blog
Although it still looks embarrassingly basic, I'm making more of an effort to update my photo blog, The Old Main Drag, on a regular basis these days. Despite the 'teaser' above, the images are not entirely food-related, but the vast majority were taken in Bangkok.
While in Ayuthaya we made a point of taking our friends to Baan Wacharachai, the restaurant we visited on our last trip. This place combines a wonderful atmosphere right on the river, outstanding Thai food, great service, and by Western standards, is very cheap--just about the perfect restaurant, I reckon!
We started with kapi khua, a 'dip' of shrimp paste sauteed with herbs and coconut milk:
The dish had a strong flavour of smoked fish and was pretty spicy--not something I thought everybody would like, but most people seemed to enjoy it.
There was a 'salad' of thin slices of grilled pork collar:
The pork was topped with a spicy/sour sauce similar to the Thai seafood dipping sauce, and was served with sides of tiny (but strong) cloves of garlic, slices of cucumber and tomato and garnished with mint. Delicious.
Tony ordered tom khaa:
the coconut milk and galangal soup that is usually made with chicken, but done here with large prawns.
Sophie ordered mixed veggies sauteed in oyster sauce:
I ordered kaeng liang:
and somebody ordered chu chi plaa nuea orn:
freshwater fish fried with curry paste. The curry sauce was tasty, but usually the fish is deep fried beforehand to make it crispy. Here fresh fish was used and Tony and I didn't much care for the texture.
There were a couple reruns from last time, including the spot-on yam thua phlu, wing bean salad:
and the sublime plaa chon phao, grilled/smoked snakehead fish:
served, as always, with three delicious dipping sauces. We ordered two of these, and hardly anything was left...
Baan Wacharachai
Wat Kasatrathirat
035 321 333
No, it's not blond hair rolled up in a napkin. In fact it is a sweet snack very much associated with Ayuthaya. Any guesses?
Clive Monte Sta Maria making the Kristang dish, debal curry, in the kitchen of Restaurant San Pedro, Melaka, Malaysia.
I have an article about Kristang (mixed Portuguese-Malay) food in the October issue of Chile Pepper magazine. Anybody happen to see it?
I spent last weekend in Ayuthaya with a group of friends. As mentioned previously, the quiet town is a wonderful place to escape big city life, and features great restaurants, (relatively) cool weather and lots of stuff to do. After arriving, we asked the staff of our guest house to suggest a good place to eat, and they suggested a place called Bann Kun Pra.
The hotel/restaurant is located in a beautiful antique building directly on the river, and has creative menu. Unfortunately, as the stereotype goes, the places with the best locations/view often have mediocre food, and this was definitely the case with Bann Kun Pra. The first warning sign should have been the fact that the restaurant serves its rice in cute animal shapes:
After beheading our turtles, we dug into the dishes we ordered, which included asparagus stir-fried with prawns:
It was decent, although like most of the meal, bland and characterless.
A soup of cucumbers stuffed with ground-pork:
was, in my opinion, probably the nicest dish of the meal. The cucumber added a pleasantly sweet flavour to the broth, and the pork filling was peppery and tasty.
The sesame grilled chicken:
was, despite appearances, slightly spicy and not bad, although very dry.
Possibly the biggest disappointment was the grilled beef and mangosteen salad:
The dish sounded interesting on the menu, but the beef appeared to have been par-boiled, and other than a nearly tasteless coconut milk dressing, the dish had little flavour.
Carla ordered rice fried with curry powder:
and Ron can apparently not go an entire meal without ordering flash-fried morning glory:
Which is OK, as I'm the same way. Unfortunately Bann Kun Pra's take on the dish was bland and unnecessarily included ground pork.
Again, I imagine Bann Kun Pra is a lovely (although slightly overpriced) place to stay, but not a very good destination for authentic Thai food.
Bann Kunn Pra
48 Moo 3 U-Thong Road
Ayuthaya
035 241 978
Ploen Chit
Sukhumvit
Sukhumvit
Chinatown
Chinatown
Chinatown
Meet the Ovalcano--an iced Ovaltine drink topped with several heaping tablespoons of Ovaltine powder and a sprinkling of Coco Pops. Soon to be Thai classic along the lines of tom yam kung and phat thai. Available at a mobile coffee vendor near you.
