Ruam Tai

It's the story of my life. Virtually every time I make specific plans to visit a specific restaurant in Bangkok, it's closed. It's happened tens of times, and I'm surprised I haven't mentioned it here before. And yes, it happened again today when I planned to take visiting Thai food fans Nick Malgieri and David Thompson to Dao Tai, a southern Thai restaurant in Thonburi.

Suppressing the urge to throw my camera at the retractable steel wall that separated me from delicious southern Thai food, I remained calm and reminded myself that there are two seemingly identical restaurants across the street:

One of which was closed (of course), leaving us with little choice: Ruam Tai. Fortunately the bundle of sator, also known as stink beans, hanging at the display case was an encouraging sign of southern authenticity:

The selection was also encouraging, so we ordered a huge spread of dishes:

including a spicy boar stir-fry, the famous southern Thai fish kidney curry, kaeng tai plaa, a soup of fresh turmeric and chicken, a very nice yellow curry and a stir-fry of stink beans.

I particularly liked the slightly sweet soup of coconut milk, palm hearts, shrimp, the previously-mentioned stink beans and a southern Thai leaf called liang:

David liked the dish in the foreground, a mixture of cockles and bai chaphlu, wild tea or betel leaves in a mild coconut milk curry:

And I thought Nick did quite well in general, considering the famous heat of authentic southern Thai food. I thought the dishes weren't quite as refined and the flavours not as expertly balanced as those of Dao Tai, but everything was still authentic and tasty.

In the end my initial disappointment was almost entirely forgotten when we made our way into the Thai sweets shop directly next door (Phensri, 02 411 0839), where the very kind owner plied us with jasmine-scented Thai sweets, answered our ridiculous questions, and eventually took us into her kitchen where she let us see where she mixed, steamed and smoked her mor kaeng and other desserts.

Ruam Tai 375/4 Thanon Phran Nok, Thonburi 02 412 7347 7am-9pm

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Krua Apsorn

I've previously blogged about the other location of this restaurant, but the original branch, located near the National Library, is apparently the more famous of the two, and has hosted the likes of the Thai royal family and was previously named as one of the Bangkok Post's best restaurants in Bangkok a few years back. Because of these accolades, the place has a something of a reputation, and some visiting friends were keen on stopping by.

At my last visit, nobody was interested in ordering the most expensive item on the menu: crab fried in yellow chili oil (pictured above). I finally got my chance and quite enjoyed the dish, particularly its generous chunks of crab and its pleasantly oily texture.

Once again we ordered the house special dork khajorn, a type of domestic flower, flash-fried with minced pork and oyster sauce:

Hock ordered miang khanaa, expecting it to be served in the traditional manner with bai miang (sometimes known as wild tea leaf):

but as the name suggests, the dish is served here with the crispy, slightly bitter leaves of khanaa, Chinese kale.

One of the best dishes of the meal was mussels fried (or were they steamed?) with fresh herbs:

I think it was the first time either Hock or I had eaten tender, perfectly-cooked mussels in Thailand.

And finally I ordered the house green curry with freshwater fish dumplings:

The curry itself was pleasantly bland (as is the intent), but the fish balls were rubbery and flavourless.

I think we all felt it was generally a solid, satisfying meal, as is the case with of much of the Thai food in Bangkok nowadays, but nothing profoundly delicious or revelatory (which is also the case with much of the food in Bangkok).

Other reviews can be seen here and here.

Krua Apsorn Th Samsen (near corner with Soi 9) 02 668-8788, 02 241 8528 10.30am-7.30pm Mon-Fri,10.30am-6pm Sat, closed Sun

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Khun Daeng

Khun Daeng, originally brought to my attention by diligent foodsleuth Nong A, is a tiny restaurant that serves an equally tiny repertoire of dishes. The emphasis is on kuay jap yuan, a noodle soup of partial Vietnamese origin that combines several kinds of pork including ribs, ground pork and muu yo, the smooth, peppery Vietnamese pork sausage. The nooodles used are made from rice flour and dusted with another type of flour, the latter of which provides the broth with a thick, slightly gelatinous texture. It's the kind of Vietnamese-Thai dish one finds in the towns along the Mekong River such as Mukdahan or Nong Khai. Khun Daeng also does a tasty-looking yam of muu yor.

