love, bangkok

It's the end of the year and Bangkok's a travel destination for many.

So here's some of my favourite Thai treats in the local edition of Expat Travel and Living Travel Guide.

Definitely non-exhaustive.

I've only put in the address to one of the items.

And that's because the suckling pig there is crisp and the thin fatty layers melt in your mouth.

They also have deep fried yam in an outer coating of sugar that makes for a perfect ending to dinner.

The other featured food items have multiple places where they can be found and enjoyed.

Do let me know if you'd like addresses to feast on any of these treats.

Click to read related entries for T Restaurant- famous promfret steamboat. As fresh as it gets 

and Banh Khun Mae- getting all of Thailand in a family friendly restaurant.

Looking forward to Bangkok 2013 in December! :)

bangkok's chinatown

With its small alleyways and just too many stalls. Where does one start? Last year we ventured out to Bangkok's chinatown after a long hiatus and were pleased with our kway chap find. Till we realised maybe we didn't even go to the recommended stall! Anti-climax max.

Now this time, it was a tight squeeze, a pre-empted apology for the less than stellar exterior of the restaurant but all that was unnecessary. Not since it came with a guarantee of awesome food.

Case in point: Do not judge a restaurant by its exterior.

Because you'd be missing out on this!

This was a promising start. Let me hear you say PRAWN and then if it's important to you, rolls. These morsels of deep fried goodness had crisp exteriors and ohsojuicyandyummydelish insides that held generous stuffings of prawn meat. Savoury on its own, made better with a dip into the sweet sauce that accompanied this dish.

If you want it any fresher, you are gonna have to slice it yourself. These raw fish slices simply laid onto the plate and sprinkled with white sesame bore no pungent fishy taste. Eaten together with raw pickled radish, white and red carrot strips and scallions made for a healthy treat diabolically opposite from the previous deep fried indulgence. I heard the fish skin had a good bite to it and tasted good. Of course I didn't try it. I wouldn't appreciate it for what it was worth. ;)

Peel and pop 'em prawns. No frills. Just simply boiled. And dipped into seafood sauce. There's a deep sense of satisfaction in enjoying a dish that is so simply made. :)

Goose feet. Have you tried? This brought the conversation back to dad's dear big brother. Uncle Manu who's seen me from birth, been nothing like a business partner, he was just like family. He made time to meet us every Bangkok trip till his demise. This was one of his favourites and a first I saw of dad eating it and savouring every bit of web and collagen. I wasn't adventurous enough.

Listening quietly to their reminiscing of Uncle Manu and his culinary palates, I took a serving of the egg noodles. And found that these were packed with flavour and no strong taste of red meat. It might be the stewing process in the metal pot that has infused all the flavour from the gravy into the noodles and the ginger slices that has done its job well. This was good. Very good indeed.

Hello to oysters that were everywhere in sight in this pillow of fluffy egg fried with chopped spring onions that hid a stash of raw beansprouts that would do well to take away the greasiness of the egg mixture. Take this in moderation. It's good on taste but not so good for the arteries. Of course this was easier on the body system than the ones that come with a good proportion of fried cornstarch. In any case, I always think I only live once. Actually somehow, I seem to have that thought once a meal. Hmm. :D

Teochew style. Fresh promfret. Have you seen one this size? You might have but I wouldn't want to know the big hole that would make in your pocket if we ordered this in Singapore.

A simple fish dish with thai influence that sees itself true with strong salty, sour and sweet flavours all at once in that gravy that could almost pass off as soup. Beware the appetite! :) 

The ohsocolourful toppings of pickled radish, chilli slices, garlic and parsley made for great sides to go with the firm, fresh fish meat that was in abundance on a promfret of this size. A treat for the senses. There was no need to be shy with taking bigger portions of this. It was more than enough for our table of 12.

This was a house special. I have never seen steamed minced meat on crab pincers. I don't see what this might have done for the crab meat except that it was an added layer of taste. The minced meat was liberally marinated with black pepper. A more complex version of a black pepper crab? The crab meat was well done, not sticking to the sides of the shell but coming off with a fair amount of ease. This was novel but otherwise, it probably could do without the minced meat. No loss?

A baby suckling pig! :( I was upset seeing this guy on the table. It didn't help that he was facing me because I had the camera in hand. But eventually I reached out for one piece of crisp skin. And this was crisp, crackled skin with minimal to no fat. Wow. This was some expert slicing. And if this wasn't impressive enough, check out the ears. The ears were skinned too. Impressive innit? Of course I lost my appetite and no, I had no courage to eat no ears nor the skin of the ears. I'm sorry buddy. If it was any help, your skin tasted awesome on its own, or with sweet sauce, cucumber slices wrapped in pancake skin.

And what happens to the meat? This was done with a liberal amount of salt and dark soy sauce. It was too salty and too overfried. Twice fried probably since this baby was probably grilled and deep fried to a crisp already from the start. We each took a small piece and the rest was doggy bagged.

We finished dinner with deep fried yam sticks that had an outer coating of crisp white icing sugar. I enjoyed this but please, just limit yourself to one. It's a very sweet treat indeed. And just about balanced out by that cleansing tieguanyin tea potent even with its minute serving cups.

