Mister Jo

Over the last few months, I've done several articles for CNNGo's Bangkok pages on Thai dishes that resident foreigners (and sometime even resident natives) may not familiar with, and a few recommended places to sample them. So far I've covered kaeng karii, khao khluk kapi, khanom jeen nam ngiaw, kuytiaw luy suan and kuaytiaw khua kai. At the moment I'm at work on one about kuay jap nam sai, the Chinese/Thai dish that combines pork offal and a peppery broth. Of the six or so restaurants and stalls I've investigated for the piece, my favourite was probably Mister Jo.

Kuay jap is based around pork offal (heart, tongue, intestines, liver, spleen), but the crispy pork belly is what can make or break a restaurant. Mister Jo's pork belly is so good that it's also available separately, served on plates with a soy sauce dipping sauce. The broth is peppery -- as a good kuay jap broth should be -- but not assertively so, and was probably the most balanced of the various places I visited. Unusually, it includes squares of tender pork skin. And unlike most places serving kuay jap, Mister Jo is open during the day. As a result, it's crazy popular, and you'll almost certainly have to navigate a lengthy queue of to-go orders simply to step foot inside the restaurant.

Stay tuned to CNNGo Bangkok's Eat page to see the entire list of kuay jap nam sai stalls and restaurants I found.

Mister Jo 313/7 Th Chan, Bangkok 8.30am-4pm

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Pa Kay

There are heaps of places in Bangkok that claim to serve Vietnamese food, but what most are serving is actually a Thai take on Vietnamese cooking. In theory at least, this isn't entirely a bad situation; I've encountered many interesting Thai/Vietnamese dishes in places such as Nakhon Phanom, Nong Khai and Mukdahan. Where things go wrong is the fact that the vast majority of these restaurants serve virtually the same repertoire of dishes, with very little variation in terms of flavour or preparation. This is a pity, as I really love this type of food: it's fresh, tasty and healthy. I also find it strange that, given the similarity between Thai and Vietnamese cooking styles and ingredients, it shouldn't be too difficult to recreate relatively authentic Vietnamese dishes here in Bangkok. But apparently there's not the demand nor the desire, and what we're left with is a mediocre facsimile of Vietnamese cooking.

This having been said, Pa Kay, a longstanding restaurant in a former Vietnamese enclave near the Chao Phraya River, is one of the better places I've encountered for Thai/Vietnamese food. The menu is largely predictable, but the preparation and flavours were generally above par.

The standout was probably naem nuang (nem nướng in Vietnamese), skewered and grilled pork served with rice paper and a variety of toppings and fillings (seen at 12 o'clock in the image above). The pork here was flavourful and pleasantly charred, and the dipping sauce, which tends to be overly sweet, had a tasty savoury/spicy element, allegedly the result of the addition of minced liver.

The loser was kung phan oy (located at about 7 o'clock in the pic), minced shrimp (and pork?) wrapped around a stalk of peeled sugarcane and grilled. The meat, which appeared to have been grilled several hours previously, was practically unseasoned and the side of pickled vegetables also lacked flavour.

The rest of the dishes were a half-step above their Bangkok counterparts. The khai kata (10 o'clock), eggs served in a tiny wok with Vietnamese- and Chinese-style sausage, was tasty, and came served with tiny French-bread like rolls. And although the khanom pak mor (bánh cuốn; 4 o'clock) weren't made to order and were somewhat thick-skinned, were decent and came with good quality muu yo (Vietnamese-style sausage).

Pa Kay 123/205 Th Ratchawithi, Bangkok 02 243 4788

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Pornchai

The last place Andy took me to was Phornchai, a longstanding noodle soup restaurant near Chiang Mai's city centre. This shophouse restaurant serves what is probably the most basic of Thai noodles, kuaytiaw. Pictured above, the bowls consist of a thin, largely bland broth, noodles (rice- or wheat-based), sliced cabbage, a bit of crispy pork fat with garlic, and continuing our meat theme, your choice of beef or pork. The beef balls were pretty tasty, although I found the other cuts slightly tough.

