I must be the luckiest food blogger in Bangkok. Hardly a day has passed lately when I'm not invited to try a friend's favourite restaurant. Now it seems that word of RealThai is spreading among the relatives of my friends, which has led to even more discoveries. Most recently I was taken to a new restaurant by Apple and Ae, the older brother and wife of my friend Cherry. They are fans of a Muslim restaurant near their home in Bang Khae that they thought I might be interested in, and on quiet Sunday we all drove out there.
The restaurant sports the inspirational name, Islamic Food Center (soon ahaan isalaam), and is not so much a kitchen, but rather a gathering place for several different vendors who each specialize in a specific dish. As a result, the food here is of quite high quality, and pretty much runs the gamut of Thai-Muslim eats. Of course there was khao mok kai, chicken biryani:
the stuffed 'pancake' known in Thailand as mataba:
and the salad Thais call salat khaek, 'Indian salad':
For those not familiar with this dish, the dressing, served as a side in the pink bowl, is a sweetish peanut sauce nearly identical to the one served with satay. I usually find it too sweet, but liked this version. The yellow strips are, I believe, deep-fried tofu.
This being Muslim food there were lots of meaty things, such as nuea daet diao thord:
Semi-dried and marinated (?) beef that was deep-fried. Nobody else seemed to like this very much, but I found it delicious, especially with the crispy garlic topping.
Chicken satay:
and one of my personal faves, oxtail soup:
Phii Ae ordered kuaytiao kaeng, curry-noodle soup:
Forgot to ask her how it was, but it certainly looked good.
And for dessert Cherry couldn't resist ordering a dish of rotii waan:
Roti sprinkled with sugar and sweetened condensed milk before being chopped up and mixed. We were initially surprised by this presentation, but in the end agreed it was much better.
Islamic Food Center
Located on the Outer Ring Highway, under the Muu Baan Suksan u-turn bridge, not far from The Mall Bang Khae (I recommend calling...)
087 021 0804