JRART

Via Appetite.

Summertime

You know it's summer when they set up the floating som tam stalls on just about every river in northern Thailand.

Songkran, the Thai New Year, is around the corner, and because I'd rather not have dirty water thrown at me by a drunk teenager, tomorrow I'm escaping to the hopefully more sedate streets Chiang Tung/Kyaingtong/Keng Tung Myanmar. Am looking forward to this, as I haven't been back in several years and am particularly interested in investigating the eats of the various Tai groups there.

Laap country

Well, not exactly. If you want to get all technical, Phrae is generally regarded as the spiritual homeland of the northern-style version of laap. But neighbouring Nan has a pretty good laap scene as well, as I learned on a recent visit.

My first experience in Nan-style laap was at Pu Som, a dark restaurant decked out with Cowboys and Indians paraphernalia. Fittingly, the emphasis here is on meat, specifically beef.

Pu Som's laap khua neua, cooked beef laap (illustrated above), is predominately beefy, emphasising meat over spice or heat. It's also slightly wet in texture and just slightly bitter, due to the addition of beef bile. Like all versions of the dish, it's topped with deep-fried crispy garlic and a mix of chopped coriander and green onion.

The dish in the middle of the pic is nam phrik khaa, a dip made from shredded galangal that usually accompanies neua neung, a northern Thai dish of coarse cuts of beef steamed over herbs. Dry, pungently herbal and spicy, Pu Som's is one of the best versions of the dish I've encountered. I'd be more than happy with just this tiny bowl and a basket of sticky rice.

Just around the corner from Wat Phumin - my favourite temple in Thailand - is what is allegedly many Nan residents' favourite place for local-style laap, Laap Khue Wiang.

Here I ordered the pork version, laap muu khua:

The first thing I noticed  here was that the spice mixture is quite coarse, as were the cuts of meat, which include bits of crispy deep-fried intestines and liver, as well as lots of fatty skin. The dish was well-seasoned, with an emphasis on the spices, and was both crunchy and chewy.

In talking to the woman preparing the dish, I learned that, rather than simply employing different proteins, beef and pork laap are essentially quite different dishes. She explained that she uses an entirely different spice mixture for the pork version, one that uses a variety of spices including not only the usual suspects makhwaen and deeplee, but cinnamon and coriander seed, among others. I had a whiff and it had a complex, almost sweet scent. Unlike other vendors, she doesn't use blood in her pork laap as she doesn't like the dark colour it gives the dish. She then went on to explain that her beef version includes a very simple spice mixture that includes only makhwaen, deeplee and chili, and the dish is darkened with blood and bittered with bile.

Pu Som Th Mano, Nan 081 675 3795 11am-midnight

Laap Kheu Wiang 14/3 Th Robmueang Thittai, Nan 054 77 2092 9am-9pm

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Khao soi nam naa

I'm currently on the road in northern Thailand doing research for Lonely Planet's Thailand guide. I’d love to blog on the food up here as often as I did during my previous tour of duty back in 2009, but am really pressed for time and will most likely have to keep it to a handful of standout dishes and restaurants.

Alerted by EatingAsia as to the presence of a previously unknown noodle dish in Chiang Khong, I kept my eyes peeled while recently in the riverside town.

While most Thais associate khao soi with squiggly egg noodles and a curry broth, the residents of Chiang Khong have an altogether different idea of the dish. Referred to locally as khao soi nam naa, the dish combines rice noodles served with a clear pork broth, the whole lot topped with a dollop of a thick tomato and minced pork mixture. This dish has become so synonymous with khao soi in Chiang Khong that the other version is called khao soi kathi, 'khao soi with coconut milk'.

Following EatingAsia’s lead, I sought out a stall selling the dish in one of the town's side streets. Upon seeing it, I realised that I’d actually encountered khao soi nam naa (or something very similar to it) previously, in Mae Hong Son, Laos and Myanmar. In Mae Hong Son and Myanmar, I seem to recall that the noodles took the form of round toothsome strands possibly made from tapioca flour, but here the dish was served with a flat rice noodle. The minced pork itself was dry and almost crumbly, and was held together by the paste-like mixture of chili, tomatoes and other spices and herbs. The dish was salty even for my taste, but otherwise was balanced and tasty.