They also do a decent khao soi:

which appears deceptively bland and thin, but was actually quite hearty and meaty, with subtle hints of dried spice.

Phornchai 80/4-5 Th Wua Lay, Chiang Mai 053 200 715

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Akha Ama Coffee

Acting on a tip from another friend of Andy's, we hit Akha Ama Coffee. The tiny outfit has its office in Chiang Mai, but the beans -- as is the case with most domestic Thai coffees -- come from rural Chiang Rai province. The company uses 100% Arabica beans, claims to promote sustainability and fair trade among the Akha people who maintain the crops, and Lee, the young man we spoke with at the office/cafe, really seemed to know his stuff.

Having consumed their 'Strong Roast' at breakfast this morning, I quite liked it, finding it a good balance of bitter and sour, with a decent body. It's also very inexpensive, at only about 100B (about US$3) for a 250g bag. If it was available in Bangkok I'd probably consider it as an alternative to the more expensive Doi Kham or Doi Tung beans.

Akha Ama Coffee Mata Apartment, 9/1 Soi 3, Th Hussadhisewee, Chiang Mai 086 915 8600 www.akhaama.com

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Cuisine on every corner

Proceed here for Hal Lipper's excellent review of David Thompon's most recent book, Thai Street Food.

And speaking of Thompson, the Bangkok branch of his Thai restaurant nahm is now officially open for business. I ate there for the third time last night and yet again, was thoroughly blown away. Standout dishes included the deliciously tart and spicy cured 'hiromasa' kingfish salad with chillies, lime and mint; the rich and very spicy smoked fish curry with prawns, chicken liver, cockles and black pepper; a slightly bitter and rather spicy red curry of grilled salted beef with chili leaves; and a deliciously decadent and rich durian and sticky rice. If you're in Bangkok and are interested in Thai food, it's a must visit.

Him Tang

Him Tang is the northern Thai dialect word for roadside, and as a name it accurately sums up the atmosphere of this rustic grilled meat shack in Mae On, about 30km outside of Chiang Mai.

Like Jin Tup, this is a place that revolves around grilled meats:

and local booze:

in this case yaa dong, rice alcohol supplemented with herbs and typically served with tart drinking snacks.

But back to the meat... We ordered aeb ong muu:

pig brains and an herbal curry paste mixture that have been combined and grilled in a banana leaf package. The texture was smooth and the taste meaty and slightly spicy.

They do an excellent sai ua, northern-style grilled sausage:

light on the herbs and heavy on the fat, just like I like it.

Perhaps the most unusual dish was grilled pig's tail:

This was my first time eating this dish, and I must say that pig tail may be one of the most perfect grilled foods. As it grills, the exterior becomes crispy -- not unlike pork rinds -- while the meat on the inside is essentially basted in the fat and remains tender and moist. Amazing stuff.

But the best dish of the night was a laap of raw buffalo:

This is an unusual dish -- most Thais generally avoid eating buffalo -- and was something of a special, with 'mee laap khwaay' (we have buffalo laap) having been scrawled on a piece of cardboard. I'm not a huge fan of the texture of raw meat, but the dish contained a complex and delicious spice mixture with hints of cinnamon and star anise, not to mention the normal northern Thai spices of makhwaen and deeplee, that made up for this. The result was meaty, spicy and also slightly sweet, and was probably one of the more interesting Thai dishes I've encountered in a long time.

Him Tang Th 1229, Mae On, Chiang Mai 053 859 633

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Laap Dee Khom

Acting on a tip from Amorn of the lovely Riverside Guest House, me and Andy were pointed in the direction of Laap Dee Khom, a longstanding restaurant located within Chiang Mai's old city walls. We arrived at lunchtime, apparently too late to sample the various northern Thai dishes that are prepared here on a daily basis, but not too late to try the restaurant's various namesake laap, spicy meat-based 'salads.'

