"Great Thai in the middle of nowhere..."
Folks, set aside your presumptions, I certainly did when I headed off for Jalan 5 off Jln Chan Sow Lin. With China Press on my right I hunted for the grimy landmark along a small river. Voila, the rubbish heap next to Sg Kerayong is there and I subsequently turned left into the little lane which ran parallel with the river. The sheer darkness and many stray dogs can be intimidating but do soldier on. Be prepared to give way to vehicles coming from the opposite direction, fortunately there were some grassy space to veer the car to the side. A 4WD would be best to handle the potholes. A short bumpy ride later, we entered a little green oasis, complete with fishing ponds and fresh fish for sale.
Sawadee 88 is so off the beaten track that I doubt it’s a place people would bump into unless by sheer determination and word of mouth. Despite its obscure location, the many parked cars attest to its reputation and popularity. We are greeted by friendly Thai staff and a local Chinese lady who took our orders while handling the cash register. With cheesy Thai pop music playing in the background, chefs shouting orders in foreign accents and tables set in individual attap huts complete with fairy lights, it felt like I’ve landed slap bang into little Bangkok town. There’s also a grilling charcoal station at the back manned by a dedicated grill boy.
Our orders arrived pretty quickly. First up was the siham bakar and the addictive dipping sauces. The first had chilies, belacan and some dried shrimp (reminds me of nam prik), the second was a sweeter chili sauce with peanuts. It was perfect for dipping the cockles into. Portions were generous though I did stumble across one or two with a muddy aftertaste. The somtam or Thai papaya salad arrived and was faultless. The shredded papaya was crunchy and had the right balance of sweet, sour and spicy. You also have the option of adding shrimps, crab or squid to it but we preferred ours plain.
Next up was my favourite of the lot - white tomyam which came in the traditional steamboat apparatus. I detected cili padi and dried chilli in the soup with hunk loads of seafood (prawns, fish, squid and crab), tomatoes and mushrooms. The soup was clear with hues of red, deliciously spicy sour to the last drop and went perfectly with plain rice.
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"Treasures for the steamboat include lobsters..."
You know a restaurant pulls out all the stops when you have your individual pots for steamboat. If you are feel icky about sharing the communal one, then Planter Jim’s in Bangsar’s famed Telawi area is the place to go. The owners are Ek and his wife Mei Li who have been in business for 12 years. They were among the first ones to set up their business in Bangsar back in 1997.
The interior is tastefully decorated with Asian-infused paintings, depicting the cultural richness of the Far East. There is also a well-stocked bar and mini cigar divan for those wanting to unwind after a hearty meal. Guests can choose to dine at the al-fresco area while enjoying the surrounding nightlife of Bangsar.
The new addition of steamboat in the delectable Thai menu is of course a good move to add some variety. They even serve up exotic items such as oysters, crabs, lobsters and more. This is a good place to entertain your guests on a more refined level of steamboating, which is where the individual pots come in handy. Among the seafood treasures for the steamboat include whole live Australian lobster, Sri Lankan crab, fresh king prawns, fresh Australian Black Lip Mussels, live Australian oysters, kingfish, tropical lobsters and rainbow lobsters. The steamboat sets even come with starters and dessert.
I tried the Seafood Steamboat Set priced at RM55. The starter comprised of Chargrilled Rib Eye Skewers – northern style grilled rib of beef marinated with lemon grass and spices on skewers and served with peanut sauce. The meat was succulent and the lemon grass had an interesting and distinct flavouring. The classic style Tom Yam prawn base broth came with prawns, squid, fish balls and fish slices, tofu, mushrooms, Chinese cabbage, vegetables, noodles and eggs. The basic Meaty Steamboat set costs RM39 for a minimum of two people. If customers want more exotic items like the lobster and such they of course have to spend more.
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"Each morsel in the poktek is as fresh as a daily catch"
Move over Vicchuda, the glory days of the humble Kelantanese-Thai restaurant are back! These small unobtrusive 'tom-yam' shops seemed to prosper long before the age of the 'MAMAK', with humble premises but quality food. Alas! Today's family owned Tomyam shops are few and far between. Tucked away in a shoplot in Kota Damansara however, lies a little gem called CHUN BURI, which has renewed my faith in the Kelantanese ability to do it right (by way of food I mean).