More street pics from the last few days to follow soon.
I had first read about Foo Mui Kee in a review in the Bangkok Post several years back. I forgot to make note of where the restaurant was, and after a while, forgot about it entirely. On a recent day I was only a block away from the English language library I visit frequently when I stumbled upon the restaurant. Upon entering and sitting down at one of the old-school wooden booths, I noticed that on every table sat a bottle of not fish sauce, but rather Worcestershire sauce:
and was reminded that Foo Mui Kee is known for its Chinese takes on English/Continental dishes. The menu confirmed this, with dishes such as pork chop, oxtail soup, and beef fillet salad. I decided on one of the recommended dishes, ox-tongue stew:
The ox-tongue, cooked in a tomato-based gravy, was tasty and very tender, and was coupled with potatoes, tinned peas and a plate of rice. The dish reminded me of a meal a Chinese cook would have made his English employers in Hong Kong back in 1942. It was not particularly inspiring, but good, and I loved the atmosphere of the restaurant and touches such as the complimentary chilled towel to wipe up after the meal. The women working there told me the restaurant was 80 years old, and I found it fun to take part in something that's been around for so long. I'll certainly be back.
Foo Mui Kee
10-12 Soi Prachoom (Soi 22)
02 234 6648
A few more random street shots I've taken in and around Bangkok in the last couple months.
Patpong.
Jomtiem Beach, Pattaya.
Thanon Narathiwat.
Patpong.
Thanon Charoen Krung.
Selling umbrellas, Siam Square.
Selling Buddha statues along Soi Cowboy, a red-light district.
Silom area.
I had eaten at this modest isaan restaurant on my only previous visit to Pattaya several years back. The place is well known, and the memory of the som tam thai I had back still lives strong: crispy, chilled strips of green papaya gently coaxed with tart lime and barely smashed tiny cloves of garlic... I always wondered if the place was still around, and was excited when, arriving at the grilled chicken restaurant Songdet recommended, realized it was the very same place. I told you these guys have good taste in food.
This place is all about the som tam, in particular, the som tam thai:
which is som tam made with bottled fish sauce, and topped with peanuts and dried shrimp. It was every bit as good as I remembered; the papaya crispy, and the dish sporting an assertively tart flavour.
As a counterpoint to this central Thai dish, someone ordered the very northeastern version, tam sua, isaan-style som tam with khanom jeen noodles:
complete with the northeastern-style unpasteurized fish sauce known as plaa raa and pickled field crabs, I was surprised these Bangkok kids could eat stuff like this.
There were isaan staples such as laap muu, pork laap:
tap waan, 'sweet liver':
three dishes of khor muu yaang, grilled pork collar:
and an entirely too sweet wing bean salad:
And of course, the main reason Songdet took us here, the grilled chicken:
which according to him, is marinaded in honey.
And finally Peach, for some strange reason, decided to order som tam khao phot, corn som tam:
a bizarre mixture of corn and carrot. She said wasn't very nice. It didn't look very nice. Everything else was wonderful though.
Som Tam Naa Mueang
Thanon Pattaya Nuea (near the Tesco-Lotus)
038 423 927
Immediately after eating copious amounts of seafood at Tankay, we obviously required dessert. This turned out to be a no-brainer, as just across the street from the restaurant were two interesting looking gelato bars. Peach, Leew and I decided to try the one called Time Out, while all the others went into Italia, mostly because Mr. Noo described it as having a more "milky" smell.
Here's Peach and Leew choosing their flavours at Time Out, a process that involved considerable time and tasting:
I had rum raisin, as always, and found it more than acceptable. I'm pretty sure the girls enjoyed theirs.
And back at Italia, Pongston also appeared to enjoy his decision:
I wish there was more of this kind of ice cream in Bangkok...
Time Out
Walking Street, Pattaya
06 341 3500
I spent the last three days in the resort town of Pattaya with my former students, the Satit Kaset IP Class of 2006. At 19 and 20 they're pretty much adults now, which seems strange to me as I first met most of them when they were in 6th grade! Apparently I had a good influence on them, as a few of them are now totally camera obsessed, and based on the meals we had, they generally seem to have pretty good taste in restaurants.