If you like Thai food, you've most likely encountered laap previously, but the northern version is an entirely different beast altogether. The most popular version, known as laap khom ('bitter laap') is made from finely-minced raw meat, to which is added a spicy curry paste, a mixture of dried spices, raw bile and blood (to see how the dish is made, go here). A slightly safer -- and arguably more delicious -- version is laap khua, "fried laap," in which sliced offal is added to the meat before it's all fried up in a wok. The predominate flavour in either of these dishes is spicy -- not necessarily a 'hot' spicy, but rather a slightly numbing, Sichuan pepper-like burn stemming from the addition of dee plee and makhwaen, two northern Thai spices -- trailed by bitter, a result of the addition of bile.

We were able to sample virtually the entire spectrum of northern-style laap at Laap Dee Khom, and they didn't disappoint. Starting at 6 o'clock and moving clockwise, there was saa khua, a slightly sweet and soupy laap relative consisting of hearty chunks of beef that had been simmered with a chili paste, a pinch of northern Thai spices and plenty of chopped herbs, in particular, lemongrass; next was a raw northern-style beef laap khom, studded with crunchy Szechuan pepper-like dried spices and pleasantly bitter from the addition of bile; at noon is laap plaa duk, a deceptively unattractive salad of grilled catfish that was simultaneously smokey and spicy; and lastly at 3 o'clock, the classic northern Thai soup of pork ribs simmered with jor phak kaat, a peppery green used in many northern Thai dishes.

Andy and I loved the catfish laap, it being the first time I've had this dish prepared in the northern style. We also really enjoyed the flavours of the raw beef laap, but were intimidated by its constituent ingredients, and in the end asked them to fry it up for us. The 'dining room' at Laap Dee Khom is a scruffy, unlit nightmare (do you sense a theme here?), but the woman who runs it is very friendly, and assuming you arrive early enough to try a greater variety of dishes, the restaurant is a great place to sample the flavours of authentic northern-style Thai cooking.

Laap Dee Khom Soi 5, Thanon Arak, Chiang Mai 086 656 9534

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Jin Tup

On my first night in Chiang Mai Andy took me to Jin Tup, a rustic roadside restaurant a few kilometres outside of the city. Jin Tup turned out to be quite tasty and fun, and is very emblematic of the kind of food northerners (specifically, northern Thai men) like to eat with their booze. But it was obvious upon arriving that this isn't a restaurant for everybody; although cheery and welcoming, the place is shockingly messy and is also rather hard to locate.

The emphasis here is on grilled meat:

which ranges from pork collar to grilled teats, and just about everything in between. The house specialty, which also functions as the name of the restaurant, is jin tup (literally 'pounded meat' in the northern dialect), grainy pieces of beef (Andy suspects flank) that are seasoned, semi-dried and grilled before being pounded into thick strips with a metal mallet (illustrated at the top of this post). The smokey strips of meat are then served with two types of nam phrik khaa, a galangal-based dipping sauce. I first encountered a similar dish at Nang Khambang in Vientiane, Laos, but this version is meatier and fattier, and less leather-like.

We also had tom yam kop:

the northern version of the famous spicy/sour (and in this case, very salty) Thai soup, served here with frog and a generous amount dried northern spices.

But our favourite dish was naem, fermented pork combined with egg, wrapped in a banana leaf and grilled:

An amazing amalgam of two disparate proteins -- bland egg and tart pork -- that works amazingly well.

Jin Tup Ban San Sai Noy Moo 9, Hwy 1001, San Sai, Chiang Mai

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Sai Ua Kao Ba Kham

I studied Thai at Chiang Mai University back in 1998, but moved to Bangkok almost immediately after finishing my studies there. Since then, I've spent relatively little time in Chiang Mai, and most of my subsequent visits have been little more than passing through on my way elsewhere. And although I know enough grab a bowl of khao soi at Lam Duan or Shan-style breakfast at Wat Pa Pao, I'm woefully uninformed about the city's food scene.

