Kaki Lima Teams Up With Portland’s The Honey Paw

Photo courtesy of Brian Samuels Photography

Portland, Maine’s highly touted noodle shop, The Honey Paw, will take a road trip south for a pop-up at KO Pies at the Shipyard on Sept. 22. Chef de cuisine Thomas Pisha-Duffly teams up with local chef Retno Pratiwi for a five-course Indonesian-inspired spread in East Boston. Pratiwi, whose Kaki Lima pop-up often takes residence at the second KO location, grew up in Jakarta and spent six months traveling throughout the region last year in order to develop new recipes.

This is not the first time the two have worked together: Pisha-Duffly, who has done his own bout of traveling in Southeast Asia, reached out to Pratiwi while she was abroad. Those conversations led to the first of their pop-up collaborations in August on Pisha-Duffly’s home turf.

“The menu up in Portland was mostly Kaki Lima’s more traditional Indonesian food, coupled with some of Honey Paw’s unique, Asian-inspired dishes,” says Pratiwi. “It was mostly done family-style, which was a lot of fun.”

Pratiwi says the Boston pop-up will skew toward Honey Paw’s more “non-denominational” style, with a few of Pratiwi’s favorites thrown in. Expect dishes like octopus satay and roasted pig next to Pratiwi’s shrimp and pineapple salad, a favorite of Kaki Lima regulars.

“The experience of working with Tom and the whole Honey Paw team has been amazing,” says Peter Gelling, Pratiwi’s partner and husband. “To work alongside such an inventive chef has been a tremendous learning experience for Kaki Lima. And getting an inside look at how a new, much-talked about restaurant — run by such experienced professionals — works, has been super instructive.”

The Honey Paw opened last April, as the third in the Arlin Smith, Andrew Taylor and Mike Wiley restaurant group (Eventide Oyster Co. and Hugo’s complete the trifecta). The James Beard Foundation nominated Wiley and Taylor for Best Chef: Northeast in their prestigious culinary awards last year. Their latest endeavor, which has widely received positive reviews, has also faced a highly publicized misshap with the press. After the three restauranteurs asked MaineToday.com critic John Golden to pass on covering The Honey Paw, Golden ignored the request. Despite a glowing review, the owners banned Golden from all three of their restaurants.

So, maybe a vacation will do the restaurant some good.

$69.57 per person, September 22, 6:30-9:30 p.m., 256 Marginal St. #16, East Boston; eventbrite.com.