Nattspil

This restaurant in Madison has one of the most unique menus I have ever seen. I am not saying the dishes are weird. It is the fact that you can get thin crust pizza, a barbecue pulled pork sandwich, Thai noodles, and chicken fried rice all in one place. That is Nattspil in downtown Madison off King Street.

The Lowdown

• City: Madison, WI
• Address: 211 King St, Madison, WI 53703
• Phone: (608) 285-9755
• Website: nattspil.com
• Cards accepted

The vibe

Dark, small restaurant with a quaint date night feel. Not a lot of seating, and for the most part there is always a wait, so keep that in mind. I went with my family, four of us, and between appetizers and entrees we spent about $100. We did not get drinks that night. Add a couple drinks and it could have been 400. Kidding. Kidding.

What I ordered

Spicy cheese wontons and shu mai dumplings to start. For entrees, two orders of the three cup chicken and two orders of the noodles. Looking back, I really regret not getting the pizza because it looked so damn good.

My thoughts on the food

Both appetizers were really good. The spicy cheese wontons came on what was basically a salsa, and when I hear wontons I think sweet and sour or a chili paste, so that threw me off. Still, the cheese in the middle was great. The shu mai are steamed, and I prefer my dumplings pan seared, so worth noting. Regardless, the flavor was there, the texture was there, and the sauce was bomb.

The dan dan style noodles had a great spice that was not overkill. At first I thought the sauce was a little too thick and made the noodles feel kind of sticky. The more I ate, the more I did not care. I think it actually made the dish better. 100% would get it again.

Then the three cup chicken. Y'all. Y'all. This was really good. The sauce was out of this world. Powerful flavor, slight spice, and it soaked the chicken in so much flavor. If I had three pounds of this in a bowl I could probably eat the whole thing in one sitting.

The verdict

Nattspil has been on my list for a very long time. Every time we went at a normal dinner time there was a long wait. Finally got lucky and I was not disappointed. If you have not been, add it to your list, and if you have, drop your go-to order so other people know what to get.