Category Archives: food stalls

by | 06/14/2010 · 11:06 am

The Ultimate Noodle

The "wall art" at Gobu Rot Sing

With the earnest onset of the rains this year comes a general sense of malaise. I can’t seem to get anything done. Deadlines to be met, babies to be diapered, self to be showered, cookies to be baked (yes, my Carol Brady moment. All for charity! Contact @NamjaiMarket) — all pressing demands that I somehow manage to consistently ignore, day after day.  It’s like a helmet of smog has been fastened onto my head, and I can’t seem to shake it off.

And then, with @anuntakob and @aceimage on a wild goose chase to find the egg noodle stand belonging to a picture we had stumbled upon in a guidebook, a brief reprieve from the smog of apathy. But I should start from the beginning.

We’re working on a project that I don’t want to talk about, because I don’t want to jinx it. It’s the whole reason I’m here, sullying the web with my senseless chatter. Anyway. One night over a little monjya (a gigantic, flour-and-egg-based type of Japanese crepe) and a lot of Asahi, we chanced upon a picture of a bowl of crinkly yellow noodles, crowned with a sprinkling of spice and ringed by a line of egg — almost pristine in its perfection. The party responsible: Gobu Rot Sing (Klong Jan, across from Nida), the last two words in the name literally translating into “racing flavor”. Naturally we had to go.

So we went — somewhere. We don’t know, because we got lost. Numerous times. Terrorizing a number of cats skulking along quiet neighborhood lanes, dead-ending into countless gardens, driving slowly toward the bank of what appeared to be an enormous lake … you get the picture. This place was wicked hard to find. Finally, in front of a 7-11, just around the corner from what would end up being our final destination, interrogating the 80th person who claimed not to know what we were talking about, we back up to u-turn in a quiet side-alley only to find a rickety wooden shed outfitted with a series of burners, a bubbling cauldron set up over an open fire, and a massive display of egg crates. It looked like a caricature of what movie people would imagine roadside noodle stands to be, like something out of the Japanese noodle western movie “Tampopo”.

But what’s in the bowl is anything but Japanese. I’m sorry to have to say it, because I know people are suspicious of superlatives — people like what they like, this coming from the person who prefers France to Spain, cooking over sous-vide, Troisgros over Fat Duck (yes, I said it). Maybe because of that you won’t believe me when I say these were the best egg noodles I’ve ever had. But they are: the tom yum broth made the traditional way, with no coconut milk to muddy the strong, clear flavors; the noodles freshly blanched in a pot set over an open flame; shot through with roasted ground chilies that lend a nutty, almost woody heat to the broth; two barely cooked eggs which coat the noodles with a thick, carbonara-like silk. It is all kinds of yum.

Egg noodles in tom yum broth at Gobu

Now, if only I could manage to find this place again…

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Filed under Asia, bamee, Bangkok, food, food stalls, noodles, pork

by | 06/09/2010 · 3:46 pm

The South lives on

More than a week after my trip down south, I am still infatuated with southern Thai food. Luckily for me, there are a handful of great food stalls in Bangkok featuring some truly tasty Thai-Muslim fare.

One that deserves a visit from any lover of the time-honored “chicken-and-rice” combo is the Khao Mok Gai stand on Convent Road, off of Bangkok’s central business thoroughfare, Silom. Literally translated as “chicken buried in rice”, khao mok gai is one of the more well-known Thai-Muslim dishes and usually features a succulent hunk of chicken (always on the bone), paired with a mound of yellow, cumin-colored rice and a sweet-spicy red sauce. A side of chicken broth spiked with shredded chilies, deep-fried shallots and sliced cilantro is the Robin to this Batman.

(Courtesy of pbinbkk)

Although this stand sells the soup separately, which I think is kind of a gyp, I still love how the chicken is always carefully prepared, the rice just-so, the soup brimming with fresh cilantro and sharp with lime juice. Despite the fact this stand is swarmed by lunchtime office workers on the go, everything comes out well-made and fresh-tasting — still green and spiky and warm. Alas, this stand is only open during the day.

A more around-the-clock type of proposition is Roti-Mataba, huddled at the curve of picturesque Phra Arthit Road along the Chao Phraya River. It’s a lovely site, and an even lovelier food stand, provided you can stand the smoke from the spitting roti (a flat bread like its Indian counterpart, but flakier) and mataba (stuffed flatbread) on the griddle next to your table (there are tables upstairs, but service is spotty — a flight of stairs separates you from the kitchen — and the view not as good).

