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Posts Tagged ‘Bangkok’

Black Olive Rice (Wednesday Photo)

Wednesday, December 9th, 2009

Welcome to The Wednesday Photo – a new picture each week highlighting something of interest in Thailand. Click on the picture to see a larger version.

Black Olive Rice at My Choice Restaurant

Black olive rice at My Choice Restaurant in Bangkok

Perhaps our favorite restaurant in Bangkok is My Choice on Sukhumvit Soi 36 in Bangkok. The menu is loaded with delicious dishes brilliantly prepared with ultra-fresh ingredients. There are so many great dishes that usually when we go we order several to be eaten with rice. See Michael’s Article on My Choice for pictures of many of our other favorite dishes.

This picture shows a “one-dish meal” rice dish at My Choice, Salted Black Olive Fried Rice; on their menu it is called Kao Ohb Nahm Liap. The main ingredient is a Chinese salted black olive, which is mixed with shrimp, dried shrimp, green mango, Thai chillies and ground pork. It’s a marvelous dish, full of several different types of flavors and anchored by the black olive.

It’s a marvelous dish and I usually order it when I eat at My Choice by myself. They serve it already mixed, as in the picture; in Kasma’s classes she teaches it as a composed salad that is mixed by each person prior to eating.

Here’s my attempt at rendering the name of the dish Thai script.

kaoohbnahmliab

I’ve also circled the menu item on the My Choice Menu.

You may also enjoy checking out these links.

Kasma’s recipe for Salted Black Olive Fried Rice (Kao Pad Nahm Liap)
Michael’s Article on My Choice
Information on salted black olives.

Tags: Bangkok, My Choice, Restaurant, rice
Posted in Restaurant, Wednesday Photo | No Comments »

Ramakien Mural (Wednesday Photo)

Wednesday, July 15th, 2009

Welcome to The Wednesday Photo – a new picture each week highlighting something of interest in Thailand. Click on the picture to see a larger version.

Monkey Warrior

Grand Palace Mural

At temples I enjoy looking at the murals and the details on the buildings. One of the “must see” sights in Bangkok is the Grand Palace and, in particular, the temple of the Emerald Buddha. Around the temple is a covered walkway that is painted with murals from the Ramakien, which is the Thai version of the Indian epic, the Ramayana.

This particular portion appears to be one of the monkey warriors, perhaps Hanuman (the monkey god) himself, absconding with the head of one of the demon warriors.

Tags: Bangkok, temple
Posted in Thai Culture, Wednesday Photo | No Comments »

Bangkok’s Chinatown Market

Saturday, July 4th, 2009

Roast Pig in Chinatown

Kasma and I are market junkies. Although we enjoy visiting Asian markets in the U.S. (see Shopping at Asian Markets (for Thai Ingredients), nothing can beat the markets in Thailand. They are colorful, appetizing and the vendors are friendly. Although you can expect to find many of the same sorts of things for sale at any Thai market, each market does have its own character and certain markets are renowned for a specific item or specialty.

Sea Cucumbers

One of our favorite markets, one where Kasma takes her small-group trips is a market street in Bangkok’s Chinatown called Dtalat Kao (old market). It’s actually a little alley-way, barely more than two blocks long – we usually enter from
Road.

Be prepared to be jostled. It’s a very narrow alley-way. At places there is barely room for two people to squeeze past one another, and that’s when there’s no one stopped to make a purchase. Add to this the occasional motor bike making deliveries and it can get very cramped, particularly on holidays.

Various Foods

The market is full of fresh seafood of all varieties, including fish, shrimp, prawns, and some things that you might not recognize, such as sea cucumbers. There’s also many vendors with dried foods such as red dates, dried persimmons, dried fish and dried fish stomach. Since it’s a Chinese market, you’ll find succulent roast duck and, on festive occasions, whole roast pigs being delivered.

Prepared Food

Of course there is also prepared food. One of the great mysteries of Thailand is how, in the presence of so much food everywhere, most of the people remain so slender. There’s everything from the delectable kanom krok (grilled coconut-rice hotcakes) to curries and other Thai or Chinese dishes.

Hua Seng Hong Sign

When we go to Chinatown to the market, we always time it so that we can have a meal, be it breakfast or lunch, at Hua Seng Hong restaurant at 371-373 Yaowarat Road. For lunch, we might get duck noodles (make sure you get the wheat noodles, ba mee in Thai) or the grilled duck, succulent and yummy. For breakfast, we often get the dim sum, tender bite-sized morsels that are very well-done.