A couple streets over at a flashier restaurant, Pa Orn continues to make and sell khao soi nam naa as her mother did more than 40 years ago:

She claims that her mother, an ethnic Dai/Tai from Xishuanbanna, southern China, brought the recipe from her homeland,  suggesting in my mind a pan-Tai link for this dish.

Served in huge bowls, I really enjoyed Pa Orn's version of the dish, particularly because it was served with a side of some of my favourite veggies. Again, the minced pork was almost dry and crumbly, but was held together by a similar red sauce, which in this case was less tomatoey and salty, but spicier than the previous bowl. Like the previous one, the dish was served with a spicy/salty condiment that was very similar in form and taste to the thick red chili paste one finds at Korean restaurants.

Pa Orn also does some more standard northern Thai dishes, including a meaty khao kan jin, rice steamed with blood:

Pa Orn Soi 6, Chiang Khong 8am-4pm

Khao soi nam naa vendor Soi 8, Chiang Khong Breakfast & lunch

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Ped Tun Jao Thaa

Thanks to my friend N (email tagline: 'story teller'), I was recently introduced to a pretty cool restaurant in yet another obscure part of Bangkok.

Pet Tun Jao Thaa is a tiny restaurant located opposite the Harbour Department (the Jao Thaa) on Thanon Songwat, the ancient riverside lane in Bangkok's Talat Noi neighbourhood.

The reason most people come here is for the eponymous duck, braised in Chinese spices and served with a spicy/sour dipping sauce. It's good (more on that in a minute), but I have to say that my favourite dish of the meal was quite possibly mee phat krachet, thin rice noodles fried with krachet, an indigenous herb-like vegetable (illustrated above). Supplemented with seafood and pork, the noodles were well seasoned - think garlic, lots of garlic, and chili - and very tasty, although I could have used a bit more krachet.

Instead of duck, we went for haan phalo,  goose braised in Chinese spices:

The slices of goose breast are served on a platter along with cubes of blood and par-boiled kailan, and the whole lot is slathered with the braising liquid and lots of deep-fried garlic. The goose is tender and flavourful and the phalo is rich and has a meaty depth - a stark contrast to the sweet cinnamon-flavoured sauce that defines many versions of this dish.

Despite this being a duck restaurant, the only duck dish we ordered was kuaytiaw pet, duck noodles, which were quite frankly the least interesting dish of the meal:

They weren't bad, and the duck was tender and tasty, but as a whole the dish was underseasoned and simply not as wow as the other two.

Ped Tun Jao Thaa Opposite Harbour Department office, Soi Wanit 2, Bangkok 7am-5pm Mon-Sat

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Pa Aew

I'm currently updating two Bangkok guidebooks, something which gives me the opportunity to spend time in the parts of town I wouldn't normally visit.

Ko Ratanakosin, the artificial island from which Bangkok sprung, is one of the more atmospheric parts of town. Unfortunately, dominated by Buddhist temples and royal palaces, the area has relatively few restaurants. If you need culinary incentive to visit, there's always Pa Aew, a longstanding street stall near Wat Pho.

The older couple here do exactly the kind of rich, oily, spicy central Thai food I love. Just about everything here's fried, but fried with care. Unsurprisingly, the dishes are somewhat oily, but oily in a rich way and not necessarily greasy.

There's almost always kung thawt krathiam, large shrimp deep-fried with garlic (shown in the centre of the pic above), and quite a few other seafood-based dishes. On my most recent visit I had phat phrik khing, a thick curry-like stir-fry with a spicy/sweet chili paste, fish and long beans, and phat chaa look chin plaa, a stir fry of  herbs and fish dumplings:

Both were rich, spicy, oily and tasty. Highly recommended.