Those aren’t the only temptations on offer here: aside from the expected chicken, the khao mok here includes beef, mutton, fish and prawn versions, and on our last visit there, it even looked like some sausage rolls (!) were being made — a sort of strange menu item for a Thai-Muslim restaurant.

"Hot dogs" and "burgers" -- a universal combination

But the main draws here are the irrespressible mataba and roti. While it’s the sweet-sour ajad (cucumber-and-chili dipping sauce) that makes a star of the mataba (also available with “sweet” pumpkin and banana stuffings), the roti — accompanying a slew of thick-gravied southern curries like massaman and the standard gaeng gari — are fresh, flaky charmers in and of themselves. The best: dessert versions including banana, chocolate syrup-and-condensed milk, and a combination of the two. How (very, very) sweet it is.

Banana, chocolate syrup and condensed milk roti

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Filed under Asia, Bangkok, chicken, dessert, food, food stalls, rice, Southern Thailand, Thai-Muslim, Thailand

by | 06/01/2010 · 1:44 pm

Down South

Stir-fried crab in black pepper sauce at the restaurant it's named for, "Pu Dum" (Black Crab)

As a native Northern Thai, I like to think that everything up north is gracious and everyone there good-looking. But I have to say, right now I am smitten with the South: its weather, its beatific scenery, its beaches, its food. Especially the food.

Heading southbound by car from Bangkok to Phuket offers a great perspective on what Thailand has to offer. Even better, you get to stop at reststops that feature some truly outstanding food courts, offering some of the most underrated food in the country. Now, it’s true I try to avoid most food courts in Bangkok (except for the ones at MBK and at Bangkok Hospital, which are excellent) because — let’s face it — better renditions of these dishes can be found elsewhere, we know about these places, and we have the time to go to them.

Boiling oxtails for oxtail soup, a southern food court standby

Food courts by the highway in the provinces are another story. I love how they offer dishes that are basically a culinary Cliff’s Notes of what you would be enjoying in that region, were you to stop there — a “greatest hits” of each area, food-wise. In the south, a lot of those hits mirror the region’s large Muslim Thai population and are deliciously “exotic” and Other (note the widespread absence of pork. In fact, if you see pork, chances are you’ve stumbled onto a community of Chinese, who settled down south in the 19th century). A great case in point: 

Chicken "mataba" with sweet cucumber salsa

Take the mataba, a sort of stuffed crepe with minced vegetables and chicken or beef, served with a sweet shallot and cucumber relish (achad). It’s savory, sweet and starchy, cut with the fresh, crunchy snap of the relish, a great snack on the go. Another thing I love about food courts in the south are the free (!) pepper dips provided at every table, which are served alongside some of the more exotic vegetables and leaves I have ever seen. I love travelling to the south of Thailand because every time I go, I encounter some new and unusual green that I have never tried before. On this trip: a nam prik gapi (shrimp paste pepper dip) accompanied by the likes of an asparagus-like long bean, tannic baby eggplants to counteract the spicy dip, and sator, the peppery, bitter legume (which is in season right now).

Shrimp paste dip with vegetables

Another current culinary obsession: highway-side food vendors. Notwithstanding how people manage to slow down enough to patronize any of these stalls, I love seeing the wide variety of things on sale depending on where you are in Thailand (and where you are in the season) — around Hua Hin, it might be limes and coconuts; in northeastern Isaan, probably grilled chicken and sticky rice; up north, you might encounter freshly pressed sugarcane juice. Even in parts of the south, you will find huge stainless steel steamers stuffed with steamed pork-filled dumplings (salapao) or steamed shrimp dumplings (kanom jeeb) for sale, more testament to the large Chinese communities here.

What you’ll also get is called roti sai mai — imagine a tortilla stuffed with cotton candy, and you’ve got a good approximation of what I’m talking about. It’s a popular southern streetside snack, and is chock-full of the double comforts of sugar and starch, all in one.

A typical highway vendor selling roti

But the best southern Thai food, for me, is all about the seafood. Homebound again through a torrential downpour, we stopped at Phang Nga for some good food-lovin’ at Pu Dum (Black Crab), ordering its namesake, a barely cooked cracked fresh crab smothered in a black peppercorn sauce; a handful of deep-fried Thai smelts; freshly steamed hor mok (steamed fish curry); stir-fried sator with shrimp and chilies; a piquant sour soup with coconut shoots and the plump midsection of a serpent head fish; and best of all, sauteed bai lieng (the leaves of a local tree, stir-fried with dried shrimp), a new discovery. It was delicious.

Stir-fried leaves with dried shrimp

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Filed under Asia, food, food stalls, restaurant, seafood, Southern Thailand, Thailand