I'll be blogging on a couple of the places we ate at, but will start with our first meal, and the primary reason Thai people visit such places: seafood. Varawit led us to Tankay Restaurant, an open-air seafood joint located smack dab in the middle of Walking Street, Pattaya's sleazy go go bar area, an area he's apparently intimately familiar with.
There we consumed plaa meuk khai:
Grilled squid, including its eggs. I always like grilled squid, but don't really care for the eggs, which honestly have little if any flavour, and a spongy texture.
Plaa kraphong neung sii ew, fish steamed in soy sauce:
which included heaps of shredded green onion and ginger in a pleasantly salty broth. Very nice, apparently, as Chanon appeared to eat virtually every last fish molecule:
Somebody ordered thord man koong, deep-fried shrimp cakes:
and steamed crab legs:
and perhaps as a result of feeling a bit too carnivorous, I also decided to order some greens:
flash-fried morning glory, which was done exceptionally well here.
The meal was accompanied with three huge plates of crab fried rice (first pic above), the usual carb accompaniment to Thai seafood feasts.
All in all a very good Thai seafood meal, although considering the area, I imagine the atmosphere might be quite different at night!
Tankay Restaurant
Walking Street, Pattaya
038 710 447
Today I found myself at the food court of Carrefour Rama IV. As with most food courts, there's a lot to eat there: Muslim food, yen ta fo noodles, Thai-Chinese eats, laad naa, curries and much, much more. All in all, it's a pretty average Bangkok food court, albeit on a slightly grander scale. However despite all these choices, I can never resist one particular dish when I see it. I'm a huge fan of veggies, and this dish has heaps. I also love fish and spicy stuff, and they're both there as well. And I don't like being locked into one single taste or flavour, and this dish has lots of variety.
The dish is naam phrik kapi, a 'dip' of shrimp paste mashed up with garlic, sugar, chilies and lime juice. The dip is served with rice, fresh vegetables, including green beans, wing beans and eggplants, par-boiled veggies, including cabbage, buap (a type of gourd), pumpkin, Chinese greens, and deep-fried battered eggplant, an omelet laced with cha om (a pungent herblike green), and perhaps most importantly, an entire battered and deep-fried mackerel.
Nam phrik kapi is a very Thai dish that tends to be served at people's homes, rather than at restaurants. It's also a dish that I don't see too many foreigners eating. If you happen to be at a food court and see something that looks like the above, do try it. You might find the naam phrik spicy, but you can always just take a bit less. If you don't happen to have a Thai food court at hand, recipes for naam phrik kapi can be found here and here.
Japanese food is big in Bangkok. Restaurants serving Japanese food can be found just about everywhere, and 'sushi' is even sold at my neighborhood's Saturday market. Despite this, I generally don't get too excited about eating Japanese here. The vast majority of Japanese restaurants take the form of characterless corporate chain-type places such as Zen, or the gorge-yourself-to-get-your-500-baht-worth buffets such as Oishi. There are also many privately-owned authentic eateries, particularly in the areas of Sukhumvit around the Emporium shopping center and Thong Lor, but these are quite far from my house. And yet another form of Japanese restaurant in Bangkok is the small informal Thai-owned and run place that put out a few standard dishes. Such is the case with Kinkoku, a tiny streetside Japanese restaurant/cafe at the Chatujak Weekend Market.
I and my friend Nick, doing research on an article about eats at Chatujak, sat down directly in front of one of those fans that blows cool misty air and started with yakisoba:
which was, well, yakisoba. Despite this, I think I enjoyed this dish the most, and the noodles were reasonably tasty and graciously un-oily. The dish contained tasty bits of browned chicken, and I liked the white cabbage (maybe because Thais rarely eat it?), especially when dipped in the salty soy sauce provided.