Pa Aew near cnr of Th Maha Rat & Th Pratu Nok Yung (in front of Krung Thai Bank), Bangkok 9am-6pm

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Khao mok @ Thewet

I thought I was done with khao mok (biryani), but recently while in the Thewet area I encountered a couple more places selling the dish.

Suwim is a proper shophouse restaurant that sells a very standard Bangkok-style take on khao mok kai (shown above): rice with very little dried spice flavour served with an exceedingly sweet dipping sauce.

Although inoffensive, it's not really worth seeking out.

Better yet, go around the corner to Ran Khao Mok Kai Lek, which although it's located on the street, serves a more interesting version:

The rice, which they claim to cook using an old recipe, is slightly moist, with a subtle dried spice flavour. I chose to go with deep-fried chicken, which was crispy and tasty, if a bit dry. If you visit at lunch, you can expect a line here; the tart chicken and beef soup are as popular as the khao mok.

Khao Mok Kai Suwim cnr Th Sam Sen & Th Krung Kasem Breakfast & lunch

Ran Khao Mok Kai Lek Th Krung Kasem Breakfast & lunch

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Muslim Restaurant

I first mentioned Muslim Restaurant back in 2006. I recall having enjoyed it at the time, but in the one or two times I'd been back since then, wasn't blown away by the food and eventually neglected the place altogether.

Recently a friend mentioned the restaurant, and I decided to give it another try. I was curious to see if things had changed and ordered quite a few dishes. There was khao mok phae, goat biryani (pictured above), the 'special' version of which served on Mondays and Fridays comes with a side of yogurt and an eggplant curry; sup haang wua, oxtail soup, which although not as tart as elsewhere, was meaty and oniony; a tasty chicken mataba; and a sweet but rich and complex kaeng matsaman kai, Massaman curry with chicken.

In addition to the above, they also do quite a few prepared curries, a couple deep-fried snacks (including good but greasy samosas), tea and coffee served with goat milk, and Indian/Middle-Eastern sweets. If this isn't enough, you can always order extra yellow rice, which for reasons unknown to me is called khao burii ('cigarette rice').

I'm glad I made it back, as I really enjoyed just about everything at Muslim Restaurant, particularly the biryani, which although not as perfect as the version served at nearby Naaz, is worth seeking out.

Muslim Restaurant 1354-56 Th Charoen Krung, Bangkok 02 234 1876 6.30am-5.30pm

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Aisa Rot Dee

Hot on the trail of a better khao mok (biryani), I recently dropped by Aisa Rot Dee, a longstanding restaurant in Bangkok's Banglamphu neighbourhood.  I'd eaten here a couple times previously and was never blown away by the quality of the food, but with khao mok on my mind, felt compelled to return.

Unfortunately, little has changed -- at least from my perspective.

Tucked off the eastern end of Th Tani, Aisa takes the form of a Thai-Muslim food court:

serving the spectrum of classic Thai-Muslim dishes: satay, kuaytiaw kaeng and mataba:

the beef version of which was tasty and well done, and came with an interesting sweet/sour dipping sauce that, unusually, included slivers of ginger.

The khao mok kai (illustrated at the top of this post), though, lacked the dried spice complexity and richness of a truly stellar version. I liked the sweet/vinegary dipping sauce, though.

Aisa Rot Dee Th Tani, Bangkok 9am-11pm

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nahm

Coconut and turmeric curry of blue swimmer crab with southern limes. Image courtesy of nahm.

I've mentioned nahm, David Thompson's new Thai restaurant in the Metropolitan Hotel, here previously, but have yet to go into too much detail about my experiences eating there. This was mostly because being friends with David and having eaten there several times gratis, I wasn't entirely convinced that I'd had an objective dining experience. However, after my most recent meal, I've eaten there at least eight times -- both for free and paying, both when David's been there and when he's been away -- and feel I can express my opinions about the restaurant's food in an unbiased manner.

