Platinum Pork Leg Stew on Rice, Pratunam, Bangkok

This Khao Kha Moo (Pork leg stew on rice) was a gem of a find stumbling around Pratunam while on lunch break from Death Shopper 2.0 at Platinum Shopping Mall. The dish itself is quintessentially Thai, and they're everywhere on the streets of Bangkok. I've tasted many wonderful versions of this dish, yet this remains by far the most impressionable.

The local lunch crowd packed this place to the rafters, but service didn't miss a beat. Within a minute or two, we had our orders taken and drinks served, and shortly after that, this beauty arrived...

...melt-in-your-mouth pork, laced with buttery fat, served on top of rice drenched with pork-infused gravy with the requisite stewed hard-boiled egg and chunks of preserved vegetables. Out of this world!

The Khao Kha Moo stall shares the limelight here with a wantan mee stall, which appeared to be just as popular. Can't miss it, don't miss it!

4/32-33 Soi Petchburi 19

Pratunam, Bangkok

Chote Chitr, Bangkok

So much had been said about the legendary Bangkok icon of a hole-in-the-wall eatery Chote Chitr (in recent years, more bad than good) that we didn't know what to expect. We were prepared for the food to be either sublime or disappointing and overpriced; the service was known to be erratic and subjected to some degree of arrogance on the part of the lady owner.

Well, no knocking till we tried it, so after a 15-minute walk from Rambutri area, we were somewhat heartened to like the facade that we saw, on this small road off Tanao Road.

Old but clean and well-kept, the shop was empty when we got there slightly before 6PM. Celebrated lady owner came to take the orders, a commanding air and her equally well-known Shih Tzu in tow. We are no fans of small, yappy dogs but this one was subdued and kept mostly out of our way so we could get down to the eating.

The famed Banana Flower Leaf Salad proved its reputation correct. The nutty dressing drew the subtle bouquet of the banana flower out, inspired feelings of rolling around in grassy splendour. Or one of them Thai beaches.

We decided to venture against lady owner's recommendations (which incited visible annoyance) and picked another starter, Spicy Chicken with Salted Egg paste served with fresh vegetables. This was unusual in its pairing of the flavours - salted egg yolk and a good dose of tamarind? juice. Would go beautifully with mountains of fluffy white rice. No regrets but we would probably skip this in the future.

Finally, the stunning Chu Chee Curry with River Prawns - more sweet than spicy, the fresh crunch of the prawns when drenched in the coconut-based red curry, with the striking scent of kaffir lime leaves, sealed it for us.

Bill was around THB600, not the cheapest given that it's Bangkok, whose streets are teeming with great food at a fraction. But the succulent meal, paired with the opportunity to meet the grand dame (and defy her!) was well worth it!

Chote Chitr

146 Th Phraeng Phuton (off Tanao Road)

Banglamphu, Bangkok

Seeri Authentic Thai, SS2

This post shall serve to remind me to never repeat this recent string of weekends pretty much wasted in recovery from too much of a good time. Spent most days struggling with motion sickness at the slightest movement and remorse. Too much remorse.

Following this maligned period of time, I wanted to reward Fat Tulip for being so patient in my many hours of need, save for a truncated lecture or two about my excesses, and so we checked out Seeri Thai in SS2.

The Sambai petai prawns bowled us both over. The amount of juicy, putrid beans perspiring in perfumed gravy got us good. We couldn't stop even if we knew that the sensible thing to do was to leave some to take away for dinner.

Equally happy with the Tomyam Seafood, a heady, satisfying concoction. One of the better tomyam I've had of late.

Despite it being barely noon, they had apparently "run out" of chicken so we made do with pork to go with its Green Curry. Not disappointing enough to complain but I think they could've done the dish greater justice with fresh(er?) coconut milk.

Pretty happy with this though and well deserving of a repeat, unlike the feeble weekends prior. There is no good EVER to be had from that additional shot of liquor!

