Currying favour by Bangkok's river
Australia's favourite food blogger Not Quite Nigella, aka Lorraine Elliott, finds a cool way to wile away a hot summer's night in Bangkok.
The spiritual heart of Bangkok lies at the Chao Phraya River. Here, the 372-kilometre river snakes through Bangkok, ending at the Gulf of Thailand.
Cruising along the river at night is one of the most popular ways to see Bangkok. The wind lifts the hair and cools the skin while monuments, temples, palaces and notable addresses present themselves at every turn.
I board the restored antique rice board on the Anantara Hotel's Manohra cruises that starts at the Anantara Riverside Hotel's private pier. A cold towel is handed out, a merciful treat at the beginning on this hot, sticky evening. But once the elegant barge starts slicing through the water, the cooling breeze takes over.
Our first taste is brought to us in a dark wooden box. Opened up, it holds shot glasses of ginger, dried shrimp, chillies, lime, toasted coconut peanuts and a gorgeous sweet tamarind sauce that I want to make immediately. The idea is to take a wild betel leaf and fill it with your choice of filling and eat the whole thing. The sensation is sweet, sour, salty and spicy: the classic Thai flavour pillars with an appealing crunch. I could imagine eating quite a few of these.
The mixed entrees are a mix of the familiar and the new. The familiar are beef satay skewers and fabulously aromatic and juicy fish cakes, redolent in kaffir lime and lemongrass. The new ares yam plah dook Foo, a crispy, crunchy catfish and green mango salad served in a little leaf basket, ends up being my favourite. There are also fat scallops topped with the moreish sweet tamarind sauce.
Time for the mains, which come out all at once, share-style. The beef curry is nothing short of divine and it's hard to stop at one scoop. Strong with star anise and sweet, the beef melts in the mouth. I end up going back for three serves of this.
The choo chee pla is made up of snake head fish, sea bass and mackerel rolled with young galangal stem topped with choo chee curry and kaffir lime leaves. It's a wonderful combination of textures and I particularly like the hit of kaffir lime at the end.
By now, my folly (eating so much of the beef curry) meant that I barely had room for dessert. kaew niew muaung is Thailand's most famous dessert: mango and sticky rice. The fruit in Thailand is wonderfully sweet and the sweet-fleshed mango contrasts well with the white glutinous rice. Ka nom mor kheang is a slightly firm egg custard pudding that sat alongside a tropical fruit salad. One bite into the pineapple and I remember eating endless skewers of it on my last trip to Bangkok over 10 years ago.
Read the rest of the post here.