Finding myself with some free time, I decided to remedy this and headed up north for a few days. Another reason for the trip was that my buddy, Andy Ricker, also happened to be in Chiang Mai. Andy's been coming to Chiang Mai since the 1980s, and is intimately familiar with much of the city's food, much of it having served as inspiration for his Portland, Oregon restaurant, Pok Pok. We spent three days eating together, and the next few blogs will cover a few of the places he took me to in Chiang Mai. Because some of these places were somewhat hard to reach and are pretty local, I include them here more as illustrations and descriptions of authentic northern Thai food, rather than specific restaurant recommendations.

On the day I arrived, Andy took me a few kilometres outside Chiang Mai to Mae Hia Market. He wanted to take me to his favourite vendor of sai ua, northern-style grilled sausage:

All sai ua contains ground herbs, but this vendor's version is known colloquially as sai ua samunphrai, 'herbal' sai ua, due to copious amounts of lemongrass, kaffir lime leaf, garlic and galangal he employs. As with other vendors, the sausages here are grilled over coals:

but the final result is slightly drier and leaner than your average sai ua, with not surprisingly, a complex and rich herbal flavour.

Sai Ua Kao Ba Kham Mae Hia Market, Chiang Mai

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Hoy Thot Chao Ley

Hoy thot, literally 'fried oysters', is one of the more emblematic Thai street hawker dishes. Consisting of mussels (or oysters) fried with egg in a batter of rice and mung bean flours, and served on a bed of soft bean sprouts, its simple, rustic nature lends itself to streets and stalls, and you'll rarely find the dish in any indoor restaurant.

Hoy Thot Chao Ley, a longstanding vendor of the dish on trendy Thanon Thong Lo, has compromised somewhat on hoy thot's streetside status. Located in a covered alleyway, the place almost gives the impression of being indoors, but in keeping with the dish's street origins, the hoy thot here is simple, tasty, crispy and satisfying. Admittedly, the dishes aren't rich or expertly-prepared as those of Nay Mong, but are better than most you'll find around town, and are worth checking out.

In addition hoy thot, pictured above, which incidentally they call hoy malaengphu thot krob ('crispy fried mussels'), they also do thaley thot krob (a seafood version that includes shrimp and squid), phat Thai, or suan (a soft oyster omelet) and or lua (crispy oyster omelet).

All of these dishes are prepared on a vast round skillet:

and are a lot less oily/greasy than you'd expect.

I'm heading up to Chiang Mai tonight and will be quiet for a few days, but hope to come back with some posts on northern food.

Hoy Thot Chao Ley Soi 55 (Thanon Thong Lo), Thanon Sukhumvit 085 128 3996 9am-9pm

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My fave Bangkok dishes

I'm often asked about my favourite places to eat in Bangkok. This is a hard question to answer, not necessarily because I have trouble deciding, but rather because I'd say there are very few all-purpose menu-toting restaurants here that I truly enjoy. In my opinion, eating in Bangkok is all about the dishes, not the restaurants. So in no particular order, here are some of my favourite plates and bowls in Bangkok:

The oyster omelet at Nay Mong. Whether you order the crispy (or lua, pictured above) or soft (or suan) version, you're getting a brilliant intersection of seafood and egg; smoky, rich and cooked to perfection. Quite possibly my favourite dish in Bangkok.

The kuaytiaw khua kai at Nay Hong:

This is a relatively recent discovery, but after five or so visits, the smokey, crispy noodles here have quickly made it onto my list.

Khao mok phae, goat biryani, at Naaz:

I'm a huge fan of Thai-Muslim food, but this unusual and delicious biryani is probably closer to the dish's Middle Eastern origins than anything found in Thailand.

