Nystekt Strömming

Ironically, Swedish food can sometimes be a bit difficult to find here in Stockholm. The fish-and-potatoes diet that most Swedes' grandparents grew up with is seen as woefully old-fashioned compared to the more popular tapas, Mexican, sushi and Italian cuisines that are found on every street in the city. I think this is a pity as there really are some wonderful traditional dishes here. In particular I absolutely love the breads, from the cracker-like knäckebröd to the rye-laden limpor, and am fascinated by the variety of fish dishes; pickled herring, baked salmon, smoked eel, etc. Thus I was fortunate when upon exiting Slussen subway station on Södermalm I came across the stall pictured above that combined the two. Nystekt strömming means "freshly fried herring", a traditional Swedish dish that at this stall is served both traditionally and with a modern touch.

After a long wait (I guess people do like this kind of food--why isn't there more?), I ordered a knäckis, which takes the form of a pizza slice-sized hunk of knäckebröd topped with two fillets of the fried herring, lightly pickled slices of cucumber, red onion and parsley:

This is the "snack" version and cost 27 kronor, but the herring is also available as a heartier plate along with mashed potatoes and a salad. For those who cannot break themselves away from American-style fast food, there is also a bizarre-sounding "herring burger".

According to this site, the owners, Tommy and Viveka, have been selling nystekt strömming at Slussen since 1991. When asked if they ever get tired of fish they replied, "No. If you work here you eat herring every day." Sounds good to me.

Nystekt Strömming stall
Slussen subway station
11-6

Tourists or locals?

Saluhallen, Östermalm, Stockholm, Sweden.

Sometimes you never can tell.

A welcome back kebab

I'm back in Stockholm, Sweden, one of my three "hometowns". I lived here as a teenager and have been back and forth quite a few times over the years. Oddly enough, I actually have more friends here in Stockholm than in America, so it always feels great and somehow familiar to come back.

I wasn't particularly interested in food when I was living here, but one thing that left a strong impression was the very un-Swedish (yet very Swedish) kebab. This kind of food may seem common to most Europeans nowadays, but I'd never come across the stuff growing up in Oregon, and at the time it seemed very exotic. My friends and I swore by Kebab Kungen ("The Kebab King"), a hole-in-the-wall (by Swedish standards, anyway) place in Södermalm that served what were the cheapest kebabs in town (I think they were 19 kronor back then?). I recall skipping gymansiet (the Swedish equivalent of high school) to come down there, fill up on kebab, then explore the city. Nostalgia and a desire for chippped beef brought me back to Götgatan, only to find that Kebab Kungen has been replaced by a shop selling sporting equipment for children or some other rubbish... I was forced to walk directly across the street to Jerusalem Kebab, Kebab Kungen's direct competitor, and a place I had seen countless times, but had never entered on strict moral grounds:

Like most (all?) kebab places in Stockholm, you can order beef or chicken kebab, in a pita or on a plate (with pommes frites), in addition to pitas or plates of felafel or deep-fried eggplant:

I've always wanted to try the other dishes (does anybody ever order anything but kebab?), but haven't got around to it yet... My 25 kronor (125 baht, about 2 US dollars) got me a kebab i bröd with everything. The bulging pita (pictured above) was filled with a generous amount of salty, spiced chipped beef, which was covered with lettuce, red onions, bell pepper, yogurt and chili sauce, and my personal fav, pickled chilies. It's messy, but absoultely delicious, and by Stockholm standards, very cheap.

Incidentally, in trying to find the address for this place I came across a site called Allt om kebab ("Everything about kebab"), which looks to be a great reference for kebab fans in Stockholm, but which unfortunately appears to be down at the moment.

By the way, är det nån som vet vad hände med Kebab Kungen?

Jerusalem Kebab
Götgatan 59 (near Medborgarplatsen subway station)

Bible thumpers and dreadlocks

I happened to find myself on Khao San Road again last night, and although I was running to meet friends, had to stop and take a couple pics:

Christian missionaries

Hair care, Khao San-style

Face - Hand - Back - Foot

Last night was the opening for Surat Osathanugrah's exhibition Face - Hand - Back - Foot. Surat is a very wealthy and well-known Thai businessman, but he's also a talented photographer. Apparently he was more or less forced to take the family business, but always harboured ambitions to become a photographer. Now he's retired and has time to pursue his true passion.

