Saturday night, Mr. Chat and I went to the soft opening of Moksa, a new Pan Asian eatery in Central Square focusing on casual (yet flavorful) dishes. With its hip vibe, music mixology and dark minimalist decor, the spot was very cool and very “Cambridge”.

Upon taking our seats, we were greeted by our server who briefed us on the menu. I was impressed with the “Cocktail Zodiac” which offered a robust selection of crafty cocktails with names like Snappy Dragon, Eye of the Tiger and Tokyo Chic. Mr. Chat and I unanimously decided on the evening’s specialty, a concoction of bourbon, whiskey and grapefruit essence known as the Meow Punch. I mean how could we not?!? Just the name alone had us as curious as cats.

Mr. Chat and I sampled a plethora of plentiful tapas-style dishes. Our favorites included the steamed bun: char siew (a boneless barbaecued pork), chicken pad Thai and bok choy with garlic chips. The bok choy was out of this world. As I took my first bite of the leafy green dripping with garlicy goodness, I was reminded of my aunt’s house in Hawaii and the first time she introduced me to the crispy Chinese cabbage. Mr. Chat was enamored with the steamed bun (which accompanied the char siew) and we both joked that it would taste amazing wrapped around a Fenway Frank.

As I reached for my phone to capture some images for this post, I realized that I was so busy laughing, eating and sampling the “Cocktail Zodiac” that there were no images left to take…we had eaten the art. Alas, I had a few remnants of what was the bok choy and chicken pad Thai.

Moksa, located at 450 Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge, opens to the public tonight.