Category Archives: restaurant

by | 03/24/2010 · 4:30 pm

Go to this noodle shop

Let’s cut to the chase: Tang Meng Noodle (Sukhumvit Rd., between sois 47-49) is awesome. Best-known for its bamee ban (wide egg noodles, as opposed to the regular spaghetti-width ones), Tang Meng also serves a well-regarded bowl of yen ta fo (noodles in a pink seafood sauce), flavor-filled pork noodles in a sweet-sour tom yum sauce with crispy barbecued pork, and even a decently turned-out plate of khao mun gai (chicken rice).

chicken rice

seafood noodles in pink sauce

There are more dishes that I’m not even going to bother to mention, like a wide variety of khao pads (fried rice dishes) and fried noodle selections like pad see ew (fried noodles in soy sauce), @Specialkrb’s favorite. That is because they come from the kitchen in back, which technically makes Tang Meng a restaurant and not a noodle stall, but I don’t care, because the noodle dishes made up front are that good.  So go ahead and order a bowl of bamee moo (pork), luk chin pla (fish meatballs), tom yum (in a sweet-spicy chili sauce), nam yaek (noodle broth on the side) for 40 baht (50 baht for a “special” sized portion).

egg noodles with pork and fish meatballs

Don’t forget to venture a few feet into Sukhumvit Soi 49 for some fried wontons from Fried Wonton Lady (20 baht for 8, including a sweet chili dipping sauce) if, like me, you are striving to maintain your butternut squash-shaped figure. Just don’t order the nam than sod (fresh sugarcane juice), which actually comes in a can and is not, in fact, fresh. You can thank me later.

fried wontons and deep-fried tofu, taro and corn fritters

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Filed under Asia, bamee, Bangkok, food, food stalls, noodles, restaurant, Thailand, won tons

by | 03/24/2010 · 3:59 pm

Adventures in Chinatown, Part I

fish stew storefront

This is a khao tom pla (fish rice porridge) shop that was the only food stall open along a deserted alleyway in Yaowaraj (Chinatown) on a Sunday night following the Red Shirt protests. Called Sieng Gi Khao Tom Pla (Mageng Alley, behind the Grand China Princess Hotel), this shop is famous for–you guessed it–at the relatively exorbitant price of 300 baht a bowl (for Glutton-sized portions. For regular servings, it’s 200 baht).

There’s not much more to be said about fish porridge, except that it comes in three varieties: fatty pomfret with the silvery slivers of skin attached (pla jiramit, favored by Thais), plump chunks of seabass (pla kapong, which was just meh), and oyster (hoy nangrom).  The charms of such a straightforward dish can be elusive: simply poached fish in a fish stock with boiled rice, accompanied by a brown fermented soybean sauce, it draws the fine line between subtle Chinese-Thai delicacy and hospital food. And for the princely sum of 300 baht, one could find a showier, more flavorful deal somewhere else.

But, for us at least, it’s the food equivalent of your favorite aunt–comfort food, with enough exotica to differentiate it from the everyday.  In this case, some of the exotica comes in the form of a honking huge bowl of fish eggs, served on a bed of roughly chopped Thai celery and garnished with deep-fried garlic, an unusual side dish (also 200-300 baht) that is smooth and savory yet slightly grainy, like what a suede purse might taste like.

The rest comes via the–shall we say, homey–atmosphere of the shop itself, an alleyside hole-in-the-wall manned by an elderly Chinese man and his formidable wife. Entertainment comes in the form of rodent-sized cockroaches that tickle your toes as you eat; the squeamish need only complain and the waitress will be only too happy to shoo them away for you, at no additional cost. Enjoy.

seabass porridge

fish eggs

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