Seeri Authentic Thai
Jalan SS2/10 (Same row as Okay kopitiam and Super Kitchen, Chow Yang, SS2)
Petaling Jaya

I'm Spicy Thai

Petaling Jaya's latest Thai offering I'm Spicy is located in the fringes of Section 17 bordering SS2, on the same row as Kanna's.

Green Curry Chicken Rice was a very moist, almost wet affair. We probably would have fared better ordering the curry standalone and loading up on white rice on the side instead.

The recommended Som Tam Tort (Deep Fried Papaya Salad), which was regretted. Appreciate that it's a different twist to the good ol' dependable Som Tam but just didn't see the point of dunking all that freshness and different textures of fruit, nut and vegetable into oil.

I'm Spicy did pass the Tom Yam Goong test - not good enough to be declared super awesome but it does get the sour & spice balance tick.

The menu is somewhat limited but the restaurant does serve pork and declares it a specialty, specifically the deep fried pork ribs (which we passed because in favour of the deep fried salad). Not willing to write this one off till we have a go at that.

I'm Spicy
1 Jalan 17/45
Petaling Jaya
46400 Selangor
Tel: +603-7954 2281

Post-Vacation at Bangkok Wasabe

Ever get the feeling while on holiday that it's not actually happening? That you're not actually away from your stinky work cubicle, that you're not actually having your first beer at 10AM, or having the day stretch before you to read on the beach and eat seven meals a day and do nothing else? All that disbelief and caution of getting too used to the idea messes with your head good and keeps you from fully living it.

And then before you know it, you're back at the grisly mob scene that is the low-cost carrier terminal, back at work, crushed by deadlines and people and all the horrible things that made you want to pack up and get away in the first place, bemoaning how you let yourself be disengaged during your time on the beach for even one second.

Koh Lipe, December 2010

Koh Lipe's a terribly easy getaway for city folks in Malaysia. Just a short flight to Langkawi, and from there a 1-hour speedboat ferry ride. The waters are still clear, the beaches are still relatively clean and snorkelling's still great, barring the current in certain hotspots.

The tiny island is heaving under over-development but for now, it's still a pretty chilled scene, back-to-basics style. Unfortunately, the food options too were fairly rudimentary.

So, upon return to good old KL, propelled by a case of major post-vacay blues, we hit up Bangkok Wasabe, a pocket-friendly alternative within the Kota Damansara commercial maze.

The restaurant interior is air-conditioned contemporary comfort, nothing like the mozzie-infested eating & drinking joints of Lipe. Dark wooden booths, check! I may consider installing one of these babies in my new digs.

The easy-win Som Tam (RM7) - hit all the right notes! Raw crab was missing though.

Also recommended by friendly server was the Tamarind River Prawns (RM25), off the menu. This turned out better than expected - prawns were chunky and flavourful and while I'm not exactly crazy about sweet sauces, this struck a sound balance with the ground peanuts and dried chillies.

The Tom Yam Seafood (RM15) was decent - more sour than spice, which works just fine with me. The Tom Yam available on Lipe didn't come close to this.

And to cap it all off, not quite dessert but the Pad Thai (RM8) was a tad sweeter than I'd like.

It's no Thai beach but the meal at Bangkok Wasabe was simplicty well-executed and took the bite out of the gruesome return to routine. And more importantly, it served the reminder that there is no time to overthink the holiday when on holiday. Every second of bliss counts!

Bangkok Wasabe
16-1 Jalan PJU 5/15
Dataran Sunway
Kota Damansara
Tel: 03-6156 7079

A Great Deal (of Spice), Anna Thai Kitchen, Pulau Tikus

Apart from the ability to speak rapid-fire Hokkien and guerilla traffic dexterity, anyone Penang-born worthy of this unique birthmark must also possess the aptitude to sniff out a good deal in any condition.

A pretty good deal is what's been driving throngs of hungry, carb-starved locals to Anna Thai Kitchen in Pulau Tikus. We arrived slightly before noon and the place was packed to the brim, with a steady queue forming. I learned of this place first from CK Lam and I'd been counting down the days until my visit back to Penang to give it a go.

