| |
PussyLover 69
|
Report from Bangkok Post dated Monday 27 September 2010 :-
The spoils of Sriyan - A list of fine dishes found within an old neighbourhood where vendors use traditional cooking methods
=================================================
The Sriyan area is the vicinity around the intersection of Samsen Road and Nakhon Chaisi Road. It is a crowded and lively spot, and one of the oldest neighbourhoods in Bangkok. The way the residents live, being constantly on the go, can be seen in much of the neighbourhood's features. There were once two fresh markets - the Sriyan Market and Nakhon Chaisi Market - as well as two cinemas. The School of Commerce there is the starting point of a bus route, and Nakhon Chaisi Road ends at a pier on the banks of the Chao Phraya River, where there's a boat service to the Thon Buri side. But now, only the Nakhon Chaisi Market remains, and both cinemas have closed.
Still, the thing that makes Sriyan really special is the food. The eating scene there never sleeps, so there's always something to eat. Even before dawn when Buddhist monks are making their alms rounds you will see night shift workers ordering pork blood and innards with beer on their way back home.
Besides being open around-the-clock, the Sriyan food scene also offers a great variety of dishes as the neighbourhood is home to native Bangkokians, people from Isan and from the South, as well as Chinese from the Hainanese and Teochew ethnic groups. Most of them cook food to sell from their shop, food stall or pushcart parked along the pavement.
This week I'd like to recommend a few of the tasty dishes on offer there, starting with the area surrounding Ruam Jit intersection on Nakhon Chaisi Road, which is about 15m before the intersection with Sriyan Road. At the intersection to the right, on Ruam Jit Road, is a very old noodle and yen ta fo (noodles in pink broth served with fishballs, squid, fried tofu and kang kung, or water spinach) shop.
The noodles are delicious, but there is also another special offering: pork-stuffed omelette that is boiled and cut into small pieces called luk rawk. It is usually included as an ingredient in the yen ta fo dish, however, customers there like to order an extra serving as a side dish to eat with chilli sauce. A typical meal there usually means some yen ta fo, followed by a serving of luk rawk.
Read more at :-
http://www.bangkokpost.com/leisure/restaurant/198244/the-spoils-of-sriyan
|
Thai Girls : Meet Sexy Thai Girls
Posted on: 11:50 am on Sep. 27, 2010
|
|
CalEden
|
Frankly, the name "Condoms & Cabbages" has put me off! When thinking of dinning, Lolita's does not come to mind, hence I have never entertained the though of dining at "Condoms & Cabbages" despite all the rave reviews. The name just conjures up some Bukkake smorgasbord in my mind.
|
Bangkok Women : Meet Sensual Bangkok Women
Posted on: 11:59 pm on Sep. 27, 2010
|
|
PussyLover 69
|
Report from Bangkok Post dated Thursday 14 October 2010 :-
Which way Thai cuisine? - The media is full of misrepresentation about Thai cooking
===========================================
We seem to have arrived at the day when a foreigner has come forward to present himself as an authority on Thai cuisine. He is preparing old-fashioned Thai food for Thai people to eat, and teaching them how to recognise the real thing.
In presenting himself in this way, he is doing nothing wrong, because everyone has the right to study Thai cuisine, to show confidence in what he knows, and to prepare Thai food to sell to customers. In fact, it may be a good thing for Thais and serve as a lesson to encourage them to take stock of how much they really understand about the food they have been eating since they were born and will probably continue eating until they die. Is what they know really correct, especially those whose work is directly concerned with Thai food? Those who don't have a genuine understanding of Thailand's cuisine should hold back and not lead it along the path to destruction, because these days there are many groups of Thais, including those who prepare food for sale, who discuss it in the print media or on television, or who teach it as a subject at universities, who are taking a tradition that once had a character and identity that was extremely special and draining it of its value to the point where it differs little from the food given to fish in an aquarium.
From the huge number of dishes made in all of Thailand's regions, which I think outnumber the cars on its roads, a great many came from simple roots based on reasoning, or science, and economy. As they developed from household to household, and from homes to palaces, they never lost touch with these old roots.