The khao man kai, Hainanese chicken rice, at Boon Tong Kiat:

Fragrant, perfectly cooked rice and impossibly tender steamed chicken combine to form this nearly perfect one-dish meal.

Khanom tup tap during the annual vegetarian festival:

This peanut based snack is fleetingly available year round in some bakeries in Chinatown, but is at its peak when warm and freshly pounded.

Laap plaa duk at Nong Khai:

Served with freshwater snails and phak khayaeng, a hard-to-find fresh herb, this 'salad' of grilled catfish is equal parts obscure and tasty.

The oxtail soup and khao mok plaa, fish biryani, at Yusup:

This Thai-Muslim place north of Bangkok is probably the closest thing to my favourite all-around restaurant in Bangkok. Their unusual fish biryani is fragrantly spicy and the oxtail soup is a satisfying combination of tartness and richness.

The phat see iw at Nay Lao:

Yet another smokey noodle dish, this one benefits from the addition of my favourite veggie and tender marinated pork.

Mee krob at Chote Chitr:

This restaurant gets heaps of press, not all of it justifiable, but the crispy noodles, aromatic with the addition of som saa, a type of citrus, are always delicious.

The yen ta fo at Coke Chuan Chim:

The guy who runs this popular noodle stall is Bangkok's equivalent of the Soup Nazi, but it's worth the fuss.

The kaeng karee plaa, fish curry, at Roti Mataba:

I have to admit that it isn't probably as good as it used to be, but I still have a soft spot for the hearty tartness of this Thai-Muslim curry.

Coming soon

This certainly isn't breaking news at this point, but David Thompson, the Michelin-starred chef of London's nahm, is opening an outlet here in Bangkok. The restaurant, also set to be called nahm, will be located in the Metropolitan Hotel, and is expected to open near the end of the month.

I've been to a couple test run dinners over the last few weeks and on both occasions was thoroughly blown away. The dinner pictured above was probably the best Thai meal I've had in years. Some of the more interesting dishes included a lemongrass salad of prawns, squid and pork with toasted coconut, a dish I first encountered with David in Singburi; cured fish and pork simmered in coconut cream; and pictured front-centre, a wonderfully spicy jungle curry of minced catfish with basil, green peppercorns, shredded white turmeric and grachai. In fact, I've been genuinely surprised (and equally delighted) by just how full-flavoured and spicy some of the dishes have been. David's also been experimenting with some more rustic, full-flavoured dishes such as sai ua, the northern-style grilled sausage, perhaps suggesting something of a departure from the refined Thai cuisine he's normally associated with.

Stay tuned for more details...

Lam Duan Fah Ham

Still hot on the Bangkok khao soi trail, I recently decided to go back to a vendor that I've long felt does the best khao soi in Bangkok. Lam Duan Fah Ham is the only Bangkok branch of the similarly-named, longstanding Chiang Mai institution. The original restaurant, located in Chiang Mai's Fah Ham area, serves what's arguably the best bowl in town, and the people who run it even claim to have 'invented' khao soi.

Dubious origin myths aside, the Bangkok branch of Lam Duan Fah Ham maintains the quality of the original, and is arguably the best bowl in Bangkok. The only real fault here is location: the restaurant is located in extreme northern Bangkok, not far from the former airport. Because of this, I hadn't been back here in at least a year, and upon arriving and receiving my bowl of beef khao soi (pictured above) felt a twinge of disappointment: the broth at Lam Duan Fah Ham can appear deceptively thin, almost watery. But a taste revealed that it's actually quite rich, with virtually zero bland/sweet coconut milk cloyingness and more dried spice complexity than any other bowl I've encountered in Bangkok. The noodles and condiments are of pretty good quality, and the serving size is also authentically northern (i.e. one bowl is never enough, two is more than enough).

Also laudable is the restaurant's khanom jeen nam ngiaw:

Although not quite as meaty and rich as the bowl at Kuaytiaw 12 Panna, the broth here is tart and spicy, with hearty chunks of both pork and tomato.

