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Southern-Style Thai Tea, Iced and Hot (Cha-Yen and Cha-Ron)

Had Yai, Thailand - Within a few hours of arriving in Had Yai, I was taken under the wing of a group of single Thai women in their 30s, led by June, a confident professional who carried three phones with her.  We started talking in a coffee shop and pretty soon they were driving me around town, helping me find a hotel and scheduling dinner.

In Bangkok at Chatuchak market and downstairs in Siam Paragon, I’d seen the theatrical process of making Southern-style Thai tea (I’m told it’s also made this way in Malaysia).  The tea man mixes the tea from two cups at arms length from one another in long arching streams of the milky orange liquid above his head and around his back.  Mixing it in this way aerates the tea so that it has a layer of bubbles when served.  The girls decided to bring me to their local spot.  In Bangkok, people gather round to gawk, but here groups of Thais gathered around wood tables in the garden, chatting, drinking and eating, while the tea man did his dance unnoticed.

Roti

Making Southern-Style Thai Tea

Southern Massaman Beef Curry (Gaeng Massaman Neua)

Had Yai, Thailand - Fairly recently, Had Yai has gotten a little bad media attention for terrorism that has plagued parts of Thailand’s deep Muslim south.  However, violence hasn’t been continuous and I really wanted to see this unique part of the country.  Most of us wouldn’t avoid London because of the long string of bombings there so why would one avoid a Thai city because of an incident in 2006?

Upon arriving in town, I headed for the first Muslim restaurant I saw - Tamrab Muslim Restaurant, a sunny spot with friendly girls in headscarves behind the counter on Niphat Uthit 1 near Niyomrat.  I don’t eat a whole lot of beef in Thailand, as I often find it tough and musky, but in Muslim establishments you’re not going to find any pork, my go-to meat, so I ordered the massaman beef curry, which looked really, really good.

Unlike the massamans I’ve had further north, this one had no potatoes, and like other beef dishes I’ve had, the meat was quite chewy.  Thick and textured, spicy and spiced from cardamom, cumin and cinnamon, the sauce made up for the meat and that’s what I savored over rice, shaded from the hot sun, my first hour in this bright, buzzing metropolis.

Tamarind-Garlic Baked Mussels

Songkhla, Thailand - A walk around town, a seafood dinner.  No terrorism here, but no tourists either.

Steamed Crabs with Chili Lime Sauce

Fish at Songkhla Market

Songkhla Temple at Dusk

Khanom Jiin Nam Prik Wan

Hat Sichon, Thailand - Early in the morning, I tried to find the Sichon market, but it looked like it was closed on Sundays or I had a miscommunication with my motorbike driver. In any event, I started looking for breakfast on my 3 km walk back to Hat Sichon.  I passed over roadside khao tom (rice soup) stands and opted for khanom jiin (fermented rice noodles) instead.  Khanom jiin is widely available in the south, seemingly with a greater array of sauces than found elsewhere in Thailand.  I got a bowl of khanom jiin nam prik wan, which looked and almost tasted like a bowl of spaghetti and tomato sauce.  The chile-based sauce was sweet and punctuated with beans, a soft and easy way to open the day if you don’t mind a little spice.  Onto the shipyards before moving onto Songkhla.

Khao Niao Sung Ka Ya

Hat Sichon, Thailand - A fishing village with beaches sounded charming so that’s where I headed first for a quick trip to Thailand’s southern gulf coast.   When I arrived in Hat Sichon in the morning I grabbed breakfast at a coffee shop - purple sticky rice topped with shredded coconut and palm sugar custard (khao niao sung ka ya).  I could’ve had three. It didn’t hurt that the neighboring table of police officers picked up my tab (15 baht) and then gave me a lift to my hotel.  One red and white truck, three Thai officers and me; it was a short trip long on broken English and broken Thai.

After settling in, I spent the day wandering around town and on the docks watching as basketfuls of shrimp were cooked in hot water troughs over burning logs and then shocked with cold water.  I stopped for lunch on a shack overlooking the wharfs grabbing papaya salad (som tom), this one was made with semi-ripe papaya instead of green papaya.  The owner pressed three rambutans in my hand as I got up to leave.  The afternoon and early evening I walked down nearly empty beaches and out onto the rocks stretching into the ocean.   Dinner was seafood salad (yum talay), simple and spicy, watching the sun set over the water.