The exhibition was held at Kathmandu, Bangkok's only 100% photography gallery, which is owned by Manit Sriwanichpoom, one of the country's most well-known artists. The gallery is located in a restored Chinese shophouse, and the downstairs showcases Manit's own work:

and the upper level is where the temporary exhibitions are held:

Incidentally, in about a year from now I'm actually going to have my own exhibition at Kathmandu, but more on that later...

Ultra-freaking-wide

Siam Paragon taken with the ultra-wide Nikon 10.5 f/2.8 DX.

I've always liked wide lenses, but with Nikon's less-than-full-frame digital factor of 1.5 means that most wide lenses are never quite wide enough. Until now. Stick this digital-only fisheye on the Nikon D200 and you've yourself got the equivalent of a 16mm on a full-frame camera. I bought this lens mainly so I could do some insane-wide landscapes of Stockholm, but suspect it will provide endless hours of fun far into the future. After I get back to Bangkok I hope to obtain the DxO Optics Pro software to straighten out all those crazy lines. One can do the same thing in Photoshop, but apparently this program is quite sharp and easy to use. Anybody have any other software recs?

Detailed info and lots of example pics taken with this lens can be found here.

My new blog

I'm proud to announce that I've recently started up a new blog. The Old Main Drag is where I'll be dumping my non food-related photos, in particular the "street" photography that I've been obsessed with as of late. The blog is embarrassingly bare-bones at this point, but I wanted to get it up ASAP as I'm heading off for my second and third homes of Oregon, USA and Stockholm, Sweden in a couple days, and wanted a platform from which to post images from these places.

Welcome!

I've been wanting to do a photo blog for a while, and finally, here it is. Actually setting up the blog was a matter of a few moments; the hard part was thinking of a name. The one I finally decided on actually comes from a Pogues song that happened to come on while I happened to be sitting trying to think of a name... I've been obsessed with the "street" photography of masters such as Henri Cartier-Bresson and Elliott Erwitt, and thought the name reflected something of the nature of their work, as well as the essence of the images I hope to show here. These are going to be works in progress; the pics that I snap on the way to a job, or something I'm proud of that will probably never sell, but that I like nonetheless. My main inspiration for this concept has got to be David Alan Harvey. Despite being a Magnum photographer and filing a constant stream of stories with National Geographic, the guy still finds time to add to his own blog, At Home with David Alan Harvey. At present she's looking pretty sorry--I'll get a custom banner and add some links hopefully sooner rather than later. For now I just wanted to get it up as soon as possible, as in a matter of hours I'm to leave for Stockholm, Sweden, then on to my home Oregon, and wanted a place to post images from both of these locations. For now I'll start in my third "hometown" of Bangkok. I Happened to be down on Khao San Road, Bangkok's famous backpacker district, the other night. I was just passing through, but quickly realized that this place warrants a full-scale photographic expedition, something I'll certainly do when I come back in May.

After people watching for a while we stopped in at Brick Bar, a place where, oddly enough for Khao San Road, I was virtually the only white guy. We had come to see Teddy Ska, a Thai band that had been recommended.

The band was really fun (what other band in Bangkok has a violin soloist and a horn section?), and really got the crowd going:

Tha Din Daeng pork satay

It's good to know people in other parts of town. Today my friend Cherry, a resident of Thonburi, took me to Tha Din Daeng, a part of her 'hood I would otherwise never have visited. According to Cherry, this area is known for its vendors who sell satay, the Indo/Malaysian dish of grilled skewers of meat.

There are several satay vendors along this relatively short street, and they serve from lunch until late evening, and use some of the longest grills I've ever seen:

I can't even imagine how hot it must be to grill food over coals on an April day in Thailand:

We sat down at the first shop we came to and ordered 20 sticks. As shown in the first pic, pork satay is served with the famous peanut sauce (which, incidentally, many people in America mistakenly associate with Thai food) and shallots, cucumbers and sliced chilies in a vinegar/syrup mixture. In Thailand satay is also often served with grilled white bread:

something I'd be curious to know the origin of.

Everything was great, although I must admit that I prefer the Malaysian practice of furiously fanning the flames so that the satay have a smokier flavour. Cherry, on the other hand, seemed to find no fault with it:

Thaa Din Daeng Pork Satay (Google Maps link)
Tha Thaa Din Daeng, Thonburi
Lunch & dinner

The best noodles in town?

