Posts from the ‘Thai’ Category

Oct 17

Khao Sarn

OK, so I professed the wonders of using green apple in
lieu of green papaya in a som tam, but that was a bad Brooklyn produce,
last minute desperate measure. I don't want to see actual restaurants
pulling this off, and especially not without warning you first.

I wouldn't expect mind-blowing Thai food in Williamsburg in the first
place, but being in the neighborhood on a hungry Friday night, I thought I'd
give Khao Sarn a shot. And it was all very adequate, which apparently is
fine for all the locals wielding chopsticks and downing their BYOB Corona
six-packs. But I would've liked a little more oomph. I'm swear not a snobby
fussbudget (well, sometimes), but Thai cuisine is one of those things where
I'm pretty particular. If I don't see lime leaves, if I do see chopsticks,
and particularly if I'm given green apple passed off as papaya, it's
curtains for a restaurant. Khao Sarn Rd. is totally the Bedford Ave. of
Bangkok so in some way it all makes senses really.

Khao Sarn * 311 Bedford Ave., Brooklyn, NY

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Aug 22

Hua Hin Brewing Company

1/2

So, we spent more on a few pints of beer and novelty buffalo wings than we
had on our entire dinner. Technically, this was "second dinner" as we'd
taken to calling our excess of meals in S.E. Asia. A part of the Hilton, but
on the main drag, this new-ish place was next to outdoor bars with lesser
food and 95 baht drinks. We just wanted to try the Buffalo wings, that's
all. They came all precious and lollipopped, and instead of blue cheese
dressing they were served with a marinara they deemed barbecue sauce. The
whole shebang, coupled with bad cover bands doing that Julio Iglesias Jr.'s
song where he warbles and cries about being your hero, was top notch Thai
for tourists. I mean that in the best way possible. It was fun.

Hua Hin Brewing Company * 33 Naresdamri Rd., HuaHin,
Thailand

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Aug 21

Chao Lay

Our first Hua Hin meal, at the outermost edge of pier, more balmy than
sticky, was a wonderful respite from Bangkok. We should've done this sooner.
I wasn't sure about James's choice of curry powder crab, which sounded gross
because I kept thinking of blah grocery store bottled curry, but the crab
wasn't bad at all. It was really akin to Singapore chili crab, in that it
was spiced and saucy and cooked in the shell. This rendition had the crab
hacked into large pieces. We also ordered southern fried rice, absolutely
not knowing what southern style meant, except that here in NYC there's a
dish called southern curry, which is the hottest, craziest dish I've ever
had. This was not spicy like that. It was just really good rice with an
astonishing amount of prawns and squid tossed in.

We were still acclimating to the spooky, tropical beach climate where
lizards seem to roam freely. At one point, what I thought was a bat starting
flapping right near James's head and scared the shit out of both of us. It
was a massive moth. Now I get how the Japanese could fathom the concept of
Mothra. We also got a jarring surprise from a cat that jumped up on the pier
next to us. Seeing a cat wasn't a surprise, but we couldn't figure how it
came from under the pier since we were suspended over water.

The meal was satisfying and leisurely, that's why I hate to admit that
this was the only evening in S.E. Asia that I got stomach sick. Later that
evening I was laying on the bed, delirious and queasy. I say delirious
because when James asked, "do you want some Tums?" I thought he said, "do
you want som tam" and I was like yeah (I could always go for a little papaya
salad) if I wasn't so ill. I started to laugh, but had to suck it back in as
to not barf. Ah…memories.

Chao Lay * 15
Naresdamri Rd., Hua Hin, Thailand

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Aug 20

1 Comment

Celadon

1/2

I think we overdid it on the upscale restaurants in Bangkok. I got sucked in
because I'm so poor in NYC that the prospect of being able to eat at lots of
expensive places got me excited. Celadon and Blue Elephant were the two I
seemed to hear the most about, so we went for it.

The setting was very pretty. Salas, as they call them, above lotus
ponds. Of course we went for the air conditioning, but as it was the coolest
night in S.E. Asia (though still in the 80s) and the air conditioning was
actually freezing (I never though I'd hear myself say that about Bangkok) we
could've done the open-air seating. But we were hate-the-heat-and-humidity
tourists like everyone else in the room. What separated us from the rest of
the room, however, was our desire for authentic and hot, hot food.

