Castle Hill Cafe Credit: Photo By John Anderson

Kaya Blue

621-A E. Sixth, 478-8788

Lunch: Monday-Friday, 11am-2:00pm; Dinner: Monday-Saturday, 5:30-10:00pm

Appetizers only: Thursday, 10:30pm-2am

Closed Sunday

There’s no doubt about it, Kaya Blue must be one of the most romantically hip dining venues in town. Once your eyes adjust to the dim, they fall on the enormous faux-Baroque mirror that campily reigns over the burnished red mahogany tables and hand-painted walls of swirling, jewel-toned blues, plums, and deep reds. Twinkling lights and velvet drapes, along with dreamlike, Japanese-themed paintings and ambient techno music, complete the vaguely surreal setting. The bijou of a bar prepares intriguing specialty drinks like Malibu Mambo and Zeng’s Firefly, evoking visions of exotic spots far from Central Texas.

This ironic, daring ambience aptly complements the fusion-personified culinary offerings — pan-Asian, Cajun, and Caribbean cuisines, morphed into new, and compelling, combinations. Kaya Blue aims to please sophisticated palates, but is determined not to be stuffy in the process.

My favorite starter remains the barely seared tuna slices topped with fresh crab, encircling a huge juicy scallop dressed in a delectable puff of wasabi mousse, all resting amicably in a bed of black-eyed peas and hot peppers. Fondutta, a composition of melted brie and Monterey jack, is loaded with spinach, crawfish, and tasso ham, drizzled with cilantro oil and spicy sambal (Indonesian red pepper sauce), accompanied by bread and crisp veggies. Perfectly crisp coconut-crusted chicken is easily large enough for two; it’s accompanied by a charming warm pineapple and sage chutney.

Both soups are exceptional — I could cheerfully dive into the silky asparagus-and-crawfish bisque. Hot-and-sour tortilla soup is chicken broth successfully infused with Asian spices.

Among the entrées ($16-$27), a stellar offering is Kaya Paella, a platter of coconut saffron rice subtly flavored with keffir lime leaves, surrounded by an enormous selection of mussels, scallops, shrimp, clams, and lobster. I also enjoyed the succulent sambal-and-molasses-sauced pork ribs, accompanied by sweet potato purée. A real showstopper is the silky pink beef tenderloin medallions in a smoky, tomatoey, Cuban-style adobo sauce, accompanied by captivating cinnamon-flavored crispy pancakes of sweet potato and jicama.

Desserts at Kaya Blue change regularly; they include Chocolate Teardrop, an intense and creamy dark-chocolate ganache lolling in a rich pool of raspberry sauce and studded with fresh berries, as well as Voodoo Bread Pudding, moist and redolent with tropical fruit, surrounded by caramel sauce. Passionfruit cheesecake is pleasantly tart, with an unusual caramel crust.

On Thursday nights from 10:30 until 4am, Kaya Blue hosts Into Deep, a music/dance event with DJs Chris Specht and Brotha Miles. There is a modest cover, and Kaya appetizers and drinks are served until 2am. – MM Pack

This article appears in March 8 • 2002.

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Rachel Feit is an archaeologist by trade who worked her way through college in kitchens in Chicago and Austin before discovering that dishing up words was more satisfying that dishing up meals. She has been writing about food and restaurants for The Austin Chronicle for more than a decade, but still loves to cook.

MM Pack is a food writer/historian and private chef who divides her time between Austin and San Francisco. A regular contributor to The Austin Chronicle and Edible Austin, she’s been published in Gastronomica, The San Francisco Chronicle, Oxford Encyclopedia of Food & Drink in America, Nation’s Restaurant News, Scribner's Encyclopedia of Food and Culture, The Dictionary of Culinary Biography, and Southern Foodways Alliance’s Cornbread Nation 1.

Wes Marshall is the author of What's a Wine Lover To Do? (Artisan) and The Wine Roads of Texas (Maverick), as well as the Executive Producer of the PBS television series of the same name. Wes has written for The Austin Chronicle since 1999, covering wine, cocktails, food, and travel.

Mick Vann is a retired Austin chef who is a food writer and restaurant critic, cookbook author, restaurant consultant, and recipe developer. He moonlights as a University of Texas horticulturist with a propensity for ethnic eats and international food, particularly of the Asian persuasion, but he also knows his way around a plate of soul food or barbecue.