I'll admit, the issue of the best noodles in town is as subjective as it gets. Despite this, it's an issue that can result in heated debate, ill-tempered shouting and dissolved friendships. Fortunately, operating from the format of this blog, I'm able to provide some legitimacy to my vote for the Best Noodles in Town. So there. I originally came across this stall in Bangkok's Chinatown several months ago while waiting for a train at Hua Lamphong. I tried to find it many times since then, but only succeeded recently.

The tiny stall boasts three (maybe four?) tables on an incredibly polluted, noisy and hectic stretch of Thanon Yaowarat. This is literally street food; if the vendor sticks her bum out too far what blanching bean sprouts she's going to regret it.

The stall's sign claims that the fishballs are all homemade, and this appears to be true. The balls are soft without being rubbery, and unlike most places, actually taste like fish--and fresh fish at that. The broth is clear but not bland, and heartily laced with cripsy deep-fried garlic, and what appears to be pickled garlic as well. I ordered kwaytiaow look chin ruam, mixed fishball noodle soup (pictured above), a dish combining four or five different kind of fish balls, a few par-boiled bean sprouts and a pinch of chopped green onion. I always order this with sen yai, the thick rice noodles, and top it off with a couple spoonfuls of the garlic/chili/vinegar sauce, and a splash of fish sauce.

Damn.

The noodle stall has no name as far as I can tell and is located on Thanon Yaowarat near the corner of Thanon Plaeng Naam. Good luck.

The new face of Yusup

The sign says raachaa khaao mok, "The king of biryani," and that about says it all. Yusup Phochana, a Muslim restaurant located minutes from my house in northern Bangkok is probably my favourite place in town. I've mentioned it previously here and here, and just recently, after being shut down for a month, the restaurant moved into new digs even closer to my house. I'm happy, and thought it was high time remind people of its existence.

I ordered, as always, khaao mok plaa, fish biryani:

You'll be hard-pressed to find another fish version of this dish in Bangkok, not to mention a khao mok this strong. Mr Yusup employs mackerel steaks that are cooked directly in the absolutely delicious rice, and topped with crispy deep-fried shallots, a couple slices of cucumber, and a sour/spicy/sweet sauce. The restaurant also does the ubiquitous chicken, and the slightly more unusual goat versions of the dish.

This was accompanied by sup haang wua, oxtail soup:

a deliciously sour/spicy/salty broth loaded with fatty oxtail and topped with deep-fried crispy shallots. The broth is so flavourful and hearty you could almost stand a spoon up in it. Those not keen on eating oxtail can go for the sup kai, chicken soup, which is very similar.

Desert took the form of rotii waan:

a paratha-like crispy pancake topped with sweetened condensed milk and sugar--a meal that would send most carbo-paranoid Americans running away screaming.

They've got lots of other stuff here: curry noodles, "Muslim" salad, mataba, satay, and some absolutely amazing curries, so I reckon there's something for everybody--other than vegetarians.

Yusup Phochana
Kaset-Navamin Highway
Open every day, 11am-2pm
05 136 2864, 09 923 8099

Detailed instructions:
Here's the bad news: for those located in central Bangkok, getting to Yusup Phochana is going to be something of a trek. The restaurant is located in northern Bangkok along the Kaset-Navamin highway (also known as sen tat mai). If you're coming from Mor Chit BTS/Phaholyothin, turn right at the Kaset Intersection onto the Kaset-Navamin highway. Go past the first stop light and the restaurant is on the left side just after a very large sign with the Swiss flag (as well as several Thai-language signs advertising the restaurant). If you get lost, go ahead and try one of the mobile number above, but I'm pretty sure these people don't speak English.