Khun Daeng 28 Th Phra Athit 085 246 0111 11am-10pm Mon-Sat

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An Asian Sensation

Last year I collaborated with pastry master-slash-writer Nick Malgieri on a piece about street food in Bangkok for the Washington Post. This piece has finally been published: see Nick's article here and my photo gallery here (login is, I believe, required).

Khao Cooking School

Khao San Road is probably the unlikeliest place in Bangkok you'd expect to find an authentic Thai cooking school. But the people behind Khao Cooking School have heaps of experience and have put together an institution that feels both professional and homey, despite the incongrous location.

The school was founded less than a year ago by Kobkaew Najpinit (in the middle in the picture above), author of several cookbooks and a 35-year veteran of teaching Thai cooking. Her daughter Ning (on the left) speaks great English and does much of the teaching to non Thai-speaking students. A typical course at Khao spans three dishes over four hours and costs 1,500B. There are two sessions a day, each offering a different repertoire of dishes, so it's possible to study a week and not repeat a single dish. Those interested in more obscure recipes can arrange private scholarship.

Stop by and let us know how it was.

Khao Cooking School Located behind D&D Inn, Th Khao San 081 731 8001 khaocookingschool@gmail.com

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Melbourne bites

In a good way, of course.

It only took me a couple of meals and a bit of exploring to come to the conclusion that Melbourne must be one of the best food cities, well, anywhere. The diversity of cuisine alone is astounding: authentic Vietnamese, Ethiopian, Lebanese, Chinese, Greek and Italian are all easily available. The city's markets are fantastically well-stocked and vibrant. The coffee excellent. And there are meat pies. The only downside I can think of is cost, but this is largely based on my parsiminous Bangkok mindset, and reckon you're more likely to find tastier and more varied budget eats in Melbourne than say, New York City or Paris.

I was fortunate enough to eat at two of the city's upscale restaurants, Cutler & Co. and MoVida. We had a wonderful meal at the former, which had one of the most interesting dessert menus I've ever come across. Now, I'm normally not much of a sweets fan, but with creative and delicious sounding dishes as Ginger granita, coconut sorbet, fresh lychee; Toffee apple, fromage blanc, spiced short bread & cider jelly; Steamed pear & suet pudding, liquorice ice cream, confit lemon; and Chestnut ice cream, burnt butter cake, frozen chocolate crumbs & Cognac, ordering dessert was an imperative, not an option. My Chocolate ice cream sandwich, vanilla parfait & salted caramel was wonderful, but then again, I'd probably be happy with a plate of warm dirt as long as it was topped with salted caramel.

Cutler & Co. 55-57 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy, Melbourne 03 9419 4888 www.cutlerandco.com.au

MoVida is a ridiculously popular tapas restaurant that normally requires reservations months in advance, but we were lucky enough to be able to slip in just before the place filled up on a wet and cold Sunday afternoon. L and I shared a dish of braised oxtail and ordered several great tapas including the wonderfully salty dish pictured below, "Hand filleted Cantabrian artisan anchovy on crouton with smoked tomato sorbet":

MoVida 1 Hosier Lane, Melbourne 03 9663 3038 www.movida.com.au

But perhaps the most satisfying meal of my visit was the absolute antithesis of upscale and took the form of a grubby Chinese restaurant in Footscray called 1+1 Dumpling Noodles. The restaurant, which Phil has previously written about, has a largely predictable northern Chinese menu, but with a few obscure but delicious Uighur/Western Chinese dishes thrown in. These included la mian, the famous Uighur dish of hand-pulled noodles fried with lamb, bell pepper and tomato (shown at the top of this post), spice-dusted lamb skewers, and a deliciously tart and crispy cucumber salad:

1+1 Dumpling Noodles 84 Hopkins Street, Footscray, Melbourne 03 9687 8988

Between meals it was constant stream of excellent coffee and much-missed Western baked goods. My favourite place for both was Pellegrini, an old-school 'espresso bar' that is considered by many emblematic of 1950's Melbourne. They also do a tasty apple strudel:

Pellegrini 66 Bourke Street, Melbourne 03 9662 1885

Slightly more refined pastries were available in the CBD:

and Acland Street in St. Kilda had a string of cake shops that looked impressive, but that were mostly hit and miss in terms of flavour:

I particularly enjoyed the huge variety of tasty Greek and Turkish pastries:

and of course, Aussie pies. The pie below was taken at Dinkum Pies, a rural Victoria bakery in the midst of upscale cafes on Block Place:

Dinkum Pies 29 Block Place, Melbourne 03 9654 6792

We spent a morning wandering around the halls of Victoria Market, with me drooling at the Mediterranean-style dishes I could never even dream of getting in Bangkok:

But this being Australia, we naturally settled on eating pies:

And for some reason I felt compelled to order a comically immense bratwurst:

A fittingly greedy end to what was essentially an indulgent but tasty visit.

Portland linkfest

Thanks to my boy A-Dog, who, unbeknownst to me, is apparently also "one of America’s foremost experts on Thai grilling", I was alerted that Portland, Oregon has yet again been making the media rounds. There's a lengthy and fun New York Times piece about the city, the previously referenced Food & Wine article about Andy's restaurant, Pok Pok, and a mention of the same restaurant in GQ City Guides' Portland writeup. Well done, Andy and Portland. Addendum: This Oregonian article describes Andy's new Portland restaurant, Ping.

Northern Thai in Western Melbourne

Phil said he wanted to make sai ua, the famous northern Thai sausage. I was skeptical. Phil had previously told me about Melbourne's Footscray Market and its apparently amazing selection of Asian ingredients, but could we really make anything approaching an authentic northern sausage in Australia? Using Thompson's Thai Food as a rough guide, we made a list of the ingredients we'd need and set off. Arriving at the market (pictured above), I was almost immediately converted: Footscray Market was every bit as well-stocked and hectic as any in Asia, and we had no problem finding virtually every last ingredient.

Arriving back home, and fueled by a constant stream of Little Creatures Pale Ale, we chopped the fresh herbs roughly:

and Phil fed this mixture and some pork through a meat grinder. As a test, we fried a bit of the mixture up:

and were pleased to find that it was nearly spot on. After adjusting the seasoning slightly, Phil put the ingredients through a second run, this time filling a sausage casing:

While Phil was grilling the sausage, I made two Mae Hong Son dishes: saa, a salad of pea shoots, and kaeng hang lay. I had brought with me a couple of the more obscure ingredients, but again, we were able to find everything we needed, including pork belly, at Footscray market. I marinated the meat a la Khun Yai's recipe:

and let it simmer for about four hours until it was fall-apart tender:

The weather was too cold to pretend we were in northern Thailand, but the flavours were pretty damn authentic.

Melbourne, April 2009

I recently spent three days in Melbourne, Australia shooting the photos for a magazine article about the city's alleyways, arcades and lanes (an article on the same topic, written by Phil Lees, can be seen here). It was a fun assignment, and was also my first real chance to try out my new camera, a Nikon D700, and I have to say that I'm a satisfied customer. I think I rarely shot below ISO400, sometimes even shooting at ISO6400, getting excellent results nearly all the time. I love the feel of the camera, and appreciate the gigantic viewfinder. To view a slideshow of some random images from Melbourne, click on the image above -- use keyboard arrows or hold your mouse above the images to navigate through them.