This was all in one dinner. I kid you not. I was waddling by this time of the night.

I would've appreciated better balance with webbed feet.

If I were a goose, that could have been me served with egg noodles. If it was any consolation, at least I tasted awesome. :)

Yet another eating place for keeps next time we're in Bangkok. Couldn't have managed this without you Uncle Aek. Transport and food. Right after arrival in Bangkok. Every year I get to live a little like kings and queens in a place where I visit family, a place that's become just like home. :)

When's the last time you went exploring in Bangkok's Chinatown?

Do share if you have discovered any hidden treats!

T restaurant

T Restaurant has been a landmark for almost 30 years at Nai Lert Market in Pratunam until development forced the restaurant out. Just further down the road from the Makkasan Railway Station that offers direct train access to the airport, it now offers a large array of their award winning seafood at their location just up the street on Rajprarob Road. Easy to spot, the restaurant has a large neon sign on the side of the building with a large crab and patrons enter to find the fresh catch of the day in large tanks of fish and seafood and a large dining area with huge chrome style pillars separating the space. The interior has not seen change for the past few times we've dined here and is becoming to look a little decrepit but there must be something that keeps us coming back...

If you haven't had a promfret steamboat. You ain't had nothing yet! This promfret fed a table of 12 people. I have no idea how much it must've weighed but it was fish that had good bite and a taste of simple fresh! The soup was boiled in charcoal steamboats close enough to the dining table so that you could get seconds or like me, thirds during the course of dinner.

Fresh garland chrysanthemum (tang oh) vegetable leaves are quickly blanched in the soup when it comes to a boil and placed at the bottom of the small soup bowl before two pieces of promfret and soup are spooned into the bowl. Naturally sweet tasting soup, fresh greens and firm pieces of promfret meat. This was good enough on its own and made better with their appetizing seafood sauce and green chilli :)

But then again, this was Bangkok and there's no better reason than being in the company of family and friends to get stuffed! Or no, let's put this into perspective. 

Now there's no better time to order everything on the menu that's awesome just because this time, we have the numbers to share these delights with!

So of course the promfret couldn't possibly be the first dish. It's too much of a show stopper. Spoilsport! :p



Crabmeat fried rice. The importance of generous servings of crabmeat as shown right here. The rice grains were loosely fried with egg and scallions with an evident breath of wok fire. The crabmeat fried rice here in Bangkok has always -shown- itself true. Pun entirely intended. This was crabby carbs totally worth their weight :)



These flower clams with their pretty prints. The sauce was savoury, a generous use of fish sauce and slightly spicy. Makes you want to put the shell into your mouths to eat the clams together with that awesomely addictive sauce.
  

I don't see oysters this size in Singapore. The eggy bits were thick and fluffy but it also came with a generous amount of cornstarch which you might skip if you didn't want to make this your carb staple. All this on a bed of raw beansprouts and spring onions which were lightly cooked on the hotplate which it was served on. It was oily, carbo laden and ohsoverygood, it was gone in a few servings. :)



I like my veggies, mushrooms and why wouldn't I sppreciate the addition of bamboo clams? :) The kale retain its green and crunchy stems. Mushrooms and bamboo clams soaking in the flavours of the oyster sauce in which it was stir fried. So much for grandma thinking these bamboo clams were pigs intestines. *shivers.

And here we had a quick advertisement break with the lady boss who came over and was so pleased to hear that we were diners from Singapore, the place where she sent her children for school before going onto universities. She's a very friendly and hospitable boss but don't bother about discounts. We tried asking in jest and all our comments on discounts and VIP cards were ignored. Somehow it was all about hearing the good things. :p



Bamboo shoots are one of those vegetables that could potentially kill if not cooked appropriately.Seems it isn't possible to buy these fresh from any of our local markets already. Grandma gets her stash from the markets in Johor and uses them to cook her HockChiew styled beehoon in thick soup. Now, these bamboo shoot slices had a crunch to them that spoke of fresh good stir frying. And a side kick of fresh prawns with some good bite made it all the better. :)

Just in case there wasn't enough food, why don't we have a pot of green mussels while we're at it. Something my dad has sworn off because he's got psychological issues. Lots of them. But I digress. So he sees them as fish bait and will not touch them at all. These green mussels were simply done with mint basil leaves, lemon grass, chopped garlic and chilli. The flavours weren't very much infused into the mussels or maybe we were just all too full by then.

Now all this was just one dinner. And if I forgot, these came in doubles. Two servings of everything for our party of 12. It was a party alright!

Have you tried this Chinese-Thai landmark and if you haven't, there's no time like the next Bangkok trip to do just that! :)

T restaurant.
78/12-16 Rajprarob Road,
Rajthevee, Payathai, Bangkok

 Thanks for dinner Uncle Aek!

