A Taste of Holiday

Vietnam and Thailand feel like a distant memory but it’s amazing how food can take you back. After a long, sunny (but freezing cold) bike ride around London, we popped out of a street right opposite a Vietnamese restaurant that my companion had been wanting to try for an age. The idea of noodle soup warming our cold bodies was just too much to resist!

Deptford is a part of London on the up, and Eat Vietnam (whilst not imaginatively named) is one of many little gems in the area. Our delicious bowls of Bun Ga Hue, a hot and spicy vermicelli soup with chicken, warmed both body and soul. The fragrant, lemongrass scented broth and abundant herbs took me straight back to the streets of Hanoi.

Having started my holiday food reminiscence, I decided that I should continue with a little creation of my own for dinner. Yum Som-O is one of my favourite Thai dishes. A spicy pomelo based salad, it’s fresh and delicious. I won’t even pretend that I created a dish that could bear the same name, but I did make a pomelo salad with a Thai dressing!

Getting to the flesh of a pomelo (a large citrus fruit with a flavour somewhere between an orange and a grapefruit) requires a little patience. Even once you’ve pulled away the thick, styrofoam textured peel you need to take the flesh out of each individual segment to really enjoy it at its best. But the effort is worth it and what you’re left with is a bowl of firm, juicy fruit.

I made a simple dressing of fish sauce, lime juice, palm sugar, garlic and chilli, mixing it through the pomelo with a few herbs and some shredded chicken. Topped with crushed toasted peanuts and served with steamed rice, I have to confess that I was delighted with the delicious (and January health-kick friendly) result.

I will make this again!

Iconsiam

Having watched it being built when we’ve visited over the past four years we couldn’t not go to see Iconsiam, the multi-billion pound development that opened just two weeks ago. Part shopping centre, part hotel, part apartment block and part leisure space, the complex has even attempted to recreate some of the market trading that would have happened along the streets and klongs (small canals) before this massive development took over the site.

It’s certainly an impressive building and is massively spacious and airy. There’s still more to open, but already there are a combination of designer, high street and handicraft stores as well as multiple food outlets. Free shuttle boats are currently provided from Sathorn Pier since they didn’t have the foresight to construct the intended Skytrain extension while they were actually building the centre!

We compared the prices in stores we know well enough to know what costs would be in the UK and found that they were universally more expensive here. Even claiming back the VAT on departing Thailand it would be a close call as to whether products came in cheaper.

The market area on the ground floor is actually quite pleasant to walk around, although it’s odd to see the keenness to maintain the street food culture, whilst also obliterating the original trading areas by building huge leisure complexes. I’d rather see it inside than gone completely though!

Overall, I’m glad I visited, there’s plenty to wander around and enjoy, and there’s some good food and drink on offer. No expense has been spared on decor, inside and out, so it makes for an interesting potter. I won’t be hitting Iconsiam for a shopping spree anytime soon though.

Riverside Dining

In case I’ve not mentioned it (much!) before, my favourite place to be in Bangkok is by the river. In fact, this applies to my home city of London too, and pretty much to every city I’ve ever been to. If it’s not a river, any body of water will do. There’s just something I love about watching the inevitable activity that comes with water, and Bangkok has this in spades.

We’re back in Thailand for a couple of days before we head home and if we’ve not been by the pool (the water theme continues) then we’ve been by the Chao Phraya. Two locations in particular have enticed us, an old favourite and a new find.

The old favourite is Be My Guest, a riverside restaurant that we return to every trip, regardless of whether we’re staying at the Millennium Hilton (next to which it sits) or not. Neither this nor the new find is flashy. We’re talking friendly, characterful places here, selling the equivalent of street food at reasonably elevated prices to match their riverside locations. I’ve eaten much more expensively while I’ve been away but this was my favourite meal, watching the darkening sky reflected in the CAT building that my husband loves.

The menu at Be My Guest contains plenty of simple Thai favourites, plus a few dishes to test the more adventurous. We started with an appetiser of shrimp cakes while we enjoyed our first beer. I’ve never eaten anything quite like these donut shaped nibbles anywhere else, but they’re a good start for an evening on the Chang!

When we were ready to move on to food proper, it had to include the Wing Bean Salad. I’ve never seen one of these beans whole, and I have no idea if you can buy them back home, but I adore the variety of textures and the delicately balanced flavour of this gently spiced (by Thai standards) salad.

I was meant to order the red curry to avoid the strong Thai Basil that my husband dislikes but I got distracted and ordered the green curry instead. As predicted, it was indeed full of Thai Basil, and in my opinion was all the more delicious for that. Soft, plump prawns and chunks of small green aubergine in a heavily spiced, creamy coconut soup. Mmmmm. I have yet to find a green curry outside Thailand that comes close to this.

I went off-menu for the last dish because I had a craving! Chicken with garlic and pepper is one of my favourite Thai stir fries and the staff were very happy to make it for me. It totally lived up to my expectations and the husband loved it too, vegetables and all!

We crossed the Chao Phraya back towards our hotel before finding our newest riverside haunt, and also returned to it the next day for lunch. Jack’s Bar is a haphazard bar-come-restaurant that sits, in part, directly over the water. It’s busy with a mix of Thais and foreigners of all ages, and the staff are smiley and fun.

Lunch was an extended affair over a few beers, giving me time to just watch the river. The number and variety of boats that pass by is a constant source of amazement for me, and the occasional wetland bird floating by atop a piece of water hyacinth adds to the interest.

