Category Archives: food

by | 06/21/2010 · 12:50 pm

Bangkok’s best, or Where do I get some gravy noodles?

A friend of mine who likes to call himself an “omnivore” once said that the only thing he hated was lard na, the Chinese-inspired Thai pan-fried noodle in a thick gravy with meat or seafood and vegetables. I understood what he meant. As great as Cantonese food can be, a big knock commonly levelled against one of the great cuisines of the world is that it is too greasy, too goopy, too much like … baby saliva. Or the guy that is constantly coughing and clearing his throat in the corner of the coffee shop in the morning when you’re trying to mind your own business and standing in line for ages and WHY DON’T YOU HAVE DECAF?! You know what I’m talking about.

Actually, you probably don’t. But you might know what I mean about guay thiew lard na, which is seriously one of the great food stand offerings of the city. If a safari hunter is always on lookout for the “Big Five”, a galloping gourmet in Bangkok is sure to bump into a lard na stand on his or her way to the egg noodle, soup noodle, pad thai or rice porridge stall down the road. This city is littered with many a lard na stand serving faithfully exact facsimiles of that goopy, steaming mess that my friend so dreads.

But he didn’t know about sen mee krob.

Some of the very best — and by “best” I mean the places that are well-known by Thais for their lard na — vendors in the city deep-fry their noodles so that the crispy crunch of the starch offsets the thick gelatinous gravy they are slathered in. Like a Japanese cherry blossom clinging to the branch in late March, this is an ephemeral delight; the noodles go limp if you dally before tucking in. But it is something very real, something very genuine, a real added dimension to a dish that would otherwise be only okay. 

It is also the reason why I am wandering down this busy, congested street miles away from the nearest air-conditioning, where DVD vendors vie for your attention and the sidewalks are littered with remote controls and stereo components. We are in Baan Maw, a neighborhood in the old city specializing in electrical equipment — and, tucked behind what appears to be a hubcap vendor, lard na with crispy sen mee, or thin noodles, studded with pork, bristling with Chinese kale.

Crispy thin noodles in gravy at Rot Tip Yod Pak

Rot Tip Yod Pak (Baan Maw) is also known for its crispy pork on rice, but the lard na is what I’m there for: a cheery crunch nestled amid a burst of porky flavor. And at about 30-40 baht a plate, it’s reasonably priced.

Which is more than what can be said for Jay Fai (327 Mahachai Rd., Samranrach Intersection). With its various interpretations of the gravy noodle — with seafood, shrimp, pork, chicken or beef — hovering at around the “250+” range on its menu, one would wonder, Why? The answer, simply put, is this:

Crispy gravy noodle with seafood at Jay Fai

Now, I have seen people wander into this restaurant, sit down, look at the menu, calculate the prices, and then walk out again. But they were obviously not thinking clearly, and their places are almost always quickly filled. A meal at Jay Fai is an investment. That is because when people ask you, What’s the best place for Thai food in Bangkok?, you will be able to tell them, with some authority, that it’s Jay Fai. You can tell them about the tom yum hang, the ubiquitous lemongrass “soup” served without the broth, redolent in galangal and kaffir lime and chili; the stir-fried wide noodle with chicken (kua gai), thick with fresh lettuce and shrimp as big as the palm of your hand; and the most expensive crab omelette (kai jiew pu) I have ever seen at 500 baht — but so engorged with crab flesh you don’t really bat an eye.

Oops! What's left of the crab omelette

There is more (for example, this place is big on serving things “dry” — dry congee, dry sukiyaki, etc), but I would miss lunch, and that would be horrible. All I can say is, I’m saving up for my next meal. And taking my friend with me.

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Filed under Asia, Bangkok, food, food stalls, noodles, restaurant, Thailand

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