If you're not looking for it, it is very easy to miss Chun Buri. The shop is plain at best and the name doesn't sound remotely appetizing. But once you're seated, the menu looks a little bit more promising. What is surprising are the prices, really reasonable, cheap even- for a shop located in the affluent Kota Damansara area.
Aside for the typical Kelantanese-Thai fare, they also serve bubur nasi, ikan bakar and kerang bakar here. The house speciality would have to be the Tomyam Poktek, 'poktek' meaning 'claypot'.
We ordered the main staples- Nasi Putih, Kailan Goreng Biasa, Telur Dadar, Kerabu Sotong, Ikan Siakap Stim Limau, Daging Goreng Kunyit and a seafood Tomyam Poktek.
The tomyam poktek is a clear white-ish broth and comes steaming hot in a claypot. The taste is sour and hot as tomyam should be, but slightly more subtle when compared to the typical red tomyam that is usually served. What was most pleasing was the seafood. I was expecting the usual; small, 'not-particularly fresh' prawns and a few token squid rings, but instead the soup was filled with tiger prawns, lala, crabs, fish and squid, and each morsel was as fresh as a daily catch. Chun Buri also serves up the normal red tomyam, which is just as good but really Hot! So if you can't stand the chillies, go for the white variety- which also comes sans 'Poktek'.
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"Dig into the bamboo depths for all sorts of goodies"
It was one of those rainy Sunday nights where most of the usual hawkers were closed. Hankering for something different, we arrived at Sao Nam with images of sour, sweet dishes in our heads. Nothing like rain to awaken hunger in the tummy. The Sao Nam at Plaza Damas is a nice place for a rainy night. You can sit outdoors under the covered sidewalk and enjoy cool breezes in an otherwise very hot city.
There’s a whole special menu at the back, some you need to pre-order but I’m here for the Goi Mang Cut or the prawn and mangosteen salad. It never ceases to amaze me how delicious Indochinese salads are. Vietnamese uses familiar ingredients like Thai but with it’s own twist. Chewing through the food it's easy to imagine the joined borders and love of fresh greens and fruits coupled with essentials like fish sauce and tender meats. This is a signature salad and marries the juicy, tongue tingling mangosteen and fresh, briny prawns to perfection. It is then mixed with a Vietnamese vinaigrette, a combination of vinegar and squeezed citrusy-sour fruits. For texture they mix in some dried coconut and strips of salted squid. So delicious…
I tried the beef in a bamboo tube next. This one is oily with tender beef, a little bit like the Cambodian
Luc Lac except it has more gravy and finely chopped herbs like mint and kafir lime interred thoroughly within it. Best thing about this dish is that it’s full of sliced onions adding mellow sweetness to the gravy. You eat this with a combination of starfruit slices, lettuce and more Vietnamese
ulam in rice paper.
The rice paper is as fragile as paper so the trick here is to layer it with the lettuce and starfruit, dollop on the beef and try to roll and eat it before the beef gravy soaks past the paper and lands in a mush on your plate. I find that eating this with a small bowl of rice a better option. It’s got a salty edge that goes great with sticky rice and though the bamboo casing looks small, dig into its depth and you’ll get all sorts of gravied goodies like caramelised onions and bits of beef that’s dropped off and grounded down into the herbs at the bottom.
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"Every bite of the pandan chicken was a juicy crunch"
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As Malaysians, we all enjoy the usual Thai fare. But after awhile you realise that most Thai dishes loose its zing(!) when it arrives in Malaysia. However, ever so often you will find a place that still has its Thai roots in place while inserting a Malaysian twist to it. Ayuthai has been opened for over ten years, but only known to those who live nearby due to the nature of its location. It has a loyal following with their original customers now bringing their children here.