Hunan by way of England via Beijing in Bangkok

I recently had a very fun dinner with friend, Hal Lipper and his wife, Jing. Hal is a talented and enthusiastic cook and was keen to try some recipes from his new cookbook, Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook: Recipes from Hunan Province by English cookbook author, Fuchsia Dunlop. The Beijing element mentioned in the title of this post refers to the fact that Hal lived in Beijing for many years and his wife is a native of that city. In fact, he has actually been working with his wife to compile her mother's family recipes in the form of a cookbook:

and they have recorded over 100 recipes at this point. I was lucky enough to try a couple of them that night, including a simple but delicious dish of pickled cabbage:

and an appetizer of grilled bell peppers served with 1000 year-old eggs:

However the bulk of the dishes Hal made came from Dunlop's book. One dish that Jing grew up with, but that is also featured in Dunlop's book was something Dunlop calls Lotus Root "Sandwich" Fritters. Hal wasn't able to get ahold of lotus root so he used eggplant instead:

As seen above, the "sandwich" refers to the use of two slices of eggplant surrounding a filling of ground pork mixed with egg. These are coated in a simple batter and fried until crispy:

This was followed by Strange-Flavour Chicken, a combination of cucumbers, shredded chicken and a unique peanut sauce:

According to Dunlop, "The curious name "strange flavour" derives from the a bizarre but deeply satisfying combination of salty, sweet, sour, nutty, hot and numbing flavours." This is probably true, but if one follows Dunlops seasoning suggestions for the sauce, the leading flavour is an deeply unsatisfying bland. Hal was forced to remedy the mixture with some extra vinegar and soy sauce and the result was quite nice, although not nearly as intense as Dunlop suggests.

One of the most unusual dishes of the evening was something that Dunlop calls Pearly Meatballs. This was a combination of ground pork, water chestnuts and spices formed into balls and coated with a mixture of sticky rice, ham and mushrooms:

They are are then steamed:

and the result was very nice; meaty and crunchy (from the chestnuts), but still requiring a boost in the seasoning department, and we were compelled to dip them in soy sauce.

The biggest disappointment of the night (for Hal at least) was Chairman Mao's Red-Braised Pork (shown at the top of the post, as well as on the cover of Dunlop's book). Hal chose to substitute the fatty pork belly with pork ribs, and despite doubling the spices called for in the recipe, the result was still rather bland. Even the braising liquid, reduced to a thick red sauce, was somehow lacking in flavour.

This was coupled with Dongting Stir-Fried Duck Breast:

At this point Hal simply disregarded Dunlop's seasoning suggestions altogether and cooked the dish to taste. The result was a simple, but delicious (and well-cooked) stir fry, and probably the most delicious dish of the meal.

The New York Times' review of Fuchsia Dunlop's book can be seen here. The author of this review declares that, "Every recipe I tried was a rousing success." Not sure if Hal would agree...

Kopitiam

In Bangkok nowadays you can find Sri Lankan, Korean, regional Japanese, southern Indian, Persian, Burmese and Lao restaurants, among others, but until recently, no Malaysian. Not a single restaurant. I find this exceedingly odd, as Malaysian food is undeniably delicious, and many of the ingredients and flavours of Malaysian cooking are identical to Thai. Not to mention the fact that Thai food (in particular tom yam) is very popular in Malaysia--why not the opposite?

This will probably remain a mystery, but I was delighted to come across Kopitiam, a Malaysian cafe/restaurant on Thong Lor. Kopitiam literally means coffee shop, but this tiny restaurant also serves a variety of Malaysian and Thai dishes. The owner, Georgette, is a native of Kuala Lumpur who has lived in Bangkok for 18 years. After several years of making Malaysian food for her friends, she decided to spread the love and open her own place, and the restaurant has been open about half a year now.

With her guidance, I began with nasi lemak, rice cooked in coconut cream and served with a variety of side dishes:

Kopitiam's version was served with the traditional accompaniments of crispy fish and peanuts, squid sambal, a boiled egg, and somewhat unusually, the owner's savoury beef rendang. Nasi lemak is a simple dish, but very nice, and everything was excellent, the flavours just as I remember from breakfast in Penang or KL.

I also had rojak, the Indo-Malay-Singaporean salad of crispy fruits and veggies:

my second dish this week. I'm not enough of a rojak expert to authoritatively differentiate between this and Boon Tong Kiat's, but will venture to say that I found Kopitiam's dressing a bit richer. Georgette was kind enough to show me hae ko, the prawn paste that is the essential ingredient in this sauce.

Kopitiam also serves Malaysian favourites such as roti canai, a couple kinds of laska, and of course, teh tarik. If you live in Bangkok and you're craving Malaysian you really don't have any other choice, but it's unlikely that you'll be disappointed.