Not that there are going to be any real surprises -- I've mentioned my fondness for nahm a few times in this blog and this has yet to change. In fact, the restaurant seemingly gets better every time I eat there, and at this point I reckon that Thompson and team are producing what must be some of the best Thai food anywhere.

For starters, I can't imagine another Thai restaurant where one is going to find such an evocative and unusual menu. I arrived early for my most recent dinner and enjoyed simply passing the time by reading the descriptions: Blue swimmer crab, peanuts and pickled garlic on rice cakes; Salad of grilled chicken with chilli jam; Cucumber salad with crunchy minced prawn floss and green mango; Braised lobster with sugar cane.

It can be somewhat overwhelming, even if you are familiar with Thai food. But after so many meals at nahm, I've been able to round it down to a handful of personal faves: Cured 'hiramasa' kingfish salad with chillies, lime and mint is a deliciously spicy and tart yam-like dish -- my mouth puckers in thinking about it now; Green peppercorn relish with shrimp paste, chillies and pork with salted prawns and fresh vegetables is rich and oily and packs a slow, satisfying burn; and possibly my all-time nahm favourite, Thompson's twist on an old kaeng tai plaa recipe, Smoked fish curry with prawns, chicken livers, cockles and black pepper. The latter is intense, but with the heat of black pepper, not the burn of chilies, and comes with a plate of cooling (and beautifully arranged) fruit and vegetables and ajaat, a Thai/Muslim sweet/sour dressing. In the same genre, the Mussaman curry of 'royal project' chicken with onions and golden yams is one of best versions of this dish I've encountered; it's sweet -- as it should be -- but is given additional depth by the presence of more dried spices than most Thai cooks would use, in particular, a fragrant cardamom. The stir-fries at nahm are wonderfully smokey, and I really enjoy the Spicy stir-fried frog with chillies, turmeric, holy basil and cumin leaves, a dish that, according to Thompson, employs three kinds of fresh chilies. As my dining companion last night pointed out, it's amazing how the dishes at nahm combine so many ingredients but come together as a seamless whole. This, I believe, is one of the unwritten aspirations of Thai cuisine, but one that's rarely met.

Another thing I appreciate about the menu at nahm is that, unlike a lot of fine dining, the emphasis is not on exotic cuts of meat, but rather, most dishes revolve around herbs, veggies and seafood. I always end up eating far more than I should at nahm, but it still feels like a healthy and balanced dining experience.

Admittedly, the food is expensive, particularly by Thai standards. But 1500B (approximately US$50) is not a great deal to pay for a set meal at a fine dining restaurant. And knowing firsthand the amount of research, trial and error and effort that goes into these dishes, I don't find it particularly exorbitant. Regardless, there's no real alternative to nahm, and if you're not willing to or can't afford to pay, you're simply not going to find dishes like this anywhere else.

So in the wake of all the controversy surrounding Thompson and nahm, much of which seems to have been forgotten by now, we're left with an excellent restaurant. This is welcome news, because now we can simply focus on the food.

Metropolitan Hotel 27 Th Sathon Tai, Bangkok 02 625 3333 Dinner only

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Sara

I love Thai-Muslim food and am always on the lookout for a better khao mok (biryani). This dish isn't too hard to find in Bangkok, but most of the time it's little more than rice made yellow by the addition of turmeric, and accompanied by a joint of stringy chicken and stock-cube broth. The versions of the dish that I do like - namely those served at Naaz and Yusup - involve a dried spice mixture that goes much deeper than simply turmeric, alternative meats (beef, goat, fish, mutton) and even surprises such as raisins and nuts.

I became aware of Sara about a year ago, via a review in the Bangkok Post.  Since this review, the restaurant has moved into the adjacent Nouvo City Hotel, but still continues to serve a short but interesting menu spanning a couple appetizer, main and dessert courses for each of the restaurant's three cuisines: Thai, Indian and European. Sara once won a prize for the city's best phat Thai - despite the fact that the kitchen is halal and most of the staff are Muslim.

But I was here for the khao mok.