Anna Thai offers a decent selection of ready-cooked economy rice-style Thai dishes, as well as some staples ala carte. All very affordable, almost kopitiam prices! Warning: we found the spice factor in the dishes here tongue-numbing. Definitely not for chilli wimps!

I dove straight for the Thai Pork Leg Stew Rice (Khao Kha Moo) on the ala carte menu and it arrived a true picture of grace. The chilli sauce missing from the picture was startlingly, deliciously fiery. Much closer to the real thing sampled on the side streets of Bangkok than this inferior version on the other side of the island.

Dad and Mag both sampled the Chicken Rice (Khao Man Kai) with great enjoyment. The intrepid gourmand Ollie couldn't keep his chubby hands away and proclaimed it "Oishiiiii!!"

The Kerabu Rice was a deceptively delightful and kaleidoscopic mix of texture and taste. Shortly after the first swallow, the finely chopped bird's eye chilli and ground chilli powder sneak up on you with alarming speed. Make sure you have a tall icy glass or four handy!

The dishes from the fast disappearing trays outside, while unassuming, would appease even the stickiest tastebuds. The Thai Red Chicken Curry with Bamboo (Kaeng Phet) was creamy and robust, driving us mad for even more rice.

More spice in the Curry Chicken. We were sweating buckets at this point.

The Otak-Otak, a touch more moist than I like but flavour-wise, full marks.

The requisite plate of greens (featuring yet more chillies) rounded off a meal VERY heavy on the girth and our gastrointestinal system but VERY light on the pocket.

A Penang deal-maker? You bet you bottom ringgit it is!

Anna Thai Kitchen

26, Jalan Moulmein

Pulau Tikus

10350 Penang

Bowl-me-over Breakfast in Bangkok

Bangkok's been a foolproof escape for the longest time - proximity's a dream, the city's a glorious mess, the food binges always magnificent, the alcohol cheap and flowing. It was timely that in the depth of KL ennui, a trip to the city that had previously fixed it all was planned and administered.

Except, this time, it didn't fix it all. The travel time took longer than anticipated, thanks to Air Asia's infamous delay, we found ourselves in the thick of Sukhumvit disorientated and disappointed, we didn't drink or eat anything mind-blowing and we engaged in an absolutely dreadful exercise of weeding out our respective skeletons in the closet.

But let us not discount Bangkok as a weekend getaway by dwelling on what didn't work.

One of the few things that did work this time around was this:

"Waitfor" breakfast noodles at Chatuchak: Devillishly dark herbal chicken noodle soup to signal the start of an acquistion spree.

Two chunks of well marinated, tender thigh chicken meat, swilling in an almost musical broth singing praises for the Saturday morning.

Check it. The location's somewhat challenging (the number on the top left corner of the signboard indicates 21, 273, 28/3) but it's on the main outer stretch, but if you look hard enough, it's there.

The Return of Rationale, Saifon Thai

Rationale, how I've missed you! I have been hiding in my nostalgic soft-focus cloak of despair while you, my friend, have escaped me in harsh, functional reality.

So having finally come to grips with the fact that I had been oblivious to some jarringly bad elements of a gig turned sour, preferring instead to assume foetal position of idealized despair, I now seek you out, face to face, beyond my comfort zone.

Welcome to Pandan Indah!

We had been disillusioned for a while with the Thai offerings in our neighbouring areas so Toto gamely suggested we did what any reasonable tomyam-deprived fellow would do - venture elsewhere. We hit up Pandan Indah, a fairly foreign expanse and thanks to his competent use of Garmin, we found ourselves in this bustling, but not particularly sexy neighbourhood.

We had read plenty about Baan Nok seated above the Thai mini-market and when we sought out the staff manning the noodle stall and BBQ pit outside the minimart, we were informed that Baan Nok had, in fact, moved next door to spanking new premises and renamed Saifon Thai.

Now we had made this journey for tomyam so imagine our collective anguish when we entered the air-conditioned and empty new space and then told there was NO tomyam served at lunch! Wait staff informed it was "too early, tomyam only from 3PM." Of course, there was the option of leaving and heading somewhere else with tomyam but we concurred with logic - it was 1PM, we were starving and also curious about the commotion going on outside.