Dim Sum at Hua Seng

You might enjoy reading the Bangkok Post Review of Hua Seng Hong.

In the future, we’ll blog on other markets that we visit regularly. We’ve also posted a number of photographs of Thai markets.

Tags: Bangkok, chinatown, Restaurant
Posted in Food, Markets, Travel | 1 Comment »

Favorite Bangkok Restaurants

Saturday, June 6th, 2009

Roasted Eggplant Salad at My Choice

Kasma was once asked: “Do you have any suggestions for good eating places in Thailand? What do you think about the Baab Khanitha, Blue Elephant, Banjarong or Bussaracum restaurants?” Kasma replied that she’s not very enthusiastic about any of those. They are basically upscale, Royal Cuisine type places that cater largely to tourists. She ate at a similar type of restaurant last year because her driver said he dropped a lot of people off there and it was terrible. These sorts of restaurants that cater to tourists and are given lots of coverage in the guidebooks are the ones she tends to avoid. She prefers the more modest places with good food. Many are holes in the wall where you need to be able to speak or read Thai to get good food. Here are a few of Kasma’s favorites.

My Choice

My Choice Southern Chicken Curry

One of our favorite restaurants in Bangkok is “My Choice” on Sukhumvit, Soi 36 behind a Shell station. Every group that Kasma leads to Thailand eats here at least once. It is not a “pretty” restaurant but we’ve never had an even merely good dish there – everything is great. The Southern Style Curry, Roasted Eggplant Salad, Duck with Greens, Bitter Melon Salad, and on and on and on. Terrific food. Address is: 5 Sukhumvit Soi 36 (Soi Napasap). Telephone: 02-258-6174. We have an article on My Choice that includes numerous pictures of its surroundings and appetizing food.

A. Mallika

Ostrich Pad Chah at A. Mallika

There are two restaurants run by the same company with the name Mallika. Our favorite, and where Kasma always takes her trips to Thailand is actually called A. Mallika. It is a large indoor and outdoor restaurant in the outskirts of town on one of the new highways where many large garden restaurants are located. It has a more extensive menu with unusual dishes not seen in any other restaurants; the food is also better and spicier since it caters mainly to Thai families with cars. Get the sour ribs. They also have a peppered ostrich dish that is good, as is the soft shell crab. Wonderful coconut ice cream. It’s address is 13/10 Moo 9, Kaset-Navamin Road, Boong Koom District, Bangkok 10230, Tel. 0-2946-1000. Check out the photos by a former trip member (click on the photos to see a larger version with caption).

Ruen Mallika

This is a fairly fancy restaurant, more so than A. Mallika, and a bit of a splurge (though still reasonable by US standards). It’s found in the Sukhumvit area, not far from the tourist hotels, in a romantic setting in an old teak mansion with a lush garden. It’s more expensive than A. Mallika, catering to upscale Thais and tourists. The address is 189 Sukhumvit 22 Road, Klongtoey, Bangkok 10110, Tel: 662 663 3211 2. It is a challenge for taxi drivers to find! Here’s the restaurant’s website — there’s a map you might want to print out to help you get there: www.ruenmallika.com.

Sorndaeng

Soft Shell Crab at A. Mallika

One of Bangkok’s oldest Thai restaurants, located not far from the Democracy Monument on Radjadamnoen Blvd. is Sorndaeng (possibly spelled Sorn Dang). It’s upscate, expensive and has a stiff mixture of western colonial and Thai Royal ambience that may make the casual diner feel a little out of place, but the food is excellent and menu extensive. It’s stayed in business as long as it has because of its impeccable service and the high quality of its food.

Taling Pling

Another one we like is Taling Pling, at 60 Pan (or Pun) Road, Silom – it is on one of the sois just off Silom road – I think it is Soi 20, but may be wrong: it is the Soi that has the Hindu temple at the corner. However, they tend to tone down the food for foreigners, so it’s best to go with a Thai or learn to communicate with the staff that you like really spicy, full-flavored authentic Thai food. One of their specialties is Miang Taling Pling – taling pling is the name of a tart fruit that gives the restaurant its name and is used in many of their dishes when it’s in season. Address: 60 Tanon Pun, Silom, Bangrak, Bangkok. Phone: 02 236 4830, 02 234 4872. There’s a review of Taling Pling from the Nation.