Kopitiam
117/C Panjit Tower, Sukhumvit Soi 55
02 381 5881

Boon Tong Kiat Singapore Hainanese Chicken Rice

I was recently in the Thong Lor area of Sukhumvit Road and came across Boon Tong Kiat, a restaurant selling "Singapore chicken rice". Despite having visited the country several times, I only recently became aware that chicken rice is Singapore's 'national' dish and was curious to see how it differed from the Thai version. The shop was also highly recommended by a friend, so I stopped by.

From the get-go, Boon Tong Kiat's khao man kai looks quite different than the domestic version of this Chinese dish. The rice had a slightly gold hue, which according to an extremely detailed sign inside the restaurant, was due to the use of "nine different spices". In addition to this, the sign explained that the rice was also "the finest jasmine rice in the country", and was first fried in a wok over high heat before being cooked over medium heat in a gas-powered rice cooker, before finally kept warm in a "Singaporean rice cooker". There was an equal amount of information regarding the cooking of the chicken, the majority of which escapes me now.

Culinary mission statements aside, it took only a simple taste to realize that Boon Tong Kiat is doing something special here. The rice was was fragrant with the "nine spices", galangal being the only one I could identify with some confidence, and was perfectly cooked, being both tender and toothsome. The chicken was also tender but not mushy, and was juicy and flavourful. This was the first time I'd seen this simple dish done to its full potential, and I loved it.

Halfway into the dish, I noticed that the restaurant also did rojak, a sweet/sour 'salad' of Indonesian origin known at Boon Tong Kiat as som tam singapore. I loved this dish from my visits to Singapore and couldn't resist ordering:

Boon Tong Kiat's version was pretty spot on and combined par-boiled morning glory, crunchy bits of cucumber, pineapple, apple and the deep-fried Chinese dough fritters known as you tiao. This was topped with the thick, sweet/sour sauce and sprinkled with sesame seeds. The sauce wasn't as profound or thick as that I've had in Penang, but tasted more or less as it should.

In addition to chicken rice and rojak, Boon Tong Kiat also prepares a variety of Sino/Singaporean-foods. And despite Singapore being virtually a neighbor of Thailand, this shop, as far as I know, is the only place in town where you can find such dishes. Very highly recommended.

Boon Tong Kiat Singapore Hainanese Chicken Rice
440/5 and 396 Sukhumvit 55
02 390 2508

Jek Pui

Exploring Chinatown with Khun Suthon last week I was pointed in the direction of a curious streetside curry shop with no tables. As illustrated above (take a look at the guy in the white shirt), diners sit at tiny plastic chairs, holding a plate of rice and curry in one hand while they eat with the other. We didn't have time to visit the shop that day, but I was back in the area again and made a point of stopping by.

As you can see above, things were a bit more "busy" this time. Fortunately for me the line was made up of those wanting to buy curry to take home. I wanted the entire table-less dining experience, and squeezed my way into the only free stool. A very loud gentleman shouted at me to order, and I timidly asked for a plate of green curry with fish balls over rice. In the meantime I was given a cup of weak iced tea, which the other diners and I put on an unoccupied stool. A moment later I was served, and like the others around me:

raised my plate and dug in.

After a few minutes I realized that I was virtually the only one who ordered green curry. All the others had ordered kaeng karii, literally "curry", a Chinese take on the Indian-Thai-Anglo dish. This was served over rice with sliced phrik chii faa chilies and slices of the deep-fried Chinese sausage, kun chiang. My green curry was pretty good--a bit bland perhaps, but with excellent homemade fish balls--but the kaeng karii looked pretty amazing, especially with all those unusual toppings. Unfortunately I had some more eating to do that day and couldn't risk a second dish. Next time though...

Jek Pui Curry Shop Corner of Thanon Mangkorn and Charoen Krung 4pm-9pm

Big Mama

I've been doing restaurant reviews for a local listings mag as of late and have decided to include some of the more interesting places here. However, I should make it clear that for each of these, my visit has been arranged ahead of time and I'm not paying for the food. Despite this, I'll do my best to be as objective as possible, and my goal is simply to spread the word of good eats in Bangkok, not to promote certain restaurants.

One of my first visits has to be one of the oddest restaurants in Bangkok. Big Mama describes itself as a pizzeria/Italian restaurant, but could be more accurately classified as Italian-American food with Thai accents as served to a Japanese and Korean clientele. Despite this geographical confusion, it works somehow, and I really enjoyed the majority of my meal.

