Last week we thoroughly enjoyed a spontaneous outing to Ink N Ivy where we were lucky enough to meet the sous chef, Chef Ace, who allowed us to sample one of their appetizers! He gave us a plate of Tostones, their fried plantains, which you can read all about in our previous post.

Chef Ace shared his email address with us that night and we got in contact with him last weekend and he invited us on Wednesday to come enjoy an amazing four course Asian themed meal, all prepared by him! The first course consisted of another one of Ink and Ivy’s featured appetizers, the Ivy Pups. These were hush puppies with a ground up mix of andouille sausage, shrimp, herbs, and spices and they were absolutely divine! They had a sauce drizzled on top that had a creamy consistency and a delectable, sharp cheesy taste.

The second course consisted of a pork belly banh mi sandwich, which had melt-in-your-mouth pork belly and perfectly seasoned fresh vegetables inside of it. It was served with an Asian slaw, that was perfectly creamy and had just the right amount of spice.

The third course consisted of Pho with chicken and was smothered in a steak broth. It was some of the best broth we had ever tasted! Chef Ace even sat down and enjoyed his own bowl of Pho with us and talked to us about how he made it.

The fourth course consisted of a BEAUTIFUL chocolate cake with perfectly sliced, fresh sweet strawberries. The presentation was absolutely gorgeous and the cake tasted amazing. It was rich and chocolatey, but not overbearingly so. It seemed to have just the right mix of bitter and sweet and the strawberries complimented the cake very well.

The reason Chef Ace was presenting us with an Asian themed dinner is because he is looking to feature more Asian specials on certain days of the week, and he thought we would be the perfect people to try out some of his recipes! Chef Ace is the former executive chef of Co in Myrtle Beach, so he has a very extensive background in Asian food cooking and definitely knows what he’s doing!

We don’t know how much he will charge for his Asian food specials, but he told us that he wants to keep his prices reasonable. He also told us that lunch time is the ideal time to eat there because that is when the food is at the lowest price. We took a look at the normal dinner menu as well, and observed that for a restaurant on upper King Street, the prices were pretty reasonable. Most of the entrees were less than $20, compared to an entree at other upper King Street restaurants, which will typically cost you $30 or more. It’s also safe to say that even when on a budget, its sometimes fun to occasionally splurge, and we would say this is an ideal place to do your splurging!

~Ashley and Laura