Thanks, Anthem, for such a fun, delicious night! While we did receive complimentary food and drinks, all opinions are my own. Anthem is a new Tex-Asian restaurant on Rainey Street. Brian and I took an incredible tour of their menu a few weeks ago and WOW. I’m already planning my next trip back. The tiki vibe mixed with items like brisket rangoons give this Tex-Asian restaurant a unique, fun feel.
We made a dinner out of items from their “warm plates” and “veggie + cool plates” menus. They’re kind of like appetizers but more substantial. We tried several drinks along the way (their cocktail menu is pretty wonderful) and then topped our evening off with BOTH of their desserts. Hey, I do it for you guys. How can I recommend a dessert if I don’t try them both!?
I ordered a drink right away. Their banana daiquiri, made with Bacardi banana rum, was recommended to me by my server. If you like frozen drinks and like banana, I’d highly recommend this drink. It was by far my favorite of the night. The banana flavor was good, but not overwhelming. It also wasn’t extremely sweet. I was honestly sad when it was gone.
Once Brian arrived, we ordered the Queso Loco (shishito pepper queso, chopped five spice BBQ brisket, ginger & yuzu guacamole, Polynesian pico, tortilla chips) and dove it. It is loaded with brisket. Brian ordered their Piña Old Fashioned (Old Forester bourbon, orange bitters, brown sugar grilled pineapple, juice). The grilled pineapple was a really great touch. In addition to fun cocktails, Anthem also has a variety of saki and saki bombs.
We really ramped up our second round with the brisket ragoons (highly recommended, perhaps my favorite small plate). They have chopped five spice BBQ brisket, cream cheese, cheddar cheese, dill pickles, red onion, toban djan sweet & sour sauce, Chinese grain mustard aioli, scallion. Very delicious, very instagramable. We also kicked up our drink orders! Some of the drinks on their cocktail menu have little skull and crossbones next to them. That’s to warn you that those drinks are STRONG! Brian got the Drunken Dragon (Plantation O.F.T.D. Overproof rum, Flor de Caña 7 Year Gran Reserva rum, grenadine, Giffard Pamplemousse liqueur, lime) with the warning that it should be “sipped and savored.” It came in such a harmless looking tiki glass though!
I ordered their super fun Kegged Mai Tai. I definitely did NOT finish this two-handed drink. It comes in a Chinese food to-go box container, which I obviously loved.
After such strong drinks, we needed more food, so Brian got the Hilo Hawaiian sandwich of their main menu with sweet potato fries. The sandwich has chopped five spice BBQ brisket, braised bacon, King’s Hawaiian sweet bun, sesame slaw, french fried onions, garlic dill pickle chips, kimchi aioli, and pickled okra. You can also opt to make the bun gluten-free if needed.
To try their “cool plate” items, we ordered their Hawaiian Shrimp Ceviche (coconut milk, lime juice, yellow curry, ginger, spicy cherry pepper & cucumber sunomono relish, avocado, tomato, cilantro, Thai basil, tortilla chips). It was really delicious and refreshing. After eating 10 pounds of queso, it was nice to balance it out with some ceviche.
Finally… DESSERT! I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the upside down pineapple bread pudding. I’m usually a chocolate only kind of dessert person, but I really enjoyed the pineapple bread pudding! It’s made with King’s Hawaiian bread pudding, toasted coconut, macadamia nuts, rum brown butter sauce and comes with vanilla ice cream.
The highlight of my evening, however, was the Hong Kong Waffle. Ready for this? It’s a green tea bubble waffle with vanilla or chocolate ice cream topped with oreo cookie crumble, salted caramel, mochi candy, chocolate pocky sticks. I died. It’s so good! I ate the whole thing.
Thank you Anthem for such a wonderful night out. If you have a date night, a friends happy hour, or just feel like treating yourself at the bar, I’d highly recommend Anthem. The food is diverse and delicious, the cocktails are plentiful, strong, and fun to Instagram, and the dessert is A+. We also had an incredible server who happily answered all my questions all night long (even when my question was, “which of these will LOOK the coolest?”). Thanks, Anthem!
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