After biting through a gooey mass of braised short rib and sharp queso fresco into the flaky crunch of deep-fried wonton skin, and feeling the bright bite of pickled jalapeño blow though the other flavors, I can’t help but assume that Thor Heyerdahl never had it this good.

Of course, the intrepid explorer/author and Easter Island aficionado also didn’t hang out in hotel restaurants very much. The Kon-Tiki he called home — his long wooden boat — was a tad less posh than this new restaurant in the bottom floor of the Tahitian Inn and Spa on Dale Mabry in Tampa. This Kon Tiki still has that hotel restaurant vibe, but with plenty of patterned wood and natural materials it’s more stylish than most. And the food is more interesting than most hotels can hope for.

Kon Tiki bills itself as Latin-Asian fusion, but the food is decidedly less fussy than you might imagine. Dig past the occasionally playful and sometimes surprising blend of ingredients like mojo pork and Thai sticky rice, or pumpkin seeds and curry, and you’ll also find that the restaurant’s tasty food is rather simple.

This article appears in Dec 23-29, 2010.