Lam Duan Fah Ham also serve a few non noodle-based northern Thai dishes.

Lam Duan Fah Ham Soi 58, Thanon Vibhavadi Rangsit 8.30am-3pm (closed last Sun of the month) 02 579 6403

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Pheng Phochana

Pheng Phochana, a longstanding restaurant in the Suan Luang Market area behind Chulalongkorn University, is quite possibly Bangkok's most popular destination for kuaytiaw khua kai, rice noodles fried with chicken and egg:

This doesn't necessarily mean it's the best bowl in town, but there are a couple things that make the dish unique here. Firstly, the noodles are positively encouraged to ignite and flame during the frying process:

providing the dish with an intensely smokey flavour and scent. But, as my dining companion pointed out, because they're using palm oil this singeing also provides the dish with an unpleasant, almost petrol-like aftertaste. This is in stark contrast to the vendor at Nay Hong, where the choice of fat (pork fat, in this case), provides the dish with a savoury, meaty depth. And rather than scrambling the eggs with the noodles as is done elsewhere, at Pheng Phochana the eggs are saved for last and are wrapped around the noodles in the form of a thin omelet. Another unusual aspect of the dish is that it's garnished with tiny pa thong ko, deep-fried bits of dough. This provides the dish with pleasant crunchy element that's otherwise lacking. And lastly, they do a couple unique spins on the dish including kuaytiaw khua thaleh, a seafood version, and kuaytiaw khua tharo, in which the protein element is Taro, the popular squid-flavoured fish snack.

Pheng Phochana Cnr Soi Soi Chulalongkorn 20 & 5 081 899 2173 3-11pm

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Lamyai

It figures that, just as soon as I mention in a public forum that khao soi in Bangkok is rare and generally not very good, I'm told of a tasty and conveniently-located vendor.

Lamyai, about which I was told by my buddy R, is a lunchtime open-air stall that serves khao soi and kuaytiaw muu tun (noodles with braised pork) just off Thanon Lang Suan in central Bangkok:

Arriving recently with Andy Ricker, chef/owner of Portland, Oregon's Pok Pok and accredited khao soi assessor, it was soon clear to us that, for Bangkok at least, this is a khao soi worth seeking out. Served with chicken, pork or beef (the latter of which is pictured above), we both found the broth satisfyingly rich and hearty, although Andy pointed out that it lacks the dried spice complexity of a truly great bowl. Lamyai appears to make for this in volume and good quality noodles and condiments, and I reckon you'd be hard-pressed to find a bowl of khao soi this solid anywhere in central Bangkok.

Lamyai Soi 6, Thanon Lang Suan 9am-2pm Mon-Fri

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Pantip's khao soi

Khao soi, a northern-style curry noodle dish, is quite possibly the Thai dish that I get the most inquiries about. Foreigners in particular seem to love it, and understandably; with khao soi you've got meaty, rich, oily spicy, crunchy, soft, salty and sour all in one bowl. Unfortunately, given its northern origins, khao soi is relatively hard to come by in Bangkok, and I suspect that Pantip, the IT mall in central Bangkok, was for a long time one of the handful of places here where the dish was available. People had been mentioning this vendor's khao soi to me for years, but I'd never investigated until today.

The khao soi is served from a stall at Pantip's nondescript food court, and despite all the signs indicating otherwise -- pre-cooked noodles, scant and ragged-looking condiments, not to mention the fact that you're dining in what is probably the most unpleasant shopping centre in Bangkok (your noodles are accompanied by a constant and irritating soundtrack of vendors hissing 'DVD sex? DVD sex?') -- I have to admit that I found the Pantip food court's khao soi OK. Don't get me wrong, it certainly isn't amazing; the broth lacks the dried spice complexity of a solid northern-style bowl of khao soi, and was served with huge chicken thighs, which basically overwhelmed the dish. But it was spicy and even somewhat rich, unlike the bland and gloopy bowls one normally encounters in Bangkok. It's definitely not worth going out of your way for, but if you find yourself at Pantip, buy a bowl.