And I'm afraid that's also what created the most amusement during our
meal. An older gentleman at a table of bossy Middle Eastern gentlemen in the
back of the room, started wheezing and choking and making a huge scene. A
younger man started yelling for water. The older guy had tears running down
his face. I was like is he having a seizure or something? As it turned out
the food was just too spicy. This was completely baffling, and only made me
wonder what he must have ordered. Even more so, when we asked the waitress
about the guy and the food, us commenting that it wasn't really very hot.
She agreed, saying "it's not really Thai food, it's for tourists."

We tried a tasting menu that I think was seven courses, though I can
only seem to recall six, and even those are hazy. We started with pie tee
cups filled with something I can't even remember, followed by a large,
filling serving of tom gai ka. The mains came together: greens with
scallops, penang pork curry, and steamed prawns with herbs. The meal was
finished with one of those icy, black rice, jelly and coconut milk desserts.
We specifically wanted to try the penang curry because we'd made the exact
same dish earlier in the day during our cooking class. There's was certainly
more refined, though I don't think ours was any less tasty.

I enjoyed the experience (I also like in S.E. Asia how there's no
emphasis on wine whatsoever. They don't even ask if you want a drink. I
mean, I like wine, but I always feel pressured when dining in higher price
range restaurants) but I wasn't bowled over. Later, I thought we might've
been better off ordering from the menu because I've heard good things about
particular dishes. But now I know about hotel restaurants and will be able
to resist their appeal the next time I'm in Bangkok, whenever that may be.

Celadon * 13/3
South Sathorn Rd., Bangkok, Thailand

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Aug 19

Hua Lamphong Food Station

1/2

It was this dining experience that made it abundantly clear that despite
what people will tell you, language barriers can be a major stumbling block
in Bangkok. Or maybe it was cultural differences, I'm not sure. Despite
raves about this place, the experience was intimidating and mildly
exasperating. Thailand was tough because I think we overdid it on high end
cuisine geared towards foreigners and I hate to be that kind of tourist, but
being on our own with little guidance and command of the language, pointing
and smiling only gets you so far. We did street food, but the typical
makeshift street side dining was sort of out of bounds. Not that Hua
Lamphong was that sort of restaurant.

I knew getting there would be a little tricky, I didn't even bother
trying with taxis, already having experienced garbled, getting lost traumas.
With a restaurant sharing the same name as the train station, nowhere
nearby, it would just be asking for trouble. Instead we skytrained it,
knowing full well, it would be a meandering trek to the restaurant. How
winding and confusing in the pitch black, we didn't know. There weren't any
streetlights, or sidewalks (duh, that should've been a given by this point
in the trip) and lots of blind corners. I was scared to death we were going
to get run over head-on by either barreling car or motorbike. I was a little
alarmed when we finally found the place (no thanks to directions or maps I'd
read, it was totally on raw instinct) and discovered it was an open-air,
non-air conditioned affair. Our little journey had me dripping buckets. To
their credit, the fans did make it adequately breezy.

The concept of letting someone leisurely peruse a menu or having a
little breathing room while filling out the credit card slip have yet to be
adopted in Thailand. I think they are trying to provide good service, but
it's almost overboard service. I don't know if it was because we were there
in off season, but often we were one of the only customers and the waitstaff
to patron ratio is like eight to one. The menu Hua Lamphong Food Station is
quite large, and I couldn't even tell you about 1/10 of it because we
weren't allowed to glance at it for more than about 60 seconds. Perhaps the
idea is that they suggest items for you, but I like doing things on my own.
We rapidly picked out som tam, gai yang, a frog dish and something else that
I can't recall. We did not get the frog dish, but received a mixed mushroom
entre instead (it was surprisingly tasty for how simple it looked).
Everything we asked for was met with a blank faced stare. All the dishes
we'd mention seemed to be ignored, instead other items were called out to
us. I'm not sure if the waiter didn't like our choices or didn't understand
our mangled Thai. The biggest mistake James made was pointing at his watch
and trying to indicate that we needed more time. To me, watch-pointing would
seem universally to indicate hurry.

