A dining establishment different from any I’ve ever tried sits in Scranton. Peculiar Kitchen offers a variety of cuisine that is sure to be a unique, yet delicious, experience.

Featuring a small, yet diverse menu, Peculiar Kitchen offers options ranging from wings to ramen, all with a “peculiar” twist. 

This peculiar twist tends to be an unusual flavor you don’t often see with these dishes, such as wings with a honey garlic and thyme sauce, or a Korean barbecue Philly cheesesteak.

The small menu is ever changing, so there’s always something new to try. The drink menu is also quite peculiar, featuring delightfully flavorful teas as well as unusual sodas such as butterscotch root beer, my personal favorite of the night.

This restaurant is quite popular, so I recommend making reservations, which you can easily do online.

Our server was great, taking time to explain anything on the menu we did not understand while also recommending her favorites to us. She was in a surprisingly good mood for how late in the night we were there. It was only 8 p.m. but the restaurant was closing at 9 p.m., so she was towards the end of her shift.

As mentioned, I chose a butterscotch root beer, which was everything I ever imagined and more; it was “exquisite.” I decided as my starter to have the BBQ Pork Bao, not a flavor you tend to see with bao, which is traditionally a popular Asian dish. I was served two bao buns filled with delicious, tender, pulled pork with barbecue sauce topped with pickled red onion and house made peculiar pickles. My only complaint was that there was too much pickle happening. Either the pickled onions or just the pickles themselves would have sufficed, but it was good anyway.

For my main dish, I had pork shoyu ramen. It’s very rare that I get to have a good bowl of ramen, so I felt I had no choice but to order it. This ramen was some of the best I’ve ever had. A pork based broth topped with noodles, narutomaki, made from fish paste, scallions, a radish of sorts which I set aside, a poached egg, and, of course, pork. I’ve always been wary of putting egg inside my ramen, even though it’s a staple, and I’ve come to realize how much flavor the egg adds, making the broth a bit more rich and creamier, truly elevating the dish.

As previously mentioned, this restaurant’s menu is always changing, so I will definitely return to try something new. I recommend this place for a unique dining experience without breaking the bank.