Pantip's khao soi 3rd fl, Pantip Plaza, Th Phetchaburi, Bangkok 9am-9pm

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Suga

First of all, allow me to apologise for not having blogged for such a long time. I had back surgery in early July and since then have been recovering, admittedly with enough time to blog, but unfortunately little in the way of content or desire. I’m more or less mobile now and am ready to jump...er carefully lower myself back into blogging again.

Before white sugar crystals became ubiquitous, Thais generally sweetened their food with sugar made from the sap of the sugar palm or coconut tree. I had a general idea of what was involved with making this type of sugar but had never witnessed it being produced firsthand, so I jumped at the chance when invited to go on a sugar run with Dylan and Bo of Bangkok's best upscale Thai restaurant, Bo.lan. With the help of a Thai academic, they were able to source a producer of coconut sugar in Samut Songkhram, about two hours from Bangkok. The sugar, which they use in their restaurant (and which can also be purchased there), is produced traditionally and naturally, and isn’t adulterated with white sugar, as is allegedly often the case these days.

The process begins by tapping the young flowering buds of the coconut tree. The woman pictured at the top of this post (who, incidentally, is in her 50s) does this by climbing a tree, armed with a machete and a few long can-like tubes slung over her shoulder:

She shaves the tip off a fruiting bud and after the sap begins to flow, hangs the tube below it to collect the liquid. Depending on how much the trees are producing, it can take a few hours to fill the tube, which also contains wood chips that naturally prevent the sap from fermenting. We were offered some of the freshly gathered sap and it was watery  and sweet, and had a slightly musty, yeast-like odour. The sap is gathered twice a day, and if the trees are neglected for too long, the buds will flower instead, eventually resulting in coconuts.

After all the cans are collected (they have more than 100 trees), the sap is filtered through a cloth into large woks positioned above a long stove:

A fire is lit, which in a tidy cycle is fueled by sugar palm leaves, and the sap is left to boil for about an hour until its volume has been reduced by approximately two-thirds. The constantly evaporating water carries the yeasty odour of the sap, making the work area smell not unlike a brewery.

After about an hour and a half the once watery sap had stopped foaming and had changed in form to a simmering liquid the consistency and colour of a dark syrup. It was poured into another nearby wok where, using a special tool, it was stirred and eventually whipped for about five minutes:

According to Dylan, this process introduces air into the sap, effectively crystallising the sugar and providing it with a pale colour and a slightly gritty paste-like texture.

The sugar is then scraped into small metal bowls or a large metal tin known as a peep (a colloquial Thai name for this type of sugar is nam taan peep, 'tin sugar') where it’s allowed to cool and solidify even more. If kept relatively cool, the sugar will maintain its solid state, otherwise it will gradually melt back into a thick syrup. The final product has an attractive blond colour and a fragrant smell, and is not overwhelmingly sweet, with a savoury and even slightly salty flavour:

Both the sugar and excellent Thai food are available at Bo.lan.

Bo.lan 42 Soi Phichai Ronnarong, Soi 26, Th Sukhumvit, Bangkok 02 260 2962 www.bolan.co.th 6.30pm-midnight Tues-Sun

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Sawang

Sawang is a decades-old bamee (wheat and egg noodles) joint virtually across the street from Bangkok's Hualamphong Train Station. It's easily located by its overabundance of florescent green lighting and the aged and rather grumpy owner who sits in a chair out front. Some aged promotional material inside desribes Sawang as "The most expensive bamee in Thailand." Yet despite these ominous attributes, it's now my favourite place in town to eat the dish.

Discovering Sawang -- it was a tip-off from Jarrett -- was well timed. Over the last few months I've been in something of a restaurant rut here in Bangkok. I've been making the effort to try places new to me, but most of those that I've been directed to have been mediocre, or worse. Sawang has the benefit of being both good and close to my home.