For example, take nam phrik kapi (a chilli dip made from shrimp paste, garlic, lime, chillies and palm sugar), one of the most familiar of all Thai dishes. From the most basic wooden houses to palaces built in imported Western architectural styles, the recipe remains the same. It is made from kapi (shrimp paste) that comes from the same place, and before the sauce is pounded the kapi will be wrapped in a piece of banana leaf and grilled first for safety's sake, since it may not have been stored in the cleanest conditions. The grilling also brings out the fragrance. The kapi is then pounded vigorously with the garlic so that the two ingredients interact to keep the aroma of the kapi from being too strong. The technique is an example of art based on science.
As for economy, the way produce is used provides one example. Some types of fruit, like gourds, appear in large numbers on a single branch or vine. New, immature fruits must be removed so that the older ones can reach a good size and form quickly. But the unripe ones are not thrown away. Instead they are boiled and served with nam phrik. They go well with it because they are "cooling" plants that balance the saltiness and chilli heat of the nam phrik. If there are enough of them, they can also be made into a kaeng som (a sour-sweet-spicy curry).
Jackfruit are raised in a similar way. Several fruits form at once on the trunk and branches of the tree. Young ones are removed so that the others mature more quickly and can be eaten when they are ripe and sweet. The unripe ones are made into curries and other dishes, though, so that nothing is wasted.
Thailand, with its abundance of water, has many kinds of fish, and there are dishes that are appropriate for making the most of different types. The freshwater fish called pla sawai (striped catfish), for example, is oily and his a strip along its back that has an unappetising odour. This strip must be removed and the fish then prepared with pickled bamboo shoots in a kaeng phet (spicy red curry made with coconut cream), as the sourness from the bamboo reduces the heaviness of the fatty fish. For the fish called pla krathing (spiny eel), with its coarse-textured meat, the best thing is to grill it to make the meat firmer and bring out its aroma, then prepare it as a kaeng phet or a tom yum or a yum (salad).
There are good reasons for all of these techniques, and the purposes of some of them can be demonstrated scientifically. The desire to make economical use of ingredients is also fundamental to Thai cooking. These properties will never disappear, and the more clearly you understand these things, the more you will love and appreciate Thai cuisine.
Unfortunately, these principles are not respected in commercial food circles, where cooks are not honest either with themselves or with their customers. They change and adjust dishes in a way that suggests that they look down on Thai cooking. Traditional dishes like the boiled egg-based khai luk khoei are ruinously abused: Yellow onions are used in place of shallots; vinegar replaces sour tamarind; carrot slivers are scattered on top instead of crisp-fried shallots.
Many restaurant cooks would scarcely recognise a stone mortar and pestle if they tripped over it. They buy prepared curry pastes at the market or get it out of a tin. They fry their curry seasonings in oil rather than in coconut cream and tint the surface with food colouring to make the dish look tasty. Carrots are added together with the aubergines. All kinds of yum dishes are sprinkled with shredded carrot and fried, dried chillies. In making the spicy coconut cream sauce called nam ya eaten with khanom jeen, or fermented rice noodles, traditional preparation methods that make use of curry seasonings, fish and coconut cream are compromised through the addition of curry powder, which greatly changes the flavour. Examples of this kind of thing are everywhere. How do cooks think them up, and why do they do it?
So much for commercial cooks. Media people who write about Thai food or discuss it on television mostly deal in ignorance and confusion. They focus attention on tasting this and that dish, and on the restaurant's atmosphere and decor rather than offering any real knowledge concerning the food. As they sample each dish they never talk about its history or explain where it came from. No information is given about the meats that are used, the other fresh ingredients, the seasonings used and how the flavours are balanced, or the food value of the dishes in front of them. Nothing is said about the relationships between the dishes on the table, how the different kinds of food relate to each, and why. How do the foods of different Thai historical periods compare with each other? How have the cuisines of other cultures influenced Thai cooking? We're rarely told.
The main duty of almost all food journalists in Thailand today seems to be the consumption of free meals, with interviews of the restaurant owners thrown in to give the result the complexion of public relations puff rather than serious journalism. In addition to the fact that they know little about food, they also give their support to restaurants that abuse Thai cuisine. They will give credit to or praise a restaurant that tops pizza with a dry version of kaeng khio wan luk chin pla krai (a spicy coconut cream curry with balls of pounded fish meat) or with dry tom yum kung (sour and spicy shrimp soup with chilli and lime). These combinations are a slap in the face to both the Thai and Italian cooking traditions. If the shop were to start selling pizza topped with fermented fish tom yum or a sweet Thai dessert like the coconut cream and salted egg khanom bua loy khai wan, they would probably still get the nod from the local food press.
