Tonight's dinner was at a khao tom restaurant called Lerdthip. Khao tom literally means "boiled rice", but can also refer to a restaurant that has Thai and Chinese-Thai style food made to order and eaten with watery rice served in bowls.
I began with kaeng paa look chin plaa kraay, "jungle" curry with fishballs made from a type of freshwater fish:
Although it looks pretty, I've et better. This one was a bit too bland and sight too salty.
I also ordered yam hoy naang rom, a "salad" of raw oysters:
I always order this dish, forgetting that I don't really like this dish. Actually it's not bad, but I don't really care for yam that employ that sweetish, red sauce. I would much rather have the simple mixture of lime juice, chilies, fish sauce and sugar, as illustrated in painstaking detail here.
Khuat ordered pet phalo, duck stewed in Chinese-style spices:
For me this dish is like the Thai equivalent of steak; a big hunk of meat. Not bad, but boring.
She also ordered phat phak boong fai daeng, flash-fried morning glory:
God, I love this stuff. It's everything I like in food: spicy, crunchy, garlicky, salty, and it's veggies. I eat it so often I think it should constitute a whole other food group for me.
And finally in an moment of feeding frenzy that was later regretted, we also ordered ahaan thale luak, a variety of seafood par-boiled and served with two dipping sauces:
Not bad, but there are places that do this much better.