Category Archives: seafood

by | 05/11/2010 · 8:50 am

Eat this ASAP

You’ve seen oyster omelettes before. But not like this. It could be the best oyster omelette I’ve tasted yet in Bangkok, capable of converting the most oyster-phobic to its crunchy, briny charms.

Order it here: Nai Mong Hoi Thod (539 Soi Prapachai), which gives you the option of oysters or mussels, crispy or soft (both 65 baht apiece). The choice of oysters or mussels is up to you (although in my opinion, duh, oysters) but you MUST go for extra-crispy (grob grob) for this dish to really take hold of your tastebuds. And it will: more of an oyster-topped crepe, the oysters are fresh and soft and redolent of the sea, and the “omelette” crackly and thin, like a mini-pizza. A marriage of contrasts, bonded by a sweet chili dipping sauce. 

Oyster omelette with sweet chili dipping sauce, fish sauce and white pepper

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

by | 04/25/2010 · 9:53 am

Gluttony in Hua Hin

When I was 12 (bear with me here, I think I’m going somewhere), we had a Secret Santa exchange at my dorm before the Christmas holiday. I combed the mall for something I could get for Leela, a sort of serious, studious older girl who was a prefect (I think she ended up going to Brown, so studying hard does get you somewhere, people). I ended up with caramel corn, which I thought was the perfectest gift ever: sweet and crunchy, with an underside of salt.

Unfortunately, Leela didn’t like caramel corn, although I made her eat at least three handfuls before I turned away and she could chuck her present somewhere else. Poor Leela. But I thought back to that caramel corn when I traveled to Hua Hin last week to sample some edifying sticky rice desserts that play with the sweet/salt balance that Thais are so fond of.

Long before Werther’s Originals, way before Guy Martin started making ice cream out of fennel and black olives at Le Grand des Vefours, eons before Gramercy Tavern was turning out caramel tarts sprinkled with sea salt, Thais were turning sugar and salt into dessert. And this salt does not come in the form of a hit of peanut butter, or a slip of fleur de sel: shrimp, dried fish, kaffir lime leaf, cumin — these are the ingredients of many a traditional Thai dessert, including  khao niew sarapat (sticky rice with toppings and steamed in banana leaves). It is hard to find in Bangkok but readily available in the beachy (and very crowded) resort town of Hua Hin.

These sticky rice offerings, bought at the central Chatchai Market opposite the Meechai Hotel on Petchkasem road (you cannot miss this main road, mainly because you will be stuck in traffic there next to the rest of Bangkok on the weekends), involved black rice, which is mixed with coconut juice to sweeten and soften it (white sticky rice is often mixed with cumin to turn it yellow and contrast it nicely against the red or brown toppings). The toppings themselves were myriad and intriguing: minced, sweetened shrimp; sweet, sticky dried fish; sankaya (coconut milk custard); gracheek (shredded, sweetened coconut) and shredded glauy, a type of root vegetable that is apparently a bitch to prepare — it is dug out of the jungle floor and alternately washed under running water and dried for 15-20 days. If not prepared correctly, it can make you drunk. 

Black sticky rice topped with dried fish and coconut cream

The effect of the seafood-topped desserts was strange and illuminating: the salt actually enhanced the sweetness of the rice, added sugar and coconut milk, while the fishiness added a titillating savory edge.  

Black sticky rice with minced shrimp

 There are other ways to play with seafood-y desserts. Meechai, a mango sticky rice stand next to the Meechai Hotel, sells a sweetened shrimp topping you can put on your own mango sticky rice, or to eat on its own if you like it that much. While many vendors bulk up their minced shrimp with shredded coconut due to the expensiveness of the shrimp, Meechai serves it full-on, with a bit of chiffonaded kaffir lime leaf for flavor. It adds that extra bit of danger to your mango or sankaya sticky rice — even if that danger comes in the form of lines that stretch down the block for a trifling bit of dessert.

Duo of coconut milk custard and sweet shrimp toppings

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Filed under Asia, dessert, food, food stalls, Hua Hin, seafood, Thailand

by | 04/07/2010 · 4:55 pm

Iron Chef hits Bangkok

Whose cuisine reigns supreme?

Chef Hiroyuki Sakai of “Iron Chef” fame (the one who cooked French food, as opposed to the “Chinese” and “Japanese” Iron Chefs) came to Bangkok to bring his love of delicate flavors and vegetable flans to food-loving Thais. Last night, he held the second of three dinners at Maduzi Hotel (full disclosure: my husband’s family owns this hotel, but that didn’t save me from having to shell out the 7,500++ baht like everybody else.) Needless to say, I was excited; this is the closest I will probably ever get to Iron Chef without donning a poufy wig and cape.

"Seriously, guys--is there something in my teeth?"

And Chef Sakai totally delivered. His persnickety attention to detail, illustrated by his high hygienic standards (the kitchen was cleaned after every single course), was reflected in a series of perfectly turned-out dishes despite his having to cook for 60 covers. This somehow didn’t affect the pacing of the dishes, which reached perfection at around the end of the meal.

It kicked off with a completely smooth crab flan, reminiscent in texture of Japanese chawanmushi (egg custard), paired with a deep-fried crispy scallop and wasabi sauce to cut the fattiness.

crab flan with leek and courgette soup, deep-fried scallop and wasabi sauce

A parcel of foie gras came encased in a mashed potato shell and deep-fried into a golf ball, served atop a pool of truffle sauce and topped with a parmesan tuile.

foie gras croquette with truffle sauce

Sakai’s “signature” dish turned out to be a Thai freshwater prawn tail (the Brittany langoustines shipped to the hotel for the event were unfortunately not up to snuff) wrapped in threads of blanched zucchini, braided Bottega Veneta-style over the lightly poached flesh. 

Langoustine wrapped in courgette

After that, grade 9++ Wagyu beef (apparently the highest grade there is, although I don’t understand why you can’t just suck it up and say “grade 10”) was smoked in the hotel kitchen and arrived to the table wrapped in bamboo skin like a Christmas present. 

Lightly smoked Wagyu beef baked in bamboo skin

Finally, a mango custard came layered with a green tea foam and accompanied by a salty chocolate crepe, garnished with a pinch of candied orange peel.

Mango blanc manger and green tea espuma with chocolate crepe

But the best part of the meal, for me at least, was a cold hors d’oeuvre initially described in a preliminary menu as a dreary-sounding “turnip mousse”. What came out of the kitchen was a beautiful mixed custard of Kabu turnip and sea urchin, topped with Alaskan king crab, abalone, fan lobster and scallop chunks, ringed by turnip rounds and topped with a dollop of caviar. It was among the best dishes I’ve had in a while.

This dish is the bomb.

Final verdict? Totally worth it, even if I have to snack on streetside noodles for the rest of the month. I mean, that’s what I’m supposed to be here for, isn’t it?

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Filed under Asia, Bangkok, beef, celebrity chefs, food, French food, Iron Chef, Japanese, restaurant, seafood, Thailand, TV chefs