Being a fan of salt and fish, I began with anchovy spaghetti:

Which was served in an earthenware container, topped with a dough lid and baked for a few minutes. Upon arriving at the table, the staff opens this 'lid':

to reveal steaming pasta topped with anchovies, chilies and parsley. However the best part was found at the bottom of the bowl, and was a 'sauce' of garlic and shallots sauteed in olive oil until they reached an almost creamlike state. This dish, with its disparate Italian roots, hearty American serving size, and Thai flavours, somehow really worked.

The pasta was accompanied by Greek salad:

Which was just about perfect--a tasty, well-balanced dressing, delicious tomatoes and bell peppers (that I suspect come from the excellent Royal Project Foundation), and plenty of salty feta.

And this being a pizzeria, they encouraged me to try one of their pizzas, and provided a combo:

The pizza, really the only disappointment of the meal, was topped with a bizarre combination of hot dog-like sausage, lunch meat ham, enoki mushrooms, bell peppers and cheese. Despite being made in a custom-built wood-burning oven, the pie just couldn't support the extreme variety of unrelated toppings and mostly went home in a doggie bag. A bit odd that they would choose this particular pie for me to sample. To be fair, the sauce was nice, and the dough OK, and I suspect a pizza of more subtle topping could very well be pretty good.

In addition to the colourful interior (first pic above), Big Mama also has a pleasant outdoor dining area:

If I lived closer, I would easily make Big Mama my local Italian/American/Thai restaurant.

Big Mama Pizzeria
139 Asok Soi 1
02 259 0232

The best fried oysters in town?

Exploring Chinatown the other day, Khun Suthon tipped me off to a tiny restaurant that he said made the best hoy tawt, fried mussels/oysters, in Bangkok. This caught my ear, as hoy thawt is a dish with such potential--who doesn't love eggs, oysters and oil? But it's also a dish that has disappointed me nearly every time I've ordered it (who likes ill-prepared eggs, oysters and oil?). Finding myself in Chinatown again recently, I made a point of stopping by.

The restaurant is called hoy thawt jao kao plaeng naam, meaning that it was previously located on Thanon Plaeng Naam. After 11 years at that location they moved directly across the street, where they've been for four years now.

The hoy thawt made here are of the crispy variety, which basically means they fry the crap out of them:

You have a choice between oysters or mussels, and I chose the latter. The plump, fresh-looking mussels were fried with egg, batter and lotsa garlic until bordering on burnt. This was then broken up and served on top of bean sprouts that had also been fried in oil. The result was predictably very, very oily, but undeniably delicious, and was served with a really nice spicy/sour sauce. Cholesterol issues aside, I think Khun Suthon just might be right.

Hoy Thawt Soi Plaeng Naam
Corner of Charoen Krung and Plaeng Naam roads (near the Cantonese shrine)

Mashoor and Manit

Continuing on my Lonely Planet assignment, I spent yesterday morning at Kathmandu, a photography gallery owned by one of Thailand's most lauded photographers, Manit Sriwanichpoom. Located in a restored Chinese shophouse on Thanon Pan (near the Hindu temple off of Silom), Kathmandu is one of the only galleries in Bangkok specifically dedicated to photography. It also happens to be located smack dab in the middle of one of Bangkok's most eclectic food areas. Within steps of Kathmandu you have Burmese, Persian, southern Indian, northern Indian, and some well-known Thai restaurants. After I finished shooting, Manit's wife was kind enough to supply us with thali from Mashoor, a northern Indian vegetarian restaurant located directly across the road:

They comprised of (starting at 12:00 and moving clockwise) a curry of peas and paneer (fresh cheese), curried okra, dhal, home made yogurt, fresh chappitis and pappadum, gulab jamun and rice. Everything was excellent, and I can't imagine a better Bangkok Sunday outing than an exotic meal followed by a visit to the Hindu temple and a look at excellent photography on display at Kathmandu.

