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Michael Laiskonis setting up his signature dessert – The Egg – for the World Gourmet Festival at The Four Seasons Bangkok

At 8:30 a.m. when we arrived at the Pak Khlong Talat, my noodle soup vendor had cleared out, the fried chicken lady was nowhere to be seen and the grilled bananas I usually bought were gone.  This was not good.  I was supposed to be giving Michael Laiskonis, Executive Pastry Chef of Le Bernardin, a little market tour on his last day in Thailand and most of the food stalls were gone.

Since Laiskonis, who has a reputation for being extremely hardworking even in Le Bernardin’s hardcore kitchens, had been pulling 16-hour days almost every day since arriving at the World Gourmet Festival, I didn’t want to force a 6 a.m. call time on him.  We grabbed one of the other grilled bananas, some slightly softened fried bananas and walked down the street.  Maybe I had made a mistake.

When we rounded the corner, I saw jackfruit, surely something you can’t find easily in the U.S., and grabbed some of those.  As it turns out, Laiskonis had been underwhelmed by jackfruit before and I couldn’t quite divine whether he liked these.  The flavor of Juicy Fruit gum, he told me, was based on jackfruit – not something I had picked up mucking around in markets all of these months.  There were other connections he was making here, like the similarities between South American and South East Asian desserts, particularly when it comes to using vegetables, like corn or sweet potatoes.

As we wound our way around the market, passing truckloads of cabbages, market cats sleeping on bags of sweet potatoes, and waist-high baskets of chilies, I could feel the street street sludge whipping up onto the backs of my legs from my flip-flops.  Laiskonis, who had met me perfectly coiffed and pressed at 8 a.m., seemed untouched.  It was time to move indoors.

We made our way over to Siam Plaza, which houses a bright, clean food market of Chinese nibbles, Thai desserts, and packaged snacks.  The two things I picked out, an egg custard and a brightly-colored khanom sprinkled with shredded coconut, were underwhelming.  “It definitely needs sugar,” Michael warned softly before I bit into the dry, chewy khanom.  Siam Plaza was a bust.

Before heading to the food market across the street from Chatuchak, I thought it was worth dipping into Prahurat, a seemingly endless series of stalls selling cheap goods from nail clippers to cutesy pink stickers with food stalls every few paces.  Unfortunately, my sense of direction is rather pathetic and I led us in a full circle around the plaza before finding the Prahurat entrance – just what an overworked pastry chef needs on a hot day.  Once there we grabbed another egg custard and a chewy coconut cake before hopping on the underground heading for Chatuchak.  The coconut cake was, thankfully, simple and sweet.  Laiskonis mulled over the egg custard. It had the faint sense of salt, he said, pausing and processing impressions beyond my grasp.

Chewy Coconut Cake from Prahurat Market

Egg Custard from Prahurat Market

Tor Kor Market, across from the well-known weekend market Chatuchak, is unlike most outdoor markets in Southeast Asia.  The tiled floors are white and the stalls set up in organized rows, but the prices match the setting with fruit, which is carefully selected, sometimes commanding double or triple the amount you’d pay elsewhere.  After we cruised past silvery fish and green-blue shellfish on display in the seafood section, Laiskonis received a call and it looked like he would have to return to the hotel.  I set to work, snatching up custard apples, mangosteens, fruit steeped in syrup, khanom tan (palm sap mixed rice flour and sugar), banana leaves with unidentifiable contents, and green jelly-like khanom.  Though some of the desserts weren’t the best of what I’ve seen, I thought something was better than nothing. It was one-star treatment  for a four-star chef; not one of my finer moments.  “These are for you,” I said pushing the bags into his hands.  Five hours of Bangkok’s full-sensory assault and four markets later, we were heading back to the Four Seasons.

Laiskonis studied photography before turning to the kitchen and you can see his fabulous pictures, as well as thoughtful observations, at michaellaiskonis.typepad.com.

Michael Laiskonis at the Pak Khlong Talat, Bangkok’s largest wholesale flower market

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