We asked the waitress what she recommended and she suggested the grilled mackerel with soy sauce:
I find this type of mackerel, known in Thai (via Japanese) as saba, to be almost assertively fishy and oily in flavour. Maybe I've just never had a really fresh one? This one was no different, although the sweet-tasting soy sauce almost concealed the fishiness. This dish was served with a bowl of Japanese rice and miso soup.
And finally we had grilled mushrooms:
For some reason they used the virtually flavourless straw mushrooms, het faang, as opposed to the more delicious (and infinitely more Japanese, not to mention appropriate for grilling) shiitake, het hom.
All in all a decent eat, and a fun break from the ubiquitous som tam and southern food of Chatujak, but certainly not worth a detour.
And on a non food-related tip, that morning I also got some pretty cool candid shots of vendors and shoppers that I've posted in black and white at my photo blog, The Old Main Drag.
Kinkoku
Chatujak Weekend Market
Section 6, Soi 18
I spent most of Sunday at Talaat Nat Chatujak, apparently the world's largest outdoor market, taking photos for a newspaper article. Between taking shots that will potentially illustrate that piece, I got several fun candid shots of vendors and shoppers. Chatujak is an incredibly crowded and busy place, perfect for visually interesting juxtapositions and situations. I decided to edit these in black and white, using the now famous Russel Brown technique. If you've got PS3, there's an even easier method of going to B&W, described by the man himself, here.
Magnum Heads will appreciate this feature at Slate that shows a set of thematically-similar images every day.
Khanom bueang, temple fair, Ayuthaya. Mmm...
The name of this restaurant literally means Yong Her Soy Milk Shop. Clever, isn't it? But soy milk is available just about everywhere in Bangkok, and clever restaurant names abound. The real reason you should come here is to try authentic northern Chinese food, a relative rarity here in Bangkok. The menu spans all the doughy, starchy foods loved by the residents of China's cold north, as well as some interesting salads, pickles, soups and oh yeah, soy milk (pictured above).
I asked the Chinese waitress what she recommended and she pointed to a menu item described in English as "Small steamed dumpling." Despite the vague name, I trusted her, and what came to my table was actually a huge tray of xiao long bao, the Shanghainese broth-filled steamed dumplings:
I found these to be much, much better than those I had previously at Crystal Jade. The skins were just strong enough to support the hot broth without being too thick, and the pork filling was soft, tasty and not overwhelming.
Unfortunately I was on my own and didn't get a chance to try much else, but I really enjoyed the dumplings, and the other diners' meals looked great as well, so you can expect to hear more from me about this place.
Ran Nam Tao Hu Yong Her
68 Thanon Narathiwat (near Chong Nonsi BTS station)
02 635 0003
I'm currently in the process doing research for the next edition of Lonely Planet's Bangkok guide. This involves, and I'm serious here, visiting and eating at lots and lots of restaurants. It's refreshing to finally get paid for doing this, and as expected, I'm taking the job very seriously. For this morning's research I made a point of stopping by Naaz, a Muslim restaurant that, in the words of the current edition, serves "...some of the city's richest khao mok kai (chicken biryani)." Upon reading this I immediately felt provoked and defensive, as I live nearly next door to what I consider one of Bangkok's best Muslim restaurants, the self-proclaimed King of Biryani, Yusup.
Upon arriving at Naaz I diverged a bit and ordered khao mok phae, goat biryani. Even before tasting it was clear that the guide doesn't lie. The rice was absolutely perfectly cooked (overcooked rice is a common theme of lesser biryanis) and was topped with slightly sweet golden grapes, halved cashews and deep-fried crispy shallots. The fragrant yellow mound concealed a joint of goat with meat so tender it could probably be consumed by an infant. The meat was also coated in a rich curry-like sauce that had soaked into some of the rice. The dish was so perfect I didn't even use the (overly sweet) sauce provided.
Yusup, you've got competition.
Here's the interior of Naaz, as well as the diverse and interesting menu:
I had other places to visit, so I unfortunately I couldn't try anything else, but I'd certainly be curious to visit on Thursday when apparently they serve something called Karai Ghost.
Do go here.
Naaz
24/9 Soi Phutta Osot (Charoen Krung Soi 43--opposite the Main Post Office)
02 234 4537
8:30am-10pm