Khao man kai in Portland, Oregon

I blog about Thai food, but my hometown is Portland, Oregon (OK, Sandy, Oregon, if we're being specific), and am always fascinated when these two disparate destinations cross paths. That's why I was particularly excited when I received an email from Nong, a former cook at Pok Pok, the Portland restaurant, about her recently opened place: Nong's Khao Man Gai, a stall selling Hainanese chicken rice on SW 10th and Alder. Has anybody been yet? Addendum: The blog Food Carts Portland, which, as the name suggests, focuses on food carts in Portland, recently reviewed Nong's stall.

Where in the World am I?

  Food-related hint: The above dish, a vast flattened, bread crumb-battered deep-fried chicken breast, subsequently baked with a zesty tomato sauce, a thin slice of ham and rich, white, rubbery cheeze, and in this case, accompanied by French fries, a salad and a Mountain Goat Pale Ale, is considered ancient traditional fare by the natives of the country I'm currently visiting.

Where am I?

Sous-vide potato confit with panko crust and hot dog foam

Back in 2006 blogger Newley Purnell introduced the world to a French fry-coated hot dog on a stick he had encountered in Korea. Word spread, and other bloggers, including the now Melbourne-based Phil Lees, were posting their own sightings of the dish. Eventually, Lees took the concept a step further and improvised a recipe for the dish (as well as a subsequent bacon version). Here in Bangkok were so taken by the inherent genius of the dish, not to mention Lees's breathtaking reverse engineering feat, that we decided to attempt our own 'modern' interpretation of the French fry-coated hot dog on a stick.

Our contribution to the genre? The dish pictured above: sous-vide potato confit with panko crust and hot dog foam. Unlike Lees, Hock has a modern kitchen at his disposal, and he took full advantage of this to apply cooking techniques that would best highlight each of the dish's individual ingredients while not losing sight of the dish's street origins. I think you'll agree that we succeeded in this.

The lengthy process began by cooking hot dogs and potatoes sous-vide; the hot dogs at a carefully calculated temperature and time ratio of 53.2ºC for 73 hours and 22 minutes, the potatoes at 84.7C for 2 hours 17 minutes (Starch begins to break down at temperatures of 78C and above. Natural pectins, which are the molecular glue holding all plant cells together, do not begin to break down until 85C):

For that bit of extra luxury, the potatoes were prepared confit with the help of the finest street fat available, Crisco:

To prepare the hot dog foam Hock extracted the liquid from the sous-vided CP-brand hot dogs we sourced from our supplier (a nearby branch of 7-Eleven, think local, fools):

and combined it with .83% lecithin, using a hand blender to create a rich nitrate-laden foam:

The potatoes were prepared in an egg bath and subsequently coated with panko bread crumbs:

before being deep-fried:

A smear of ketchup* and a dollop of the hot dog foam finish the dish:

A few 'behind the scenes' pics can be seen here.

*Our original conceptualization of the dish included a ketchup 'ribbon', but Hock's methylcellulose was no match for Heinz, and after several failed attempts we gave up; plus Hock had a terrible case of Bangkok belly (probably from all the hot dog research) and was growing weaker with every passing hour.

Bangkok, April 13, 2009

If you follow events in Thailand then you're probably already aware of the anti-government protests that have taken place in Bangkok. I was able to witness some of the clashes firsthand today from 1-3pm in the area surrounding the Victory Monument. Although by the evening of the same day the situation appears to have calmed, the standoff was tense and occasionally violent, and could potentially have been much worse. To view a slideshow of some of the images (taken with my new Nikon D700!), click on the image above -- use keyboard arrows or hold your mouse above the images to navigate through them.

Nay Lao

  I was taking photos at Nay Lao, a noodle restaurant in Bangkok, when the owner made a serious face and called me the back of the restaurant. I thought he was going to scold me for snapping pics, but instead he asked, "Are you Catholic?" I replied "Sure" and immediately thought back to the photo I had just taken:

"There's a father visiting Bangkok from the Philippines. He's here to cure people, please come by," he said, handing me a brochure.

