjoyed it, I stuck w/​the mango and coconut pieces and was happily satisfied.
The story behind their name is pretty neat too! Check it out on their website!
Love the experience and exciting dishes here!

What an absolutely superb experience! This funky little restaurant has tremendous heart. Every single interaction I had with the staff was so genuine and kind that when I got home I remembered that experience more than the food. Which says a lot because the food is excellent.
Wanting to try Nue, a friend and I popped by early on a Friday for dinner. We scoped the menu and had a hard time choosing fewer than 6 items to share. This was great though because it was (more than) enough food for us and the plate prices ranged from $ 4 – 11. So between the two of us –and a bottle of wine– we each spent about $ 40 including tip. Crazy!
Our international experience included dishes with Middle Eastern flair, South African flavors, and East Asian street food. We tried balut, which I’ve never seen on a menu in Seattle! We also had Bunny Chow, dolma in the form of stuffed mussels, corn bread, a paté style sausage, and more. Everything was delicious, the plates came fast, and the food was super reasonably priced.
When asking about the origins of some of the dishes our server actually spent about 5 mins going into great detail about the food and the menu. She went so far beyond simply explaining the dish that she actually taught me something and I left this dining experience a smarter person. She was so generous with her time and knowledge that it left a lasting impression and I instantly fell in love with the entire experience. In fact, she was so happy that we ordered so much and remarked that we were «adventurous eaters.» That felt good to hear because I will eat anything and think that it’s good to try new things. But if you’re not finding yourself to be adventurous this is still a great place to eat. The food isn’t too adventurous — it’s just new to the PNW. Nothing scary, nothing risky — just fun and different.
There’s still more to try on the menu so I’ll be back soon. Great for small groups, lots of communal dining, some outdoor seating, street-​side views, and a cute little bar. The space is kitschy and cute and very inviting.

I’m not sure why reviews are so high because my friends and I were sadly not fans of Nue :/​We came here for dinner on a Thursday night around 6pm and it was pretty empty. The restaurant filled up throughout the night though. probably just everyone wanting to try out this somewhat new restaurant. The menu is pretty straight forward, smaller plates on top and they get «bigger» towards the bottom, with the increase in prices. Everything’s between $ 4 – 14 though, so not bad. though you’ll need more than one dish to get full for dinner. There’s some unique, adventurous stuff like balut and pig tails. but we stuck to the stuff we thought we’d enjoy more. Here’s my thoughts on what we tried:
South African bunny chow, $ 13 — not bad. I’ve never had anything like it before. it’s Indian masala shredded chicken breast over a normal sized slice of bread, just cut really thick like french toast. The chicken was pretty flavorful. I guess this was worth trying, and maybe my favorite thing we tried, but I’d be okay not having it again.
Spicy Korean jumbo chicken wings, $ 13 — no good :/​I think there were six wings? They weren’t spicy and there was too much sauce. My friends and I agreed we’ve had much better wings and would not recommend getting these.
Prawn Laksa, $ 14 — this was okay… the bowl was pretty small for the price, but at least there were three shrimp. There wasn’t very many noodles though, which is weird because noodles are cheap! Also, the curry broth was pretty bland — another disappointment.
Japanese Yakitori king oyster mushroom skewers, $ 8 — I think there were four skewers and they were pretty good, compared to the other dishes. They were light, fresh and tasty with a nice combo of flavors from the pickled ginger and Japanese mayo.
Overall, Nue offers a good variety but doesn’t satisfy. This place may be overhyped because of its unique concept bringing in dishes from different cultures, but we were honestly underwhelmed. Also, the restaurant gets really loud when it’s busy and there’s some communal tables so you may be sitting close to a stranger (nothing wrong with that, but just something to note), Anyway, I wouldn’t be opposed to coming back but I definitely wouldn’t suggest it.