Many of the professors who teach Thai cuisine in Thai universities are older people who know their subject well, but there are also many who are ambitious and, in researching recipes, make revisions or try to establish new theories. They make changes with the aim of making an impression and polishing their credentials with the ultimate goal of moving upward on the academic ladder.
For example, there is one such instructor who teaches students that the dessert called khanom sai sai ("filled sweet", a sweet coconut filling steamed inside a coconut cream and flour mixture) should be called khanom sam fai ("three fires sweet"). The first fire is used to make the filling, the second for the coconut cream mixture, and the third is for the steaming. Proclaiming a new "theory" like this is pernicious and misleading, as the original name of the sweet was khanom yat sai ("stuffed sweet").
It was changed because some people considered the word yat (a vulgar word meaning to eat) impolite. Food professors joined forces to give it the polite new name. And now they want to change it again to "three fires sweet".
With some Thais so ready to help each other hammer Thai cuisine down in this way the question arises, where can we go to find and enjoy real Thai cooking? So foreigners come in and loudly proclaim, "I will teach the Thais how to make authentic Thai food." I wonder if there are any individuals or groups among us who will feel the pain of this slap in the face
|
Thai Girls : Meet Sexy Thai Girls
Posted on: 10:28 am on Oct. 14, 2010
|
|
sai tai
|
Quote: from quack quack on 11:45 pm on Sep. 27, 2010
How would you guys rate the tried & trusted Condoms & Cabbages for traditional Thai food, on a scale of 1 to 10?
I would have to rate it a zero considering my first and only meal there put me in bed and out of action for more than a week. A cutie from The Office took me there - poor thing stayed with me in my hotel room all night while I puked and groaned.
|
Bangkok Girls : Meet Sexy Bangkok Girls
Posted on: 7:23 pm on Oct. 14, 2010
|
|
Lobster
|
Quote: from quack quack on 11:45 am on Sep. 28, 2010
I don't think the food at C&C is OK but not great. But I still like going there I think it is a nice atmosphere and also the work they do on raising awareness of HIV and AIDS is worth supporting.
|
Thai Women : Meet Matured Thai Women
Posted on: 8:16 pm on Oct. 14, 2010
|
|
driller
|
Why is it so difficult to find a ptoper Seafood restaurant in BKK?
Use to be a few around the Sukh. area.
I hate those massive Seafood markets.
Any suggestions????????
|
Bangkok Women : Meet Beautiful Thai Girls
Posted on: 6:36 am on Oct. 21, 2010
|
|
PussyLover 69
|
Report from Bangkok Post dated Friday 22 October 2010 :-
Klom Klom - Success is not going to change this popular restaurant with its welcoming prices and customer-friendly food
=========================================
Pradit Manutham Road is attracting more and more diners to explore its growing profusion of restaurants. It really comes alive at night, and navigating the many sois on either side of the strip will introduce to more enticing eateries and pubs.
In Soi Yothin Patthana 3, for example, Dusitvut Vannarak has seen neighbours opening and closing while his pride and joy, Klom Klom is in its third year and has amassed a regular clientele of enviable proportions. He admits, though, that the first three months were tough for him and his mum, who was in charge of cooking all the orders.
"In the beginning, we just offered quick meals and steaks," said Dusitvut, who's a former systems analyst with a degree in computer science.
"We didn't do any advertising, but waited for customers in the hope that good, inexpensive food would attract their interest, and after three months it finally got off the ground. We could then afford to employ a cook, who is still with us today."
His ambition to become a restaurateur came when he finished high school and spent a year working at an upscale Thai restaurant in Tokyo. Later, he went into the corporate life, then quit to take up the challenge of running a garage. One of his customers, Anurak Rangsiwatthana, became a friend and together they decided to start up this restaura
"Anurak gave it the name Klom Klom to express the friendly price and taste of the food, and it's always been a pleasure to hear customers complimenting us on that," said Dusitvut.
"Their feedback also helped us develop the menu. We never had salmon until our customers asked for it. Then we had requests for lamb, ostrich and snow fish, which were cooked for a small group first. Then the dishes ended up on the menu so that other customers could enjoy them too."