At 280B (about $9) it's expensive, at least as far as khao mok is concerned, but is one of the better versions I've encountered lately. The rice was perfectly cooked and fragrant, although I thought it lacked the richness of my two fave biryanis. I ordered khao mok phae, goat biryani, and the meat was fall-apart tender and quite rich. Unusually, at least compared to Thai-style khao mok, the dish wasn't served with the usual sweet/sour dipping sauce or a bowl of stock, but rather, was accompanied by a tart but delicious and seemingly homemade mango pickle and raita, cucumber and yogurt salad.

Not bad, but I'm still on the lookout...

Sara Ground fl, Nouvo City Hotel 2 Soi 2, Th Samsen, Bangkok 02 282 7500 6am-10pm

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Whole porker ancient sutra

There are so many examples of wacky English here in Thailand that I generally don't even notice them any more. But occasionally one stumbles upon a gem.

What's actually being advertised here is old-fashioned grilled pork. To us, the Sanskrit-origin word sutra - in Thai สูตร - may have connotations of Hindu literature, but to the Thais it has come to mean recipe or more broadly, formula.

Porker, on the other hand, is universal.

Khao phat Amerikan

No, the above certainly doesn't look like Thai food, so let me begin with a bit of background info. from the current edition of Lonely Planet's Thailand guide:

(Con)fusion Cuisine A popular dish at restaurants across Thailand is khao phat Amerikan, 'American fried rice'. Taking the form of rice fried with ketchup, raisins and peas, sides of ham and deep-fried hot dogs, and topped with a fried egg, the dish is, well, every bit as revolting as it sounds. But at least there's an interesting history behind it: American fried rice dates back to the Vietnam War era, when thousands of US troops were based in northeastern Thailand. A local cook allegedly decided to take the ubiquitous 'American Breakfast' (also known as ABF: fried eggs with ham and/or hot dogs, and white bread, typically eaten with ketchup) and make it 'Thai' by frying the various elements with rice.

This culinary cross-pollination is only a recent example of the tendency of Thai cooks to pick and choose from the variety of cuisines at their disposal. Other (significantly more palatable) examples include kaeng matsaman, 'Muslim curry', a now classic blend of Thai and Middle Eastern cooking styles, and the famous phat Thai, essentially a blend of Chinese cooking methods and ingredients (frying, rice noodles, tofu) with Thai flavours (fish sauce, chilli, tamarind).

Despite having committed these rather derogatory opinions to print, I have to admit that I quite enjoyed the khao phat American (illustrated above) as served at New Light Coffee House, a vintage diner in central Bangkok. Yes, the rice had been fried in ketchup and was indeed served with a side of raisins (hidden under the egg), but the entire package wasn't overwhelmingly sweet, and unusually, also came served with a generous piece of roasted chicken (also partially concealed). I liked the sunny-side-up egg but didn't touch the ham, and in an effort to keep it as Thai as possible given the circumstances, opted to season it with Maggi, not ketchup.

New Light Coffee House 426/1-4 Siam Sq, Bangkok 02 251 9592 11am-2pm & 6-10pm

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Help me!

My day job is doing guidebooks for Lonely Planet. I've contributed text and/or photos to more than 15 books at this point and am currently at work updating Thailand, Bangkok Encounter and Thailand's Islands & Beaches.

Recently, after spending some time on Lonely Planet's Thorn Tree travel forum, I got the impression that some people perceive the process of writing guidebooks as something of a solitary endeavour, done with little input from readers or locals. I sympathise with this to a certain extent and began to wonder how I could go about getting more of readers' opinions on their favourite sights, restaurants, hotels, etc., for the destinations I'm writing about. It was at about this same time that I started using Twitter, and it struck me that the application has immense potential as a tool to uncover exactly this sort of information. So, starting today, I'll be Tweeting travel- and destination-related questions and queries on a daily basis and would really appreciate your help. If you'd like to pitch in, follow me on Twitter (@austinbushphoto), where my Lonely Planet-related posts will bear the official Lonely Planet hashtag, #lp, supplemented with the name of the destination I'm working on (e.g. #lpbkk, #lpchiangrai).

