East meets Central.

Introducing Moksa, a new(ish) pan-Asian, pan-entertainment establishment in Central Square. The place is, literally, a long, narrow set of rooms beginning with a bar in the front, a middle restaurant space, and a dance club in the back. Moksa serves up unique cocktails (each created for an animal in the zodiac) and artistic small plates sampling Indian, Malaysian, Szechuan, Japanese, Vietnamese, and Korean cuisine.

Before we get to the food, it's important to note that they got the zodiac-cocktails just right: Nick's "Eye of the Tiger" was Scotch-based, and my delicious "Shanti Shanti" included sparkling wine, Campari, and grapefruit sugar.


Thai green mango and papaya salad with tangy lime and crunchy peanuts (ribbons of color and flavor):

Fried chicken and mushroom wontons (a crowd-pleaser):

Miso-braised shortrib roti with ginger scallion sauce (so much umami, you don't even know):

Hand cut ramen noodles with pork belly and a five-minute egg (thick, chewy noodles, just as we like them; and a perfect egg).

Still curious, we added on a dan dan mein with spicy pork-mushroom ragu (a bit more hot than spicy)...and evidently I was so busy eating that I didn't capture it on my camera.

Conveniently located in Central Square, we'll definitely be back.