A good food supplier provides the restaurant with a four-kilogramme salmon whose different parts are cooked in various ways - grilled for the steak, fried with salt for the diced salmon tord klua or cooked as larb salmon. The salmon dishes costing 150-220 baht are very good value considering the quality of the fish.
The menu's highlight is a marriage of Norwegian salmon and Japanese wasabi, which is like having a tranquil fjord and an explosive Mount Fuji on the same plate. The salmon, saturated in fish salt or chae nam pla, comes with wasabi to fire up the flavour. The cool salmon salad is presented as a little mountain of vegetables and slices of raw salmon topped with a mild wasabi dressing.
But you can really go wild when tasting the yum soo saa wasabi (95 baht) with prawns, squids and imitation crab meat. It's only a short burst but it requires a higher tolerance for wasabi to fully enjoy its hot and spicy qualities.
"Our customers like the high-power wasabi," said Dusitvut. "But that doesn't mean that Klom Klom is all about extreme flavours. Its name means that it's about a harmony of flavours: nothing too hot, salty or too sweet; everything accommodating to the palate and adaptable to all tastes."
The Thai cuisine has a home-cooking appeal and the menu started with the favourite dishes Dusitvut eats at home, like prawns stir-fried with chilli pepper (95 baht) and liver fried with garlic (85 baht). Seafood dishes then followed like the fried white seabass extravagantly topped with garlic (220 baht), and the juicy New Zealand green mussels steamed with herbs (150 baht) served with spicy sauces.
The chefs added their own specialities, too. One is notable for cooking Thai food and spice-fried wild boar (100 baht), while the other for making steaks and sauces such as the mouthwatering BBQ pork rib (175 baht) topped with a lovely sauce that has a tangy flavour and not oversweet. There's also ostrich steak (250 baht) and lamb chops priced according to weight.
The quality and flavour of the food as well as the reasonable prices are what make customers come back again and again, and the 70-seat restaurant has become an ideal place for families and friends to get together for dinner in an easy-going ambiance.
"To recharge our batteries, we need a day off each week, and that's Sunday," said Dusitvut. "It also gives us a chance to go to other places and see what's happening on the restaurant scene. But we're not thinking of expanding. We want Klom Klom to go on being a low-profile restaurant that shows our flair for giving our customers good food and service."
Link :- http://www.bangkokpost.com/leisure/cuisine/202676/all-about-harmony
|
Bangkok Girls : Meet Attractive Thai Girls
Posted on: 10:45 am on Oct. 22, 2010
|
|
PussyLover 69
|
Report from Bangkok Post dated Friday 24 December 2010 :-
Star-studded Thai restaurants come home
==========================
They were Thai by nature but simply born overseas. But in 2010, Nahm and Kiin Kiin, the world's only two Thai restaurants to have received a Michelin star, are back in their motherland.
Founded and run by a blue-eyed, brown-haired Australian chef David Thompson, Nahm is a Thai restaurant in London and the first of its kind in the world to have been awarded the celebrated star in 2001.
And this year in September, chef David decided to launch his first branch-out joint in Thailand at the Metropolitan Bangkok.
Kiin Kiin, the other world celebrity that also decided to settle at home this year, is a brainchild of chef Henrik Yde-Andersen and Lertchai Treetawatchaiwong, a Thai engineer-cum-gastronomist. This Thai restaurant that received the star in 2008 and originally operated only in Copenhagen, Denmark, opened its first outlet at Siam Kempinski three months ago under the name Sra Bua by Kiin Kiin.
Though both are perceived as Thai restaurants, their cuisines are totally different. Nahm is claimed to serve some of the most authentic home-style Thai fare _ there, you'll find stir-fried rice paddy frogs and lon pla ra (simmered cured fish in coconut cream) as well as nam phrik (chilli dip). While Sra Bua by Kiin Kiin offers a thought-provoking gastronomic experience that is simply based on Thai ingredients, menus and flavours (see ''The arrival of full-scaled molecular gastronomy cuisine'').
So the controversy began.
Nahm has lately become a main subject of discussions of different scales _ communal, official and unpremeditated _ among local foodies and wannabes on whether it is ethical for out-of-towners to cook Thai food (and be famous) or whether the food at these restaurants really is authentic. This is to let alone the question of whether the place is worth visiting. Well, tables can be hard to get without reservation.