The setting does not differ all that much from any other Thai eatery. It has a makeshift bamboo roof over the counter and many hanging pictures showing Thai dishes (some of which you can't really pronounce). It’s a rule of thumb to try out a few signature dishes that deem a Thai place worthy of their name. Usually it's their Tom Yam and Pandan Chicken with an emphasis on their fish dishes such as Ikan Masak Tiga Rasa.
For starters their Tom Yam is excellent! Really delicious thick sauce not made with the store bought Tom Yam paste. You can actually taste the lemongrass, juicy sourness of the tangy lime, the bite of the kaffir lime leaves, heat from the chillies and some unidentified pounded spices. Why bother figuring it out? The soup itself is so good! And for those who are counting the floating prawns in the dish, well, I can assure you it is more than most places will willingly toss in there. And then the Pandan chicken arrived.
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"There's bountiful seafood in the kerabu soohoon"
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Good food can be found in the most unlikely places. Especially in places that have been around for ages but you are not too sure how the food is like there. Well, Hawina is tucked in one of those improbable places. Its appearance might give out different vibes but rest well that the food is good and cooked well.
One of the few unique dishes here that not many Tomyam places offer is their Nasi Bubur set. Although it sounds more like a meal for those who are down with something, here their mouth watering Bubur Set will make you reconsider. What always holds to be true is that the most delicious food is normally the simplest. This set comprises of just porridge, stir fried baby kailan, whole salted egg and deep-fried crispy ikan bilis (anchovies). This is topped off with a sweet lime syrup, roughly chopped onions and chilli padi- the Wow! factor that sets this porridge apart from the rest. And if you still feel you need more items for this plain porridge, you can always take a peak at the little side bar that has various items for you to choose from. The colours alone will make you go wild!
But the fun doesn't stop there folks! Like many tomyam establishments, you can either have plain rice with your assortment of dishes or you can have your one dish meals. We opted for the former as it would get our grubby little hands on more stuff. And so it was called for and we had a spread of fish, chicken and veggies. First up, we had Kerabu Soohoon or Vermicelli Salad for our appetizer. The best thing about this is the seafood portion is bountiful not to mention sizeable. This is then tossed with vermicelli along with big slices of yellow onion, tomatoes and a juicy dollop of lime syrup. What a great appetite opener.
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"You can order Beginner, Regular or Adventurous soup!"
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Nestled behind all the glorified franchises of many, lies this quaint looking noodle shop. The first few minutes upon finding it will be spent making funny faces in trying to figure out how to pronounce the names of the dishes. It may seem odd to our language, but the food pictures will definitely strike familiar chords of deliciousness.
Once cosily seated with a complimentary cup of water and all set to order the food, it hits you that it is actually written in a whole different language. Reading the menu makes you feel like connecting the dots on all the hyphenations and accentuations in each word. Thank god for translations! With those you can actually interpret and order the mouth watering dishes, instead of bluntly pointing out pictures to the waiter and saying "I want this!" One thing you will like at this place is the service as they are very fast and efficient and served with a friendly smile. For starters we had their Summer Roll and Chả Giò (fried roll), which is basically spring rolls one served fresh and the other fried.
Though seemingly similar the fillings are different, the Summer Roll has fresh iceberg lettuce, sweet basil, carrots, vermicelli, and chicken strips that are then dipped in a thick peanut sauce. Whereas the Chả Giò is just stuffed with minced beef and vegetables dipped in a fish sauce based emulsion. For those for looking for a special appetiser, they also have the Sugar Cane Prawns which is simply delicious! Prawn is finely chopped and mixed with a lemongrass herb mixture and then shaped on a sugar cane stick before being deep fried into perfection..mmm.. yummy! We had a wonderful time gnawing the sugar cane once we cleaned off the prawns bits. It somehow cleansed your palate and prepares your tastebuds for the next dish.
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"Is Miang Kum Thai's answer to our sireh? Mmm..."
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After scouting and sampling a string of dismal imitations, I was resigned to relegating Petaling Jaya to the Siamese food drought section. Until a fellow foodie finally pointed me in the right direction - Section 17 it is! My Elephant is located in a quiet corner of the Happy Mansion apartment. The area looks more hawker-centric but drive to the farthest corner and Happy Mansion is quietly tucked there. Its ambiance and décor is understatedly arty yet intimate enough for a romantic soiree. There’s even a section that allows patrons to lounge on beanbags and sit cross-legged on mats thus allowing a more casual and relaxed dining experience.