The BBQ pit was a perfectly rational Plan B - an array of pre-marinated meats beckoned, including pork and that's always a start to wonderful things. We grabbed a pork cutlet and a minced pork skewer and the grill master brought us halfway back to Siam. Not the best I've had - felt the pork was too tough and could've sat in the marinade a while longer.

On the other hand, the BBQ chicken thigh delivered redemption. Transported us back to the side streets of Bangkok where the beer flowed free and the meat proudly basted in dignity.

The rice noodles in soup reminded us of happier times, stumbling drunk down Rambutri, all caution thrown to the wind and seeking the warmth and nourishment of a bowl or two before hitting the sheets. It tasted just as good, if not better, lucid and sober.

The Som Tam was decent too and I liked that they used Thai Eggplant (Makuea Praow) here. The level of spice and zest was a sensible balance. They could've sliced the vegetables a wee bit thinner though - I felt like a goat chomping on these fibrous chunks!

We left the chicken wings to the end when were stuffed and had to contend with our friend Rationale once again. Took them away, so Toto had the privilege of enjoying this while watching some football match or another.

We would have to come back for the tomyam and the rest of the interesting items on the menu. Despite the bizarre tomyam serving times, Saifon Thai turned out to be a perfectly sensible choice, a paragon in the heart of alien surroundings for a clear-headed reunion with rhyme and reason.

Saifon Thai
43A, Jalan Pandan Indah 4/6B
Pandan Indah
55100 Kuala Lumpur

Permission to Fusion, Erawan Classic Thai & Fusion, Kota Damansara

The word "Fusion" used in food is a source of great personal agitation. Kinda like badly cut pants that chafe at the thighs. Or the Malaysian persistent fondness for replacing the article "the" with "D'" and springing a whole host of D'ed abominations, like D' Pub, D' Shop, D' Bakery, D'Place where you don't want to be if you had a shred of sense in you. Or the inclination to bad spelling, like replacing the letter "S" with "Z." Appropriating the language of another is a necessity for our young lingual heritage but come on, this level of abuse is practically Defilement - another D word of epic popularity among the jesters we call politicians.

I had read about Erawan from the pretty smashing, multi-authored food blog on the Malaysian Insider and its post here got me all hot and bothered, despite the threat of Fusion starting to sound like an excuse for aspiring gourmands to splice and dice cuisine artlessly, badly. Getting to Kota Damansara was however, another challenge for what is that geographical horror if not another cultural nightmare? I shall however, save that rant for another day, for there we were, regardless, ready to pounce and devour.

Seeing that there were all but two of us, Anan, the charming manager deftly explained that the portions were a little on the large side and recommended we went for the single-serve rice dishes or the tomyam noodles, which were also more economical options. The idea of a basil stir fry with rice and a fried egg just didn't cut it with us so we went with ala carte.

The Erawan Pomelo Salad arrived swiftly, well before we had taken in the cosy, warm interior of the restaurant. It came with a separate serving of sweet Mieng-Kam like sauce, to which we were told to mix in on our individual platters to our own taste.

I loved the handsome shelled prawns and the succulent chunks of pomelo dressed with toasted coconut and crushed peanut. Not crazy about fried shallots in general, but it somehow worked to this salad's advantage here. Gorgeous!

We had to contend with a lengthy wait for the mains to arrive, and understood later that Erawan's main chef Korn attends to each and every dish, hence the delay. I need to add here that a meal at Erawan isn't meant to be an in-and-out sort of dining experience; it absolutely needs to be savoured, sipped and praised.

When it finally did arrive, the Tomyam Seafood unseated us from our quiet lull. We were provided a choice of Clear or Thick soup, and spice levels of one (mild) to five (very spicy). Our pick of Thick, level Three set our bellies and worlds on fire. This was very hot and very good.