Mashoor
38 Pan Road
02 234 9305

Kathmandu Photo Gallery
87 Pan Road
02 234 6700

Me, In Swedish

A few months ago Swedish food journalist, food historian, editor, author and blogger (!) Göran Lager paid a visit to Bangkok. While here he interviewed me for the Swedish radio food program, Meny. I was honored to be involved in this, and we had a great time eating and talking about som tam. However I hate listening to my own voice, and the thought of my own voice stumbling over a language I haven't spoken in 10 years, well... Anyway, to hear the program go the this page and click the speaker symbol near the phrase "torsdag 1 mars 2007". Apparently our bit is towards the end. If you can't understand a thing, consider yourself lucky. (And let me know how it went.)

(15 minutes later: OK, I couldn't resist and listened to it, and other than a few cop outs into English, it wasn't that bad. Göran is an amazing editor, apparently.)

Chinatown with Suthon

I'm in the process of interviewing some locals for an upcoming Lonely Planet book and chose to profile Suthon Sukphisit, author of the Bangkok Post's weekly Thai food column, Cornucopia. I've been reading Cornucopia for years, and always thought Suthon must be the closest thing to a living encyclopedia on Thai food. I wanted to pick his brain about Chinatown, an area known for its food, and he was kind enough to meet me and show me around for a few hours last night. I've been to Chinatown many times, but going with Suthon was a truly eye-opening experience. He seems to be familiar with literally every tiny alley and side street, and took me to and pointed out some of his favourite food-related places.

Our first stop was the subject of one of Suthon's numerous articles; an ancient house where a man named Thot is the second generation of his family to make kun chiang, Chinese-style sausage:

Khut Thot still makes sausages by hand in the same place his parents did--an ancient Chinese shophouse on Thanon Plaeng Naam, the very house he grew up in:

After mixing "good quality" pork with spices, he stuffs the casings and hangs them in a locker over warm coals:

After a few hours of this, he'll move them to another locker where they'll dry for a day. The sausages are done at this point, but still need to be cooked before you can eat them. Khun Thot was kind enough to give me a bag of his kun chiang, which I'm really looking forward to trying.

Just a few steps away is a famous vendor selling khanom jeep, Chinese steamed dumplings:

This vendor has gained a reputation for making the dim sum-style snack by hand using a traditional recipe, something he claims to have done for 50 years! He starts selling at lunch, and will remain on the street until he's sold everything:

Served with a light soy sauce and deep-fried crispy garlic, the khanom jeep were delicious, and a world away from the recently-thawed, oily, tasteless clumps you'll find elsewhere. And later, in a backstreet scene reminiscent of medieval Europe, we even got a glance of how the dough wrappers are still made using traditional methods:

Khanom Jeep Wat Yuan
Thanon Plaeng Nam (sold from a cart in front of Chinese temple)
12pm-7pm

Heading up towards Thanon Mangkorn we passed by a famous curry shop called Jay Puy. On the surface, it looks like any other street side curry shop in Bangkok, and I'd walked by it several times without noticing anything in particular. However Suthon pointed out one quirky aspect:

Jay Puy has no tables--something that Suthon claims has no impact on the number of people who eat there. "In the rainy season they don't have a roof or umbrella," says Suthon, "but people still eat there!" The shop is known for kaeng karii, literally "curry", but a Chinese take on the Indian/Thai dish. Suthon explained that the curries here aren't as thick or as spicy as the Thai version, and that they are thickened with flour, as not to be so oily.

Jay Puy Curry Shop
Corner of Thanon Mangkorn and Charoen Krung
4pm-9pm

Our evening ended at a tiny, dark alley off of Thanon Plaeng Naam where Suthon wanted to take me to Jay Joo, one of his favourite restaurants in Chinatown, and a place he described as being more Chinese than Thai:

"Real Chinese food has to made over a very, very hot flame," explained Suthon. As seen above, Jay Joo's coal-burning stoves were indeed very hot, and Suthon ordered plaa kiam buay, a deep-fried fish served in sour broth of salted plums and ginger; tao hoo song khrueang, deep-fried tofu served in a thick sauce with veggies; and kung kap plaa muek phat nam phrik phao, fresh shrimp and pickled squid fried in chili paste:

Everything was outstanding, and coupled with the exotic atmosphere (a huge family eating nearby, rats underfoot) and a few cans of Singha, made a memorable meal that topped off a truly memorable evening.

Jay Joo
Soi Phiphaksaa 2 (located roughly between Thanon Plaeng Naam and Thanon Phadung Dao)
4pm-7pm