I had wanted to try Northern style Thai cooking so I was excited, but
the food almost started seemed inconsequential after the stressful ordering
and dining experience (there's always staff standing behind or next to you
watching all your moves). I will say the som tam (which was the Thai style,
not the Laotian rendition, which uses fermented fish sauce nam pla raa and
field crabs, which I only know from researching ahead of time–I didn't get
a chance to find it on the menu) was the spiciest, and quite possibly the
best I've ever had. I was mildly confused about how to eat the overflowing
plate of herbs that comes with assorted nam prik. Do you dip them and eat
them like crudites or mix them with the meal? I felt like a loser for
leaving so much herb behind. I also felt like a loser for being so lost,
like I was missing out on some ordering secret. It was a total white person
clientele and no one else seemed to be having problems, though from
eavesdropping I was able to deduce that each table appeared to have a
requisite Thai-speaking orderer that seemed to enjoy showing off to family
and friends. I'm not a fan of show boaters, but in this case a show off
companion might've been useful.

Hua Lamphong Food Station * 92/1 Sukhumvit 34,Bangkok,
Thailand

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Aug 18

Eat Me

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Aug 17

Toh Plue

I know that a crispy catfish and mango salad was ordered and eaten, but the
rest of the meal is a bit vague because I started to feel faint after
sitting down. (It's like that urban myth where if a subway crushes you,
you'll stay alive until the car is moved off your body. As long as I was
boiling hot I was fine, but as soon as the air-conditioning hit me I started
wilting.) Chatuchak can really take a lot out of you. After a few solid
hours of crowds, bargaining and oppressive heat, you just need to sit down.
I wish I were better acclimated because I'm sure I missed out not trying any
of the non-English outdoor food stands. But I had to swallow my pride and go
into full tourist mode, eating at the indoor, air-conditioned restaurant in
the market where all the other white people had congregated, Nancy Chandler
maps in tow (I'd actually bought and brought one with me to Thailand, but
forgot to bring it along on this excursion).

Toh Plue * Chatuchak Market, Bangkok, Thailand

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Aug 17

Blue Elephant

This was the best of the upscale Thai we tried. I've since decided we
should've eaten more "regular" food, but was enticed by the favorable
exchange rate (it's not every day that a poor New Yorker like me can afford
high end restaurants). It also seemed sort of odd to eat at a worldwide Thai
chain restaurant while actually in Thailand. But I was curious.

The dcor wasn't minimalist chic, but rather made use of lots of bamboo
and accoutrements, in a royal Thai vein. The menu wasn't completely
traditional, however. There's were a few fusion flairs scattered throughout.
We way over-ordered, which made me feel guilty to leave so much behind (I'm
usually the queen of doggie bags). We had mixed satays: chicken, pork, and
buffalo, for a starter. Then a side of pad Thai (the only time in Thailand I
ordered the ubiquitous dish) which barely got touched. I ordered a green
curry with black chicken that came with mini rotis. It was really very good,
perfectly spicy and filled with those tiny pea eggplants you can never find
in NYC. Being addicted to gai pad grapow (which he's dubbed E3 after its
listing at the Thai restaurant near his office), James had to try the lamb
chop kapraow with wild rice and fried basil, which looked pretty impressive
(I love those fried herbs). Grapow? Kapraow? I know, there's not
consistency, I'm just going with the individual restaurants' spellings.

We were seriously walking distance from our hotel, but being Bankok in
the midst of a furious downpour, we opted for a cab. Also being Bangkok this
was a trauma because we were on the wrong side of the street and going right
(where our hotel was) would take going left for like a mile or so then
looping back. I felt like such the dirty American, as the maitre d' made one
of the staff go out in the rain and hail us a cab. We were given enormous
umbrellas to keep dry while the French, slightly sleazy (I didn't really
think he was sleazy, but he made some comment about how in Bangkok "you can
have anything" and James took that to mean sexual favors) maitre d' made
small talk with us, commenting on how he and James were dressed the same
(wearing a suit-kind of weird in Bangkok) and sort of tried bonding with us,
like one rich Westerner to another. I'm probably reading way more into the
little exchange we had, but I felt sort of spoiled with all the service and
attention we received in Thailand (it's supposed to be the land of smiles,
right?).