Several things about bamee stand out here. The roast pork is fatty and bacon-like and worlds away from the limp, lean, red-painted stuff you find at the vast majority of Bangkok's bamee restaurants and stalls. The noodles are toothsome and tasty and lack the disturbing whiff of ammonia that lesser restaurants use as a leavening agent. And unlike most bamee places which tend to separate their liquids, the broth at Sawang is essentially the same water used to boil the noodles:

thus its cloudy appearance (see pic below). It's also worth mentioning that they're fairly liberal with the MSG here; on my first visit a thumb-wide trail of the white crystals ran down the side of my bowl.

The kiaw (wontons) here are simply shrimp encased in a thin dough wrapper:

They're simple and tasty, but I prefer the heartier version at Mankorn Khao, in which the shrimp are surrounded by minced pork that's been blended with an intense mixture of coriander root, garlic and white pepper. The bowl above was served with generous chunks of fresh crab claw meat, and at 100B (about US$3), is one of the more expensive around.

Sawang 336/3-4Thanon Phra Ram IV 02 236 1772 5-11pm Tues-Sun

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Point and shoot

I've recently had the urge to buy a point-and-shoot digital camera. There are times, particularly when doing food-related pics or schlepping around places doing guidebook research that I'd rather have a camera that I can carry with one hand or simply stuff in my pocket. I've also been influenced by this article by Peter Hessler, in which he explains how a small digital camera proved helpful in the writing his excellent new book, Country Driving. In the piece he describes how looking at digital snapshots, sometimes several years after they were taken, helped to remind him of details he'd forgotten and contributed to the quality and accuracy of his writing.

I've played around with using my iPhone, but its images (an example of which, taken recently in Melbourne, Australia, is shown above) just don't cut it. Any recs? Ideally I want something with a fast lens (f/2) and at least some degree of manual control. I was initially drawn to Leica's digital point-and-shoots, largely because I've long wanted to own something with the Leica logo, but they're expensive and generally don't get very strong reviews. The Canon PowerShot S90 seems to get high ratings and is affordable. And apparently a particular model of Ricoh has garnered substantial praise from those who do lots of food-related photography.

Jay So

Jay So originally comes from Yasothon, if I remember correctly, and opened her eponymous northeastern Thai restaurant in Bangkok's Silom area more than a decade ago.  She's cheeky and boisterous, and eating at her place, with the smell of plaa raa (fermented fish) and the sound of the northeastern Thai dialect being spoken, is probably not unlike eating at restaurant in her home province. I've been eating here for years, and despite not having been back in a long while, she still somehow remembered that I like my som tam without sugar.

Jay So's dishes run the standard Isan (northeastern) repertoire, and with one exception, are solid, but not amazing. Of course she does several types of som tam (papaya salad), including som tam lao:

Lao-style som tam, made with fermented fish, salted crab, crispy eggplant and dried chilies. We also ordered som tam khai khem, a Thai-style som tam (ie made bottled fish sauce and including peanuts and dried ship) with salted egg:

There's kai yaang:

grilled chicken, which is really just OK, and a not-so-subtle tom saep, a spicy/sour broth of pork bones:

But the real reason to eat at Jay So's is the plaa duk yaang, grilled catfish:

It's not the most photogenic dish in the world, but you'll have to take my word for it. Before grilling, Jay So stuffs the necks of the fish with a coarse paste of lemongrass, garlic and salt, providing them a delicious herbal flavour. The skin is crispy and lightly seasoned as well, and on a good day, the meat is just a touch dry, like I prefer it.

So although Jay So's standard menu and occasionally heavy-handed seasoning may fall short of an exceptional Isaan eating experience, it's a welcoming and chaotically cozy place, and there's always the catfish.

Jay So 146/1 Soi Phiphat 2 085 999 4225 10am-5.30pm Mon-Sat

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