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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 of steaming noodles. The street is an ever changing landscape, full of old favorites and the possibility of new discoveries.

After finding out that one of my favorite vendors was out of the fried noodles I had my heart set out, I wandered down Rama III in search of something.  Out of once was an empty lot now stood a new open-air restaurant serving stewed meats in big bowls.  Its workers wore the brimming smiles with the pride of the newly achieved.  It wasn’t what I was looking for just then, but when I returned the next day for breakfast they remembered me gesturing for me to go peak in the vats of soups and meats to overcome the language barrier.  Instead I pointed at one man’s beef soup (neua tun) and a few minutes later it arrived at my table, steaming, soy savory, spiced and punctuated with tender hunks of beef, crisp chinese broccoli and cilantro. I was only too glad to have missed my intended lunch the day before.

Outdoor Restaurant on Rama III