Thanks!

Guides

I recently came across two new food-centric guides to Bangkok that are worth sharing.

The most recent release, Bangkok's Top 50 Street Food Stalls, is written by Chawadee Nualkhair, who also authors the blog Bangkok Glutton (an interview with the author can be seen here). The book's name is something of a misnomer, as more than half the places mentioned aren't stalls at all, but rather are shophouse-bound restaurants. The guide generally appears to be directed toward first-time visitors to Bangkok and/or cautious eaters, as many of the restaurants and stalls mentioned are the sort of 'safe' places that have long been profiled in the English-language media, and perhaps more tellingly, each entry includes a line on restrooms (sample: "squat toilet. bring your own toilet paper."). Correspondingly, the book has some good background information on Thai food for those not necessarily familiar with the cuisine (there's a particularly helpful illustrated section on Thai noodles), and I quite like the general aesthetic of the book, which emphasises lots of photos and illustrations. If you're a first-time visitor to Bangkok and are wary about eating off the beaten track (or of finding yourself in a restaurant without a bathroom), this is the guide for you. Available online or at Orchid Books.

Rather than a book, Famuluous Eateries Bangkok takes the form of 52 cards profiling everything from street stalls to restaurants. The English can be pretty bizarre (sample: "You will forget about the waiter's attitude, once you put the chicken your watering mouth..."), but the authors seemingly made an effort to go past the usual foreigner-frequented suspects, delving into many lesser-known stalls and restaurants, many located in Bangkok's suburbs. There's lots of Thai, accurate map and transport information, and I like the idea of sticking a single card in one's wallet, as opposed to lugging around an entire guidebook. If you've lived in Bangkok for a while and want to expand your culinary horizons, this is the guide for you. Available at Kinokuniya.

The Foodie

***As of 2015 this restaurant has closed. AB***

People often ask me for my favourite restaurant in Bangkok. I'm never quite sure how to reply to this, as frankly, there are lots of places that do a particular dish very well but very few restaurants excel at everything. The closest I've come to the an all-around outstanding restaurant would most likely be nahm, but it's expensive and most appropriate for a special dinner or splurge.

The Foodie is certainly not my favourite Thai restaurant in Bangkok, but after about six or so visits, it's proved to be all-around consistently tasty. The restaurant's been around for a while (previously in a former location) and specialises in somewhat unusual dishes of southern and central Thai origin that you're not going to find elsewhere.

On my most recent visit we ate (starting at approximately 12 o'clock on the image above and moving clockwise) Prik king pla dook foo, catfish fried in a curry paste mixture until crispy; Kaeng liang goong sod, a peppery, herbal soup with shrimp, mushrooms and pumpkin; Yam som o, a 'salad' of pomelo with a spicy/sour dressing; and Ma-ra pad goong-sab, a stir-fry of bitter gourd and minced shrimp with lots of garlic. The Yam som o is the standout, and has the right combination of sweet and spicy, not to mention lots of crunchy dried fish and deep-fried shallots.

The Foodie 150 Soi Phiphat 2, Bangkok 02 231 5278 11am-11pm Mon-Sat

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Tang Meng Noodle

Despite its English-language name, I suspect that most people know Tang Meng Noodle (Thai name: Khao Man Kai Tang Meng) for its khao man kai (Hainanese chicken rice). That's why I first went, when taken there several months ago by C and S, friend/owners of nearby WTF. On that visit, I found the khao man kai to be decent, but a subsequent visit revealed that the real surprise here is in fact the noodles.

This tiny longstanding place specialises in the type of Chinese-influenced noodles popular in Bangkok and central Thailand. The yen ta fo (pictured above) has a slightly sweet and tart broth that holds the usual assortment of noodles, fish balls and veggies, as well as lots of crunchy  bits, ranging from deep-fried tofu to fish skin. I don't think it's quite as good as the bowl served at my local joint, but it's one of the better ones I've encountered.