First to arrive is Miang Kum, which provides fresh kadok leaves (commonly used to wrap Nyonya otak-otak) with a range of ingredients consisting of sliced ginger, lime, peanuts, shallots, cili padi, dried shrimp and grated coconut. It’s all DIY - put the goodies in a leaf, add a dollop of the Thai sweet sauce, wrap and pop it into your mouth. Wait for the hints of sweet, spicy, salty, lemak and tart notes to combine with the peppery Kadok leaf; it’s a mini explosion in the mouth. A perfect introduction to the intense flavours of Thailand indeed!
Instead of the usual Tomyam, we opted for the Tom Sum with fish. It’s a clear soup that is wallop-packed with flavour! The first thing that caught my eye was the cooked starfruit slices. How strange to have it as a main instead of after meals! The soup is chockfull with fish, mushrooms, galangal, lemongrass, tomatoes and coriander. One sip and I was hooked. Tangy from the herbs, flavourful from the myriad fresh stuff that goes in the broth, it’s literally the ‘star’ dish of the night.
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"My heart belongs to the Luc Lac"
This was the forerunner of the hip and artistic Asian Heritage Row. Frankly it's about time that someone did something about our abundance of old shop houses. So it was no surprise that as soon as Bar Savanh (the bar below Cochine) opened, they were flooded with punters thirsty for a new place to quench their thirst.
We now review Cochine to see whether they can slake our hunger. Cochine serves Indochinese cuisine from Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Now if you are familiar with Thai food, Cochine's menu will be familiar though there are certain variations to it. Take for instance the well loved young papaya salad. Laotians call it tham som as oppose to the Thai song tham. The Laotian version is sweeter and has less dried prawns in it.
Today though, we tried the pamelo salad which is called Goi Buoi Saigon. It's got a tartness to it and even if I'm an Ipoh girl, I don't normally like pameloes but this is certainly a great way to serve it. The prawns in it adds texture and a richness to the dish. Try this for something different to start your meal.
Then, we had the Cochine platter, a nice showcase of starters that you can munch on. The Cha Gio which is spring rolls come in two versions. There's a fried version which you eat with a sweet dipping sauce and a Vietnamese style where it's raw and you wrap it up in leaves before popping it in your mouth. Both are yummy but one reviewer especially liked the chao tom which is prawn quenelles speared on sugarcane. When you eat it, you're supposed to bite and suck the sweet juices out of the sugarcane. I remembered eating this in Cambodia and they used fresh grilled prawns but this works just as well. Make you sure you suck out all the juices from the sugarcane...mmm...
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"Good Thai food in a busy mall"
Amarin means Heavenly in Thai. In this 'Heaven', the interior flooring of this restaurant is parquet and its windows overlooks the Federal highway. However, you can see also see the sky. Amarin is situated at Megamall Mid Valley but don't let that stop you from coming here.
Now back to 'Heaven', it's quite a grand setup, especially the wooden panels greeting you at the front of the restaurant. You are also entertained by slow Thai songs wafting unobtrusively through the restaurant. For the tastebuds, appetizers were the 'Special Mix combo' which consisted of some rice cakes , spring rolls, fried wonton skin and some fish cakes. The fish cake was the most delicious of the lot, it tastes like fishball with curry leave and more 'kick' in flavor. I believe they use some chili powder in it as well. The appetizers were not fried too oily and its good for two to three persons.
In addition, the Papaya Salad was a delicious dish with mango and papaya strewn together on the dish with some dried shrimps. I find that the papaya has a 'moderating' effect on the sour-ish mango taste which balances the dish quite well. So not too sourish but yet enough kick to knock you off. Besides that I also had the Tomyam Goong which was Amarin's Prawn Tom Yam. I asked for the Ching Mai Version, which is the one with less coconut milk. This makes the soup clearer. It reminded me of my days in Chiang Mai.
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