Som Tom (made with semi-ripe papaya)

Nets

Overcast Hat Sichon

Hat Sichon

Yum Talay

Hat Sichon at Dusk

Mian Kam Pla Two (Limestone Tartlet and Miang Tuna Tartare)

Bangkok, Thailand - Since 2006, the Glaz Bar at the Plaza Athenee Bangkok has been holding “Thai Wine Thai Tapas,” a tasting series that pairs Siam Winery wines with inspired bites from some of the country’s chefs. Last Wednesday, my friend Chef Ian Chalermkittichai had his turn and I was delighted to get an invitation from his wife Sarah. Seven dishes were paired with some of Siam Winery’s award-winning bottles. Standouts included the Miang Kam Pla Two, Yum Hua-Plee, Hoy Shell and the Kanhom Dok Mali.

The Miang Kam Pla Two is inspired by the street snack miang come, which typically includes a a bunch of flavorful pieces (ginger, lime, peanuts, chile, etc) in a betel leaf. This miang had ultra fresh tuna, alongside the usual suspects, but instead of a betel leaf, the miang was in an unbelievably crispy tartlet, which gets its unique crunch from limestone paste and a fast deep fry. I’ve always loved this snack, but the crunchy tart shell bring a nice textural crunch to the miang’s fireworks of flavors.  If you’d like to see how the limestone tartlets are made check out Ian’s appearance on Iron Chef America.

I’m not usually a cooked scallop fan (though I do love them raw), but the Yum Hua-Plee, Hoy Shell changed my mind. The browned diver scallop rests on a few wisps of banana blossoms and hearts of palm, dressed in a typical banana blossom salad sauce of coconut cream, chile and palm sugar. The sweet-spicy creaminess of the sauce is the perfect compliment to the meaty scallop.

Rounding out the meal was the Khanom Dok Mali or Jasmine Flower Flan, which was more like a panna cotta and like a great panna cotta, it was very loose and very creamy. Fragrant, understated and elegant, I found out why this is one of the chef’s wife’s favorites. I could have scooped up more than the tapas portion.

Now I really hope Ian and Sarah aren’t reading this part, but since I just panned Bobby Chin and Didier Corlou yesterday, it would only be fair for me to be honest about my friends’ food. Admittedly, I felt like the meat didn’t shine through for the Pineapple-Braised Lamb Cutlet in Green Curry with Thai Basil, Apple Eggplant and the Slow-Roasted Duck Breast with Tamarind Vinaigrette, with the green curry a bit too subtle and the tamarind vinaigrette a bit too sweet. Still, overall, it was a great tasting menu showing how modern Thai food can successfully draw on traditional flavors. And at 390 baht ($11.50) for the tapas only and 730 baht ($21.50) for the tapas and two glasses of wine, it’s not a bad bet.

Thai Wine, Thai Tapas featuring Chef Ian Chalermkittichai
June 17th - September 15th, 2009
The Glaz Bar
Plaza Athénée Bangkok
Wireless Road

Thai Tapas Combination (includes two glasses of wine) 730 baht
Thai Tapas Sampler 390 baht
Reservations: 0 2650 8800 ext. 4324

Pla Goong (White Prawn Salad, Lemongrass, White Onion, Fish Sauce Dressing)

Yum Hua-Plee, Hoy Shell (Banana Blossom and Heart of Palm with Day-Boat Diver Scallop)

Gaeng Kiew Wan Kae (Pineapple Braised Lamb in Green Curry with Thai Basil)

Hanoi, Vietnam - While in Hanoi, I had the chance to try two of the city’s snazzier restaurants - Bobby Chin’s eponymously named hotspot, a showcase of international flavors, and French-Vietnamese La Vertical helmed by Didier Corlou, formerly of the Sofitel Metropole. Although both restaurants displayed refined settings and nods to global food trends largely absent in Hanoi, neither delivered great food.

Restaurant Bobby Chin, which recently moved from Hoan Kiem lake to city outskirts, has something of a split personality - the ground floor is a red-tinged hookah lounge outfitted with deep lounging couches and contemporary Vietnamese paintings while the dining room feels like an upscale tent with white cloth encasing the walls and billowing down from the ceiling and tables tucked intimately away.

If there was any overarching theme to the menu, I failed to grasp it; the dishes read like a random assortment of international flavors, which would have been fine if they were any good. The amuse bouche was a tiny, underwhelming fresh spring roll sloppily served on an oversized white plate. Both the crab trio (crab cakes, salad and soup) and the scallops with fresh pea puree and braised edamame, which I ordered, sounded interesting, but tasted merely okay.

My companions dinners couldn’t have been any better as an awkward silence fell over the table after everyone had taken fork to plate. I’ve always felt as though good food acts as a social lubricant nearly as well as alcohol does; disappointing food does the opposite, dampening the mood and deadening conversation in its tracks.