They also do a couple takes on bamee, wheat and egg noodles. You can go with the traditional version, which takes the form of thin round noodles served with roasted pork and Chinese mustard greens, or try the flat type, which come served with a seemingly random mix of just about every protein imaginable, from homemade fish balls to chunks of roast duck:

Tang Meng Noodle Near cnr Soi 49 & Th Sukhumvit, Bangkok Breakfast & lunch

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Phat Thai Soi 2

I'm back home in Bangkok and after months away, am getting into the swing of things by eating Bangkok-style food. Lunch a few days ago was yen ta fo and more recently, phat Thai.

For many people outside of Thailand, particularly those in the US, phat Thai is synonymous with Thai food. And in what must be some Americans' fantasy perception of Thailand, I live literally next door to a phat Thai restaurant. Unfortunately this isn't my own fantasy scenario -- I'd much rather live next door to a khao khluk kapi restaurant -- but the phat Thai at this no-name shop near Th Silom is better than most.

The noodles are slightly undercooked, as they should be, the dish is relatively well-seasoned with lots of egg and tofu, and comes served with good quality sides. My only gripe would be with the immense serving size, which if you ask me, is practically American.

Phat Thai Soi 2 Off Soi 2, Thanon Sala Daeng, Bangkok 10am-2pm Mon-Fri

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Keepin' it local

Thai Yai dishes for sale at Mae Hong Son's morning market

I’m finally back home in Bangkok, but felt compelled to do one final post on Mae Hong Son.

One of the things that impressed me the most about the food up there was its locality. The Thai Yai or Shan food in Mae Hong Son is based around a unique repertoire of ingredients, many of which are virtually unknown in Bangkok or even Chiang Mai. Items such as as sesame oil (used as a condiment, not simply as a frying fat) and chickpea flour, and as mentioned in this post, even some of the cooking methods, are things I've never encountered elsewhere in Thailand. Obviously this is due to the province's, well, location, but the twist is that in the case of a border province like Mae Hong Son, these items and techniques stem from a variety of sometimes distant sources and as a result, the cuisine resembles that of nowhere in particular.

Not only are these ingredients and cooking methods specific to the region, but in the case of the former, their origin is also very local. I reckon that of a nam phrik ong (a dip-like dish made from ground pork and tomatoes) I made one afternoon, every single ingredient, except for perhaps the salt, came from the fields around Mae Hong Song.

A rice field in Mae Hong Son

Perhaps this is not surprising for such a remote, mountainous province. But I found it interesting and suspect that it's probably the only time in my life that I've eaten truly, genuinely locally. It's also worth mentioning that eating and cooking this way never felt contrived or like any sort of compromise -- the ingredients from Mae Hong Son, in particular the garlic, shallots, turmeric and fruit, are very good -- but rather, made the experience that much more special.

The downside -- and this is the case with much regional cooking in Thailand -- is that even if you're are in Mae Hong Son, much of this food is relegated to the home. There are a handful of restaurants in town that serve local dishes, but they’re hit and miss, and the only one that really comes close to home cooking is Pa Sri Bua. Unless you know some local folks, you’re only other opportunity to taste authentic, homestyle local food is at one of the city's markets. A particularly good place to go is the town's evening market, where Paa Add sells some pretty amazing eats. Another option is the morning market, where vendors like the one pictured at the top of this post prepare a huge variety of local dishes on regular basis, while others seem to take more of a hobby-like approach and sell a couple dishes from medium-sized pots whenever they feel like it.

A vendor at Mae Hong Son's morning market

These places are to-go only, and you might miss them if you blinked, but unless you have the chance to eat at somebody's home, it's your only opportunity to eat a dish that really has no counterpart anywhere else in the world.

How to make: Khao sen ko

A little-known but delicious snack from Mae Hong Son. Take a handful of the fresh rice noodles known as khanom jeen and combine with a bit of salt, garlic oil, dried chili, a squeeze of lime and chopped green onion and cilantro.

That's it.