Blue Elephant * 233 South
Sathorn Rd., Bangkok,Thailand

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Aug 16

Prik Kee Noo

I really had no idea what to expect of Bangkok. I figured it would be hot,
dirty, crowded and trafficky since that's what everyone says. I'm a New
Yorker, I can deal with huddled masses, right? Well, no. The heat was beyond
oppressive, and it wasn't crowds so much as impossibly crowded sidewalks,
the night markets made it difficult to walk at a typical New York clip. Half
the time there weren't sidewalks or street lights and giant cracks and
puddles with frogs in them. You really had to be careful where you stepped
(how people wear heels is beyond me). I'm not used to leisurely paces. But
the biggest shocker, what I hadn't anticipated, was that the concept of
crosswalks and signals wouldn't exist in Bangkok. On top of being
hyper-vigilant as to not being run over by motorbikes and cars, you also
have to look opposite directions than accustomed to since they are left-side
drivers. Being a pedestrian is totally exhausting in Bangkok.

According to my Time Out guidebook there was a restaurant, Kao Gub
Kaeng, that stayed open late, and that seemed walking distance from the
hotel. This was going to be my dinner plan. Making it to Soi Convent was a
total trek despite being maybe ten blocks away. And once there, we
absolutely couldn't find the restaurant. The side streets were all dark and
leafy and we started fretting that maybe we'd get accosted or something. It
was totally desolate compared to Silom. Plus, I was starving. We threw in
the towel and ended up at a the lesser of nearby evils, Prik Kee Noo (I
wasn't ready to eat alfresco sans English menus, but McDonald's and the
Irish pubs dotting the area seemed so wrong).

The food was actually pretty good, though not markedly different from
what I'd expected (granted, my perceptions might be skewed since Sripraphai
in NYC is a pretty dead on quality Thai restaurant). I mean, this was my
first Thai meal in Thailand and I was ready for the real deal, none of this
half-assed American crap. We tried the popiah, a seafood salad, and basil
chicken, a.k.a. E3. Still, not acclimated to the tropics, I had a total
spazz out when I saw a lizard on the wall next to us. Lizards would continue
to haunt us during our stay in Thailand. On the way back to the hotel we
completely accidentally ended up on Patpong, which was an unplanned
unsettling adventure of its own.

Prik Kee Noo * 1/2 Sivadon Bldg., Convent Rd.,
Bangkok,Thailand

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May 9

Amarin

It's funny because Amarin was the first restaurant I ate at when I moved to
NYC (almost exactly) five years ago. It's all a blur, I didn't know what I
was doing, and barely knew the girls I was staying with. It was hot, humid,
I was overdressed (not formal, too many layers) and nervous, the cab got
lost on the way to the apt. and the driver called everyone "Poppy" so I
figured that must be a Brooklyn thing though I've only heard it maybe once
or twice since, and think it's actually spelled Papi. We ordered
take out and two of us got a chicken thing that came as a whole chicken leg.
I was fine with that but the other person was upset that there was skin on
it. I sensed trouble from the get go. What possible friendship could be
forged with someone who's scared of chicken skin? I only stayed with them
for about a month, but they must've liked Amarin because we went in person a
second time (I later discovered that's very Williamsburg, like people only
know a handful of places and only frequent those places in this peculiar
provincial way). This time the skin-shunner ordered the $9.95 fish entre,
which I thought was pretty ostentatious. She'd just started a new, fancy
internet job at Sidewalk.com and was making what I thought at the time was
big bucks (amusingly, I've yet to make that much). It's hard to remember a
time when $9.95 seemed outrageous for dinner, but that's the beauty of
pointless remembrances.

Anyway, I hadn't been back since '98. In fact, I didn't even know where
it was other than in Greenpoint on a main street. It's weird because I
frequent Williamsburg and have friends in Greenpoint, but like a good
visitor I never go over, past McCarren Park. It was only recently when James
was driving around Greenpoint, scoping the neighborhood for a potential move
that I re-discovered Amarin. The food's nothing to write home about, but
it's likeable, nonetheless. They employ oddball touches like serving mashed
potatoes, and putting carrots, zucchini, and bean sprouts where I don't
think they belong, but it's OK by me. I felt comforted like I'd come full
circle, back to where I'd started my NYC food journey. Everybody likes
closure, right? I would've ordered the skin-covered chicken, but now I'm
watching my weight like a true pathetic New Yorker. Jeez, at least I'm
eating carbs. Five years makes a world of difference, no?

Amarin * 617 Manhattan Ave., Brooklyn, NY

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