If Restaurant Bobby Chin felt young and careless, then La Verticale certainly carried a more adult weightiness. The colonial-styled dining room is cream-toned, soft and intimate with small Vietnamese flourishes - large silvery paintings depicting Vietnamese fields, local spices sparingly arranged on each table. Corlou’s passion for his adopted country is clearly felt throughout the meal, from the obscure spices and herbs to the local pottery and integrated into the courses.  The downstairs is a showroom for Vietnamese flavors with spices, sauces and specialty products hailing from every region, plus Corlou’s own books on regional cuisine.

Plating is exquisite, but unfortunately it only heightens expectations for concepts that often fall flat, substandard ingredients and less-than-perfect cooking.  The ocean escabeche was overpoweringly fishy and my duck filet with confit leg, star anise and  figs was dry and overcooked.  That said, there were a few bright spots on the menu.   I thought the soft passion fruit cake with curry ice cream and seasonal fruits, moist and bright, was delightful.

Certainly, if you’re looking for a pleasant setting to enjoy a glass of wine either spot would suffice, but if you’re used to this kind of cooking, neither meets the global standard.

Restaurant Bobby Chin
77 Xuan Dieu Street
Tay Ho District, Hanoi, Vietnam
Tel: +(84-4) 3719 2460
info@bobbychinn.com
Daily 11am-late
Reservations Recommended

La Verticale
19 Ngo Van So St., Hanoi
Tel: +(84-4) 3944 6317
verticale@didiercorlou.com
Daily 11am - pm, 6pm - 10pm
Reservations Not Required

Sugarcane Juice

Hue, Vietnam - People often complain about the pollution in Bangkok and New York.  I’ve never noticed.  Yet for some reason in Hue, I felt as though my lungs were filled with dust.  This must be how those complainers feel in my beloved cities.   After a day of walking and biking in the hot sun, I needed to stop somewhere, anywhere and that where ended up being a sugarcane stand on the corner of the street.   The place only sold three things sugarcane juice, coffee and loose cigarettes.  Groups of mostly men sat around drinking their coffees and juices and smoking their cigarettes.  My lungs were in no state for cigarettes, but the sugarcane juice looked perfect.   The juice is extracted from sugarcane branches by putting it through a grinder over and over until there’s nothing left but a bunch of dry fibers.   A bowl below collects the juice, which is poured over ice before being set on my table.  It’s perfect.  So cool, so sweet, so freshing.

Juicing Sugarcane

Bun Bo Hue

Hue, Vietnam - After a few horizontal days, it was time to be vertical.  I set out on a bicycle for the imperial city (the citadel), a complex of palaces, gardens and temples in various states of ruin and restoration surrounded by a moat.   I found it was one of the most charming sites  I’ve visited.  Of course, there are many that are more architecturally or historically interesting and others that are much older, much bigger and more physically imposing.  However, there weren’t many tourists on the day I visited so at times I found myself completely alone in a temple with only the breeze rippling through the wooden doors and the sunlight streaming in on the red walls.  As I wandered through, there were times I happened on ragged fields where workers had built shanties to live in, tvs blaring through the loose board walls, and other times I happened on buildings or gardens that clearly weren’t ready for visitors to see.  Still I didn’t mind.  It felt like the secret garden of Vietnam.

As lunch time approached, I wasn’t quite ready to leave so instead of biking out of the imperial in search of the much anticipated bun bo hue (beef noodle soup), I stayed inside the complex knowing full well I wouldn’t be getting the real local experience.  Still, I wasn’t really disappointed with the bowl I did get.  The noodles are thick and round, somewhat similar in appearance to slightly overcooked spaghetti.   The distinctive broth is redolent of lemongrass and some fierce Vietnamese herbs.   The soup is served with more fresh herbs, a wedge of lime and chile.  I’m not sure that a bowl outside those walls could have been so much exponentially better that it would have made a trip outside worth it.  In any case, I was happy to have mine in the middle of the imperial city with elephants wandering around the field just a short distance away.

Bahn Khoai

Hue, Vietnam - After a recuperative day at the beach, I felt ready to dive into local cuisine.  I took a bike ride across the river in search of bahn khoi, the rice crepes that I’m told cannot be found outside of Hue.  Between the Thuang Tien and Phu Xuan bridges are a bunch of different restaurants selling local specialties.  I got my banh khoai, a meal unto itself, super crispy with bean sprouts, egg, pork and shrimp with herbs and sliced raw vegetables on the side.  Going in for the overkill, I also ordered nem lui gai,  stir-fried chicken and vegetables in a light soy-based sauce that is to be rolled up rice paper wraps with herbs, raw vegetables and peanut sauce.  I could barely roll my bicycle off the corner to head home.

Nem Lui Ga