In addition to salvation, Nay Lao also specialises in two tasty dishes: raat naa (shown on the left above), rice noodles served with pork, greens and a thick gelatinous gravy, and phat sii iw, rice noodles fried with pork, greens, egg and soy sauce (sii iw). Either dish can be ordered with sen yai, wide flat rice noodles, or sen mii, vermicelli-like strands. The pork has been marinated and is tender, and the vegetables, a type of Chinese kale, are fresh and crispy.

But the best thing about the dishes is how they're prepared. The men wielding the spatulas at Nay Lao are masters, expertly charring the phat sii iw and providing the dish with a smokey flavour that remains in your mouth a good hour after you've eaten. This is done in a single vast wok that really could use a bit of cleaning:

but we can only pray for that to happen.

Nay Lao 124/8 Th Nang Linchi, Bangkok 02 678 3517 11am-11pm, Mon 11am-3pm

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and Thanon Senanikhom 1

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Hua Hin's night market

Hua Hin isn't exactly a food destination, but the city has a pretty solid night market. From surprisingly un-greasy phat thai to tasty looking curries, I found something there for just about everybody. To commence a slideshow of images from Hua Hin's night market, click on the image above -- use keyboard arrows or hold your mouse above the images to navigate through them.

Baan Itsara

Hua Hin is an old-school seaside resort a couple hours south of Bangkok. It's still a popular destination today, particularly among middle-class Thais, but beer bars have begun made the centre of town feel more like Pattaya than a quaint fisherman's village. Nonetheless, if you walk along the beach you'll see several graceful holiday homes that echo the town's past, some of which have been refurbished as restaurants. Probably the most popular of these is Baan Itsara:

I had eaten here several years ago and recalled that I enjoyed it. Visiting Hua Hin again with buddies N and R, Baan Itsara seemed the perfect setting for a bromantic late lunch.

My favourite dish of the meal was probably ping ngop thale:

The dish is made by combining curry paste with hearty chunks of seafood, wrapping it up in basil and banana leaves, then grilling it until it solidifies. The basil leaves provide a slightly spicy, bitter flavour, and the dish also has a subtle smokiness from being grilled.

There was a deliciously sour plaa kao tom buay:

grouper soup made tart with the addition of dried plums, and slightly spicy by the addition of holy basil.

There was a unique stir-fried green curry:

topped with deep-fried crispy krachai (Chinese key) and rich with fresh seafood, but the curry was a bit too mild and the eggplants undercooked and bitter.

There were slightly flabby raw oysters (pictured at the top of this post), served Thai-style with sides including garlic, seafood dipping sauce, nam phrik phao and crispy fried shallots. And we also ordered a so-so house yam:

a Thai-style 'salad' featuring generous amounts of even more seafood.

All in all a decent, but not outstanding meal.

Baan Itsara 7 Th Naep Khehat, Hua Hin 032 530 574 10.30am-10pm

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Dao Tai

Perhaps I've lived here too long, or maybe I'm just jaded, but lately I've become convinced that there's little good Thai food in Bangkok. My cynicism seemed to be confirmed when a recent dining companion and longtime resident of Bangkok, Ung Ang Talay, expressed similar notions. He then proceeded to prove both of us wrong by taking me and buddy R to Dao Tai, a truly wonderful southern Thai restaurant in Thonburi (well, technically not Bangkok, but close enough).

Dao Tai, like any good southern Thai raan khao kaeng (curry shop) serves a huge array of prepared curries, soups, dips and stir-fries. Simply side up to the glass case and point at whatever looks tasty.