Banh Khun Mae

And I'm disappointed that after all these years of pilgrimage to Bangkok faithfully year on year, I still cannot speak a sentence in Thai. :(

For what I can't speak, I'll just point and eat :)

"Secret recipes passed down from generation to generation were collected, treasured and presented for your delectation by Ban Khun Mae, the restaurant that is equally famous for its authentic tastes, ambience and warm Thai hospitally." taken from their website. Which I will concur, save for the typographical errors. :)

If you've never heard of the term repeat visits, then you have not joined my family on our repeats. It's a cycle really. A fixed pattern of change. Every year we go on our annual Bangkok trip and for at least one meal, we have it at Ban Khun Mae.

This was our version of the restaurant.

Nigel says, "Which one? The dark and dim place? There's live music at night?"

Yup. That's right. :)

 

The dollop of coconut cream that must be stirred into the green curry to enjoy the richness of the tender chicken green curry gravy that makes you want to eat a lot more rice than you already are having. :p

Just in case you don't know what gives it that green color, it's not the eggplant but a mixed paste of green chillies that have been pounded and mashed before its addition to the curry paste that gives it a green colour. Likewise for red curry, which gets its colour not from the curry paste but made a deeper shade of red by the red chillies pounded and mashed into a paste.

This is lard nation. Honestly. Thick pieces of pork fat give that glistening texture to the glass noodles and that also accounts for all that flavour and more bite! You can't stop eating those flavourful glass noodles fried with shallots and dark soy sauce perhaps till you see those pork fat pieces but even then...

Huge river prawns accompany this dish. Fresh and firm prawns. Mmm.

Pla Gow, the garoupa is used for this deep fried fish dish drizzled with tamarind and sweet Thai chilli sauce. This is the dish that saw my dad eating both the head and the tail, crunching his teeth on those deep fried pieces of fish meat, cartilage and bone!
The sauce might be too sweet and cloying after a while but the flesh of this fish stays juicy and sweet, well encased in its deep fried exterior. :)

And let's not forget our greens. I'm not biased but really, even this was well done.

Fresh and crunchy kai lan fried with straw mushrooms and oyster sauce.

No one's gotta tell us to eat our greens when cooked like this :)

458/6-9 Siam Square Soi 8, Rama 1 Road, 10330, Thailand

11am - 11pm

Mondays- Sundays.

childhood treats from bangkok

I just love these colourful strands of sugar!

Makes me smile. Makes my day.

Add some splashes of colour to life! :)

When growing up means:

Being upset that there aren't enough pandan flour sheets for me to roll my sugared strands in.

When it used to be all about the sugar. None of those flour sheets needed. :D

Home for the weekend :)

Waking up to takeaway chicken rice are the stuff dreams are made of. Just read the International Herald Tribune on my flight home and this article spoke volumes to me. It was entitled Time, Distance and Clarity and it started off about the sky looking bluer than it does almost anywhere else in Rome. I concur. And I continued to peruse the rest of the article. I've gotten used to traveling since I was young what with my mother's line of profession. And I'm blessed by my widened perspective of the world with my travels. But travels are for short periods of time. You get home before you really miss it. Then there was the exchange programme.

A chance of a lifetime (well, it is if you only applied for it once in your life) to McGill. No, it wasn't my first choice. UBC was. And I haven't heard of McGill before. And what a mistake I almost made not wanting to go. So I went. For two whole months all I saw was the side gates of campus and home. Tears more than threatened me in the day in between classes and boy did they overwhelm me in the nights. I called home daily. Even if conversations revolved around the weather and my meals. Fall was pretty with its colours. Life was good with pasta and potato meals. Good lecturers, even getting to make some friends. But. I still wanted to go home. One day after class, I took the main gates out and walked myself to Chinatown. The discovery of preserved radish, Chinese longevity noodles and packaged moon cakes were a turning point. I skipped home. Buildings looked great. I read up on the places to go, I even accepted an invite to the tallest bar in town for Halloween. Life was good. I just never noticed nor appreciated it. The sorrow of having wasted two months lies there. The writer hit it spot on when he wrote, "But it is also true that we're often plain oblivious to the scenery right in front of us. By being closest, it's farthest away."

Then there was Ponte Vecchio in Florence. I read up the guides, found it as one of the top ten things in Florence to see. I wanted to go. I had to right? Then here comes my brother. "why are we looking for this? Just because it's a World War Two survivor? What about the Kranji War Memorial, Fort Siloso. Those are from the WW II too and I don't see anyone rushing to see it?" then it got me. It's a tourist thing. I mean I've seen these sites since I'm taking national education/social studies in school. But what if I wasn't. Would I visit them? It's like a responsibility of a tourist. See the top ten. Do what everyone else has done. As if it was a trip requirement. I'm kicking myself for missing the Sunday markets just to go to the malls with my mum.

But at the end of the day, I'm thankful for every trip that I've gone on. It's never the same. Might be the company. Might be the sites. Could be the weather. Would be largely based on my attitudes. Bangkok year on year is never the same. Travel while you can. I know I'd do that as long as my legs could carry me. Hey, you can't carry money to the grave. Might as well spend it seeing the world. Living the life of a global traveller. So much to see, things to do, places to go. I'm looking forward to Bangkok on Monday already :)