Let's Eat!
CAUTION! The photos in this chapter may be disturbing to some. I recommend you eat something before reading.
A friend asked me, “Are you cooking?” While we have a minimally equipped kitchen (microwave, induction hotplate, and 1 saucepan) my answer is, “No.” With the exception of soft boiled eggs and coffee in the morning, I am not cooking.
Food is everywhere here. It’s very good, and it’s cheap. A bowl of noodle soup may cost 40THB or $1.20. A serving of rice is 10THB or $.30. A whole steamed fish from the market costs about 150THB ($4.50). Local restaurant meals cost anywhere from 30THB ($.90) for something stir fried over rice to to 100THB ($3.00) for a half chicken.
Every other house has a BBQ set up or a propane fired wok on the street, and everyone is selling food. The spicy breakfast guy in the blog is just a block away, and he’s cooking on his front porch which is the front of his little “restaurant”. We have become regulars already. A lady on the corner serves up a mean grilled pork steak from her Thai style Weber, and her sticky rice—cooked in a basket—is the delicious, nuttiest-tasting around.
Some of these street vendors are world famous, like the Cowboy Hat Lady who serves up a tender and tasty pork knuckle called khao khu moo, stewed for hours in a mother sauce. Anthony Bourdain featured her on one of his episodes, and she has been written up in travel guides. She cooks alongside a dozen or so other street vendors who set up their stations in the late afternoon along the curb of the busy moat road. The vendors also set up short plastic tables and even shorter stools so diners have a place to sit. But mostly they fill take away orders. Scooters and motorbikes buzz around like bees at the hive.
A food court with 20-30 vendors is two blocks away from our condo. It is adjacent to a market which sells fresh meats, fish, veges, fruits, sweets, and prepared take-away—-meat on a stick, fish 10 different ways, soups, salads, sweets, rice, and many foods foreign to me. One of my favorite dishes is papaya salad made to order in a large wooden mortar. In general the set ups are clean and tidy.
In the food court your food is made to order, right in front of you. There is no mystery about what happens in the kitchen. Raw meats food are kept on ice. Herbs and vegetables are fresh. There is usually one cook and one assistant so sometimes if they are busy I have to wait 5 minutes. The meal is always fresh and hot.
If there is a menu, there are pictures and occasionally a vague explanation in English. I’ll point to a picture to order, and I am frequently surprised because often the photo does not match up with the food. Happily, I can say that so far this method has worked well for me.
For dinner we often go to the fresh market and pick up prepared take away stuff, which is usually packed up in clear plastic bags. There is a rice lady who sells several types of rice (jasmine, sweet sticky, black sticky…). George has a rapport with a vendor who sells meat-on-a-stick. They both have ponytails. And I have a favorite papaya salad stand. We are trying new vegetable concoctions every day, and some are more to our liking than others.
I have had a less-than-satisfactory meal only twice, both times from a food court in a mall. In those food courts, you purchase a ticket at one booth and hand over that ticket at the food booth of your choice. The cook is just a functionary.
The closest I think I will get to cooking is to take a cooking class. Reservations required.
Great way to start the day…coffee and donut by Flips and Flips.
Mangosteens are very sweet and delicious.
Chicken soup with silky tofu. I cannot compete.
Pork knuckle from the man with the golden wok.
Rambutan—a funny little fruit, not too sweet. George likes a bowl full of them chilled.
What can I say? It was well-presented and delicious.
The markets carry an amazing variety of fresh vegetables. Many are new to us.
Typical table accessories: pencil and small slip of paper for writing your order, chopsticks (Thai usually eat rice with a spoon), sugar, pepper flakes, pickled peppers, toothpicks, fish sauce, and a mystery sauce. Many vendors also offer hot peppers, hotter peppers, and hottest peppers. And sugar. I’ve seen people sprinkle a tablespoon of sugar on their meal.
A neighbor dries these peppers on the street. One pepper alone is hot enough to light your campfire, and they are a staple in most local dishes. The papaya salad maker uses about 8 in a serving for 1. Then she adds a few fresh hot peppers for good luck. She knows we farangs can’t take it that hot so she gives me only 1 pepper.
From the Baan Landai restaurant, one of my favorites.
Fried pork rinds go perfectly with a bottle of Chang beer. These rinds are often mixed in an Issan style hot/sour/salty and sweet herb salad. One needs to eat them fresh because they have no preservatives.