Thai fishcakes, flavoured with red curry paste and kaffir lime leaves, followed by fried rice and a puffy omelette is the simple lunch I remember from my working days living in the city. I love this food as much as anything more fancy and will miss it when we head home.

Cabbages and Condoms

A trip to Cabbages and Condoms, a quirky (now chain) restaurant that’s used to promote family planning and fund development projects, has become something of a tradition whenever we are in Bangkok. It’s my husband’s favourite place, in part because of the delicious food but also because of the cool, relaxed outdoor seating area.

Knowing that we had a big meal to come, we avoided eating properly for the rest of the day, instead relaxing by the pool with another staple when we’re in Thailand, the (no doubt sugar filled) yoghurt drinks that are available in every 7-Eleven. Somehow, being unable to read the labels, I can pretend to myself that they are healthy!

The downside of going to Cabbages and Condoms is that it means leaving my favoured riverside location and heading to Sukhumvit. I love Bangkok, but it can also be challenging and Sukhumvit puts under my nose many of the elements of the city that I prefer to avoid. My love of the city is based on life along the majestic Chao Phraya river and if I’m honest, that’s where I’d prefer to stay!

But for my husband, who had ‘saved’ his birthday meal to go to C&C, to Sukhumvit we went and were rewarded, as ever, by the ambience and food. Now, when I say quirky I mean it, and that includes numerous decorations made of condoms. Light fittings, life size human figures, even an after dinner condom in place of a mint. It’s a very entertaining concept!

If I’m honest, going to C&C with a larger group is preferable as the portion sizes and large and that means you have to resist ordering too much if you are a two. But everything is so good that what you really want to do is order everything on the menu! We have some old favourites, Pomelo Salad with Chicken and Prawns being my absolute favourite – it’s fresh, zesty and light, with deep fried garlic providing a rich little crunch. We also ordered Beef Massamun Curry, which is a favourite for the husband, but then wanted to try some new things too. So we started with Chaw Muang, purple little dumplings stuffed with slightly sweet chicken, and also ordered Deep Fried Cotton Fish with a Fresh Mango Sauce. I have no idea if we know Cotton Fish by another name, but it’s got lovely soft flesh and the hot, sour sauce made it delightful.

Climbing back on the very busy Sky Train from Nana Station to head back to Saphan Taksin, where we’d meet our hotel shuttle boat, was rather a shock after the tranquility of the restaurant and I was very glad to get back to my beloved Chao Phraya.

Asiatique

Somewhere between a night bazaar and a shopping mall, Asiatique is a riverside complex that offers an enjoyable evening, particularly if people-watching is your thing.

The actual riverside restaurants aren’t my favourite on the dining front, but they provide an excellent opportunity to relax with a drink and watch the world go by. Last night, that included a procession of Thai dancers and drummers. I have absolutely no idea what that was in aid of, but it provided an interesting interlude as we enjoyed a cocktail and a few beers. In fact, we discovered a Thai beer, Phuket, we hadn’t had before and that I, being a fan of beers on the citrusy side, absolutely loved.

When we’d found our appetites, we headed further into the complex to a restaurant I’d found on an earlier visit, and which offers plenty of classic dishes, including Fried Morning Glory with Oyster Sauce, which is a particular favourite of mine. It’s a bit on the ‘green’ side for my husband, but I adore the garlic and chilli-loaded dish and can quite happily demolish most of the plate on my own!

When faced with a menu full of delicious food, choosing is always tough. We added Shrimp Omelette, Chicken in Chilli Paste and Mud Crab with Curry Powder (something of an accident, which I’ll come to in a moment) to our table, along with plenty of rice of course.

Back to the crab. It was DELICIOUS, although what I had meant to order was Softshell Crab in Curry Powder. The Mud Crab was much more messy, but that kind of added to the fun! The bulk of the crab meat is dissolved into the sauce, but the whole broken up crab is in there too, so you can enjoy the remaining sweet white meat if you’re happy to get involved in a bit of sucking and slurping! My intended order would be much better for anyone who prefers to get less involved in the anatomy of their food.

We did a pretty good job of demolishing our feast, which required a good wander around the stalls and a stroll back to the hotel to walk off.

Thai Comfort Food

Purists may dispute the title of this post because the food I am going to talk about is not technically Thai, but Hainanese. However, it’s also my comfort food when I’m in Thailand and a common street food, so the title works for me!

After a long flight and a change of time zones, appetite is a funny thing, and what I generally crave is something simple and tasty. I was, therefore, delighted to happen upon delicious-looking Khao Mun Gai just a short wander from my hotel, along the haphazard Charoen Krung Road.

Not only do I love to eat Khao Mun Gai, but it also raises a smile every time I do because it triggers fond memories of a friend for whom Thai food was often too spicy and this was the safe bet! But don’t be fooled; like many Thai foods, this comes with accompaniments that can give it added punch if ‘safe’ is not your thing.

Khao Mun Gai is essentially poached chicken and rice, which I accept may not sound like a food worth blogging about! The stock from poaching the chicken is used in the cooking of the rice and is also served on the side as a light soup. But the magic really happens when you add the delicious sauce that comes with the dish, a sauce that varies in form but which is always strong with ginger and garlic. Learning to make a version of this sauce that’s as tasty as the one I had last night is definitely on the ‘to do’ list. This version also came with a huge bowl of grated ginger and fresh chillis so you could adjust the spicing to your taste, which was a brilliant addition.

If you’re exploring the streets of Thailand and fancy giving this a go, just look for whole poached chickens hanging in the windows of stalls and shops, a sure sign that you are in the right place (if something that I forgot to photograph).