While diners in Bangkok are now enjoying world-famous Thai cuisine from overseas, that doesn't mean the homegrown Thai eateries are less notable. This year more Thai restaurants than ever opened on Bangkok streets, and most of them are excellent.
|
Thai Girls : Meet Active Thai Girls
Posted on: 10:16 pm on Dec. 25, 2010
|
|
PussyLover 69
|
Report from Bangkok Post dated Friday 24 December 2010 :-
Phuket Town @ Thong Lor Soi 6, Sukhumvit 55 Road
================================
Phuket Town is one of 2010's hottest, down-home additions to the fashionable Thong Lor strip. Behind the wooden doors of the mustard-yellow coloured shophouse is where you can find the authentic pungency of southern-style Thai cuisine prepared according to the recipes of a native family.
The menu is simple, featuring all the regional classics with the island's famous dishes as highlights.
I recommend that you don't miss its best-selling khanom jeen nam ya poo (130 baht), or Thai-style fermented rice noodles with sweet and spicy curry sauce and blue crab meat. Served with a traditional variety of condiments, including pickled soy bean sprouts (thua ngok hua to), crispy caramelised tiny fish and chamuang leaves, to name a few, the curry, in which chunks of naturally sweet crabmeat are bathed, is rich and tasty with a hint of fieriness.
Nam phrik koong sieb, or spicy shrimp paste with sun-dried shrimp (150 baht), is another must-have. The truly delicious and extremely fiery hot dip, to be enjoyed with rice, arrives with cha-om tips omelette, pickled bean sprouts, string beans and eggplant.
Should you look for some crunchy, tasty treat with zero degree of spiciness, order deep-fried chicken wings with sticky rice (120 baht). It presents 15 deep-fried wings lightly battered and seasoned with turmeric powder and salt, along with a basket of well-cooked sticky rice.
Or try pla sai tord khamin, or deep-fried sea bream with turmeric (200 baht), which is very crispy and addictive.
Phuket Town
Thong Lor Soi 6, Sukhumvit 55 Road
Tel 02-714-9402
Open: Daily 10:30am-10pm
Parking: Along the road
Credit cards: Not accepted
|
Thai Women : Meet Matured Thai Women
Posted on: 10:48 pm on Dec. 26, 2010
|
|
PussyLover 69
|
Report from Bangkok Post dated Friday 24 December 2010 :-
Palm Cuisine @ Thong Lor 16, Sukhumvit 55 Road
===============================
As with several other restaurants from this list that I have recommended to family and friends, Palm Cuisine has nicely impressed every single one of them.
Even though the place seems like a branch-out business of a spa, this one-year-old, 40-seat eatery is one of the most no-nonsense Thai restaurants in the city. It offers home-style Thai dishes, of both family-scale and restaurant-scale, prepared according to a family's recipes by a team of professional chefs.
From the fully illustrated menu of more than 100 items, one may find it hard to decide what (not) to order. So sticking to the recommendations page, which lists a dozen of the most popular dishes, will make your life easier.
From that, pla kaphong tord nam pla, or deep-fried snapper seasoned with fish sauce (350 baht), promises to delight every one in your party. Stir-fried soft-shell crab with chilli and salt (280 baht), to be enjoyed as an addictive appetiser or a tasty side dish with rice, is equally impressive.
As palatably charming as it was visually enticing is phla goong, or grilled river prawn with spicy herbal dressing (350 baht). It features a huge prawn, with its cheesy head intact, perfectly grilled to yield a pleasantly chewy meat that is enhanced with pungent topping.
Also deserving two thumbs up is nam phrik makham with deep-fried salid (gourami) fish and fresh vegetables (150 baht). Made with young tamarind fruit pounded with shrimp paste and herbs before being stir fried with minced pork, the nam phrik offers a sour and salty flavour with a hint of sweetness but not too fiery. It goes well with the mildly salty, fluffy fish.
The dessert menu presents options like mango and sticky rice, coconut ice cream and cakes. The colourful, old-fashion styled shaved ice (60 baht) tastes definitely luscious.
Palm Cuisine
Thong Lor 16, Sukhumvit 55 Road
Tel 02-391-3254
Open: Daily 10am-10pm
Parking: On the premises
Credit cards: Most accepted
|
Bangkok Girls : Meet Attractive Thai Girls
Posted on: 10:51 pm on Dec. 26, 2010
|
|
| |
|