You might enjoy seeing Kasma’s Thai food photo sampler. I’ve also written an article on Eating Out In Thailand.

Tags: Bangkok, Food, Restaurant
Posted in Food, Restaurant, Travel | 1 Comment »

Pad Thai at Aw Taw Kaw Market

Saturday, April 4th, 2009

Outside of Aw Taw Kaw Market

Kasma always gets a chuckle when people talk about Pad Thai as “the signature dish of Thai cuisine.” In Thailand it is just one of many noodle dishes, available mostly as a street food or at noodle shops and not particularly popular dish amongst Thais. It’s mainly a fast food. Kasma does have a very good recipe for Pad Thai and teaches it in her Thai cooking classes.

Aisle at Aw Taw Kaw Market

The one place where I sometimes order Pad Thai for myself is at a stand at Aw Taw Kaw Market (Talaat Aw Taw Kaw, in Thai) in Bangkok, which also happens to be one of our favorite markets in Thailand. Although Aw Taw Kaw is considered “high end” and the prices are higher than at other markets, the selection of food and the presentation makes it worth the extra few baht. I still find it very reasonable by United States standards. Our collection of Thailand market photos contains many pictures of this Aw Taw Kaw Market.

Pad Thai Stall at Aw Taw Kaw

Aw Taw Kaw market is very near to the well-known Chatuchak Weekend Market. You can get there via the MRT subway – get off at the Kamphaengpetch Road station. The first picture above shows the outside of the market from the street. If you go on a weekend, you can also enjoy Chatuchak, with it’s estimated 8,000 vendors selling any and everything you can imagine. We usually go to Aw Taw Kaw on a weekday because it can get very crowded indeed on a weekend.

Pad Thai Cook at Aw Taw Kaw Market

If you’re going to Aw Taw Kaw, eat lightly beforehand. As you browse the aisles you’ll see pre-cooked food such as grilled prawns, satay, sour sausage, shrimp cakes as well as numerous kanom (snacks) such as sticky rice and kanom krok (rice pancakes) and it will be hard to resist grazing. There are, however, numerous food stalls that cook food to order in the back of the market and many of them are worth a taste.

The stand with the delicious Pad Thai is back in the eating area towards the outside edge of the market. The third picture shows the stand with the stall number (11/40) visible in the background. I actually had taken and delivered pictures of the woman making the dish many times before I actually ordered the dish, though Kasma had been ordering it for her trip members for many years.

Pad Thai Ready to Eat

Most Pad Thai recipes call for egg, usually (as in Kasma’s Pad Thai recipe) scrambled lightly. This woman’s adds eggs in a different way – she uses them to make a covering for the noodles in the center, sort of a Pad Thai omelette, if you will. Kasma tells me that this presentation is relatively common in Thailand, particularly when Pad Thai is served in a restaurant. In fact, there are as many different Pad Thai recipes as there are cooks. (Kasma’s article on The Spirit of Thai Cooking talks a bit about how Thai dishes can vary a great deal depending on the cook.) It’s served (as you can see to the left) with a banana blossom, some scallions (underneath), fresh bean sprouts and a lime. The lime is squeezed over the noodles and the fresh ingredients are eaten along with it.

Pad Thai with Outer Egg Opened Up

As you can see, once you open up noodles it looks very delicious indeed. It bears little resemblance to some of the Pad Thai noodles you find in the states – it is savory and tasty and completely without Ketchup!

For more information about the origins of Pad Thai, check out Kasma’s Pad Thai Notes and Pointers.

One other dish that the same woman makes is an mussel omelette. It is also very tasty (see picture below).

We’ll be doing more posts on Aw Taw Kaw in the future but in the meantime, Austin Bush has some photographs of Aw Taw Kaw Market that are worth a look.

Note: When asking for directions or taking a cab to Aw Taw Kaw, be sure to refer to it as Dtalaht Aw Taw Kaw – the usual spelling is talaat, meaning market, but dtalaht is closer to the actual sound in Thai. (See our Note on Thai Spelling & Pronunciation.)

If you are taking a cab, make sure that the driver takes you to the correct market. There is also an Aw Taw Kaw Market (Talaat Aw Taw Kaw) on Sukhumvit Soi 105 (Soi Lasalle, pronounced Soi “La-sahn”) – it is not as interesting a market.

Mussel Omelette On the Griddle

Tags: Bangkok, market, noodles, pad Thai, street food
Posted in Food, Markets, Travel | 11 Comments »