I had my heart set on the duck curry, but it was unavailable that day. The manager recommended the Green Curry Fish Paste in place. The fish paste, made on the premises with fresh ikan tenggiri (mackerel) are shaped like balls, with a salted egg yolk ensconced within. This was an interesting twist to an otherwise spectacular ode to a classic. Suppose that warrants a nod to "Fusion"?

Fragrant jasmine rice presented in dainty little bowls. Toto, we're not in Tai Pai Tong anymore!

To wash it all down, Lemongrass juice with ginger, dwarfed next to the Iced Lychee Tea.

The meal came up to RM93.50, very gratifying and well worth the journey into the frenzy that is Kota Damansara. For this and this alone, I could sideline my loathing of the rampant use of "Fusion" and just bask in the perfect marriage of spice and everything nice.

Erawan Classic Thai & Fusion
22-1 Jalan PJU 5/16 Dataran Sunway
Kota Damansara
47810 Petaling Jaya
Malaysia
Tel: 03-6141 2393

Reservations are highly recommended.

Serving the Beast Within at Thai Sabye Sabye, Old Klang Road

The Man is essentially an animal, his primary and greatest stake invested in his (or her) own survival. And when that survival is threatened, all the additional complex emotions as well as the ability to rationalise or apply logic become entirely expendable.

Case in point: One night, a desperate craving for Thai surfaced out of the blue. And with all things tinged with desperation, the advanced thinking, feeling human approach goes out the window when it came to the need to assuage that craving. Like a stiff drink. Or sex. No rest until you crack the code. Need it NOW.

I consulted the usual suspects in the blogosphere for guidance and found plenty of good things said about several Thai joints - a few were closed on Mondays and a few others were simply too far away in the horrendous rain-addled traffic. And then, just as I was on the brink of self-detonation in despair, I stumbled upon this lone post on Thai Sabye Sabye located on Old Klang Road, a stone's throw away from home for now.

The old unassuming outlet, located within Lucky Plaza (which houses Pasaraya Central, right before OUG turn-off) facing Old Klang Road, was a mere 5-minute drive away. I was giddy with excitement at the prospect of placating that incensed animal within.

The place was nicely filled up with families who looked like they had returned again and again to order the same items on the menu every single time. The worn-out furniture was reassuring, as was the wearied, yet comforted disposition of the other patrons.

We started with the Four-angle Bean Salad. Scrumptious with both dried and fresh shrimps providing a nice contrasted punch, coated with generous dousing of nam pla and citrus. Very refreshing stuff.

We couldn't possibly do without tomyam, especially on this chilly wet KL evening. Sabye Sabye served their tomyam soups in single serves (RM6 per serve) which allowed us to try two different types. He had the Tom Yam Chicken with Coconut Milk. It was creamy and comforting but it wasn't entirely mind-blowing.

I went with the Clear Soup Tomyam with Seafood. Again, despite my enthusiasm for this place, I felt the tomyam fell a wee bit short on the crazy spicy & sour front. The abundance of sliced bird's eye chillies brought on a coughing fit at one point but I saw that as just bad swallowing action on my part, not entirely great tomyam preparation on theirs.

Otak-Otak was a radiant serving of seafood coated in egg, coconut milk and turmeric. Went down too easily with white rice.

Deep fried Squid with Salted Egg dispensed the kind of joy one couldn't shy from when met with one's kindred soul. You want to get right under the skin and discover what you can't possibly know from muted appearances.

The soul of the evening had to be the Petai Fried Rice which arrived looking as placid as frozen peas but once we stuck our fork in to release the aroma, we were done for. I dare say I've not had petai marriage with carbs as zesty as this!

If you want to pay for only things you order, refuse the towel, the appetizer and jelly they serve as soon as you're seated, as they'll all pop up on the bill later. It's a token amount extra but still... you know what I mean. Meal rounded up to RM70 for two of us, which we were only too happy to fork over. The human in me laid comatose while the animal licked its paws and exhaled with gusto.

Thai Sabye Sabye

G62, Ground Floor, Lucky Plaza
Old Klang Road, KL
Tel: 03-7981 2887