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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 appeal to western tourists.  It had been recommended to my friend by one of the servers at the restaurant across the street where he had eaten the night before and though it didn’t look promising, I thought it was worth a shot for a mid-afternoon snack. We ordered some fried noodles and a minced pork salad, both of which were flat and lacking the dynamic intensity of Thai food.  The fried noodles were mushy and flavorless and the minced pork salad was dressed in a rather boring lemon juice dressing without chilies, fish sauce or the usual seasonings for meat salads. 

On the beaches dominated by western tourists, the food is often lacking, which is not to say that decent food can’t be found.  Ko Chang’s Lonely Beach is exactly that kind of place.  The next day in search of spicy noodle soup to lift me out of the haze left by the previous night, I spotted a place on the main road next to Joy’s Cafe & Guesthouse that looked like it might be right.  A corrugated tin roof covered a jumbled mix of plastic tables and chairs in the back and a small cooking area, consisting of a wok, a grill and some coolers, in the front, where a shy, but friendly family was busy cooking and serving in a coordinated effort.  There was no sign on the exterior indicating what the place was called or what kind of food they served, but when I sat down the menu revealed a host of dishes that you won’t find in most places trying to rope westerners – duck mouth or pork stomach in a dry red curry, super spicy frog legs stir-fried with chili, clear red curry soups with Isaan vegetables, deep fried beef strips, and so forth.  It was noodle soup that I came for so that’s what I ordered and this one was a fiery glass noodle soup with a mix of greens and chicken in a potently flavored broth of kaffir limes leaves, lemongrass, and red chilies.  It was exactly what the food from yesterday’s lunch wasn’t – boldly flavorful, fiery and rejuvenating. 

Since I was spending my days stretched out on the beach instead of searching out the island’s hidden eateries, I returned again with my friends.  Though the menu offered dishes from all over Thailand, we tried to stick what seemed to be house specialties.  And we weren’t disappointed.  Our meal was an exciting mixture of flavors and textures: a grilled pork salad, strips of chewy, savory pork dressed with fish sauce, lime juice, chilies, shallots and roasted rice powder; crispy pieces of fried chicken garnished with ground pepper and fried chopped garlic; a green mango and catfish salad, shredded crisp, sour green mango sitting atop a crispy mess of lacy fried catfish bits that were soaking up a sweet and citrusy dressing; and of course sticky rice.  

Throughout Thailand, some of the best restaurants are those that do the least to draw in customers.  The settings are at best charmingly dirty, often the signs aren’t in English if there are any signs at all, and the food they serve isn’t always familiar.  Our little Isaan joint on Ko Chang certainly can’t be counted in the upper echelons of Thailand’s family-run holes-in-the-wall, but it was still delicious and I popped in the next day before leaving the island for a quick lunch of grilled beef and papaya salad before heading back to Bangkok.