BBQ Duck over Rice with Broth
Bangkok, Thailand – My first few months in Thailand, I went through a period when I didn’t want kuay tiaw (noodle soup). That was when I was still enjoying things because they were new, not familiar. I was sick of it and it seemed to be everywhere. Besides the weather [...]
Boiled Eggs with Chilies, Shallot and Cilantro
Bangkok, Thailand – And yet another market reveals itself. This one, on Rama III Soi 44, I always thought was just the front part of a soi, but for the first time today I walked back to the end of the soi and the market kept going and going [...]
While Thais often eat sweet snacks during the day, including cakes and puddings, called khanom, and there are a few popular after-dinner sweets such as mango and sticky rice, they don’t seem to wholly embrace the concept of dessert and typically stick to fruit to end the meal. Of course, if luscious tropical fruit is growing [...]
Samosas
Mae Sai, Burma – For travelers wishing to stay in Thailand over a month or expats without a work visa, the occasional visa run is a necessity. I had to activate my brand new business visa by leaving the country and coming back. Instead of visiting another country, I opted to do a day trip [...]
Noodle Soup Seasonings on Street Cart
Bangkok, Thailand – The day before actually making it to Vanilla Café and the bookstore Sauce, I made a first attempt finding that the place had been closed for an employee party. Certainly any business is allowed to celebrate its employees, but I couldn’t help feeling a twinge of annoyance that [...]
Royal Vanilla
Bangkok, Thailand – Way out on Ekkamai Soi 12, amidst gardens and fountains, sits a quiet Japanese complex made up of dim sum house Royal Vanilla, coffee and pastry shop Vanilla Café and bookstore Sauce. The café sports clean wooden lines and an airy minimalist cool, but its food, unfortunately, doesn’t live up to the same precision. [...]
Grilled Beef and Papaya Salad
Ko Chang, Thailand – As soon as we sat down, I knew that this place was going to be terrible. The menu was a mix of bland Thai standards, our server was an indifferent katoey (ladyboy) and the restaurant was outfitted in a mix of wooden tables and chairs that would [...]
Khao Pad Muu (Pork Fried Rice)
Bangkok, Thailand – Thai fried rice is nothing like its Chinese-American counterpart, heavy and greasy. Cooked rice is wok fried with a bit of onion, chinese kale, carrot and a few morsels of pork, seasoned with a healthy shake of white pepper and a squeeze of lime, and served [...]
Neua Tun (Beef Soup) with Steamed Rice
Bangkok, Thailand – This city is a lesson on the unexpected. Bustling markets of produce, clothing and prepared foods are swept away without a trace by mid-morning. Lunch vendors, crushed in midday, are sleepy a few hours later. Deep in a dark alleys people fill tables hunched over bowls [...]
Sai Kuu Ka Muu and Khiaw Kreab Pak Mor
Bangkok, Thailand – Lately I’ve had dumplings on my mind, in part because my friend Andrea Nguyen is working on a cookbook on Asian dumplings, which is sure to be as beautiful and instructive as her first cookbook Into the Vietnamese Kitchen: Treasured Foodways, Modern Flavors. When [...]