We ordered a huge array of dishes, every one of them uniquely delicious and authentically southern:

There was, from the bottom and moving upwards, kai tom khamin, a thin but fragrant broth of chicken, lemongrass, shallots and fresh turmeric; kaeng lueang, one of the most famous dishes in southern Thailand, a sour, salty, spicy soup of fish and vegetables (or sometimes shrimp and fruit);  a rich coconut curry combining beef and pea eggplant; an absolutely delicious soup of creamy coconut milk, tender palm shoots, tiny shrimp and a local leaf called bai liang; and previously unknown but delicious curry of tender palm shoots, grilled fish and sour young tamarind leaves.

Ung Ang Talay ordered nam phrik makhaam on, a tart 'dip' of young tamarind:

and at some point there was also a bowl of kaeng khii lek, a thick coconut curry of bitter accacia leaves and grilled fish.

It was one of the best Thai meals I've had in a long time, and also served to assure me that there is indeed good Thai food in Bangkok; you just need to be pointed in the right direction by somebody equally pessimistic.

A few more images from the meal can be seen here (all images taken with my Nikon D100, my first digital SLR).

Dao Tai 508/26 Th Phran Nok, Thonburi 02 412 2385 7am-8.30pm View Larger Map

Muslim hospitality

  While scooting around Ko Yao Noi I came across the scene above, a local woman stirring a vast wok of fragrant curry. I stopped and asked what was going on and she explained that she doing the Muslim equivalent of making merit by sacrificing an animal (in this case a buffalo) and sharing the meat with friends and family:

The woman went on to explain that because I wasn't a Muslim, I couldn't eat any of the food -- not even one bite -- as doing so would render the merit invalid. She was very clear about this, and repeated it several times, not to be exclusive, I suspected, but rather because she felt guilty that she couldn't offer any to me. Ko Yao Noi is a predominately Muslim island, and like other Muslim places I've been (Pakistan, Bangladesh and other places in southern Thailand), the hospitality and generosity run thick. I found the residents of Ko Yao Noi in particular to be the friendliest people I've met anywhere in Thailand. I ran into characters ranging from a man who uses monkeys to gather coconuts:

to a group of Muslim missionaries:

and everybody was genuinely friendly, generous and kind. These experiences, not to mention some pretty interesting food, have given me a strong desire to visit more Muslim lands. Later this year I'll have some free time and a lot of frequent flier miles, and at the moment am considering Syria or Yemen (although food-wise, Lebanon and Turkey look pretty interesting). Any Muslim world hands with any suggestions?

Breakfast on Ko Yao Noi

I love breakfast in southern Thailand. Unlike breakfast in the west (or even elsewhere in Thailand), which is typically as bland as possible, southern Thais fancy a bit of flavour in the morning. Khao yam, the rice 'salad' illustrated above, isn't exactly spicy, but the abundance of thinly-sliced fresh herbs certainly stands in contrast to a bowl of oatmeal or rice porridge. This dish was heavy on the galangal and mackerel, and served slightly warm, was a wonderful breakfast, particularly when coupled with a glass of sweet Muslim-style tea:

On Ko Yao Noi many choose to begin the day with khao mok kai, chicken biryani:

Fragrant with turmeric and other dried spices, it's a dish usually regarded as lunch elsewhere in  Thailand.

Another popular breakfast is khanom jeen nam yaa pak tai, fresh rice noodles ladled with an equal parts creamy and spicy curry dressing:

You can cut the heat with some of the unusual toppings, which here ranged from slices of watermelon to pickled jackfruit, as well as some interesting local herbs.

And if you find this all a bit too much for breakfast, you can always go for the huge array of sweet-ish snacks on offer at just about any southern-style coffee shop:

Dhaka

Shooting photos in Dhaka, Bangladesh was the most fun I've had in a long time. There are few certifiable 'sights' in the city, but the hectic atmosphere and abundance of incredibly friendly people combined to make it a virtual game reserve for photographers. To commence a slideshow of 25 random images from the city, click on the image above -- use keyboard arrows or hold your mouse above the images to navigate through them.