Phở Dung

  Phở, Vietnamese-style rice noodle soup, is probably the most popular noodle dish in Laos, but a few things set it apart from the dish of its origins. Firstly, the noodles used in Lao phở generally aren't very high quality, and tend to be somewhat coarse and pasty. And Lao phở broth often lacks the deep meatiness of its Vietnamese counterpart (I suspect they attempt to remedy this by adding heaps of MSG). But I reckon the thing that makes Lao phở most different than the Vietnamese style is the number of condiments:

Which, contrary to the other differences, is not necessarily a bad thing. Eating phở in Laos you really get the chance to customise your bowl with a seemingly endless variety of bottled condiments, and I love getting a stack of fresh herbs, not necessarily even to put in my phở, but simply to munch on.

Thus, unless you're a phở purist, you'll most likely enjoy Phở Dung, probably the most popular phở restaurant in central Vientiane. The noodles are OK, as is the broth (the meat slightly less so), but the condiments, which include heaps of fresh herbs and veggies, fish sauce, soy sauce, pickled eggplants, a slightly sweet peanut-like sauce, chili sauce, sugar, MSG, and more, just about make up for its other faults.

Phở Dung 158 Th Heng Boun 021 213 775 6am-2pm

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Vientiane, February 28, 2010

Boy near Pha That Luang, Vientiane, Laos

Another pic from earlier the same day.

Vientiane, February 28, 2010

Praying at Wat Si Muang, Vientiane, Laos

The Traditional Recipes of Laos

Not from me of course, but from Phia Sing, a former royal cook in the palace of Luang Prabang. The 115 recipes, originally written on notebook paper by Phia Sing, and later compiled and edited by former British diplomat, Alan Davidson, comprise what must be the most fascinating cook book I've ever encountered. Fascinating not only for the scope of obscure and delicious-sounding recipes (many of which were palace recipes and involve intriguing ingredients such as freshwater stingray, fish egg membrane and deer), but also for the vibrant and entertaining writing (Davidson also wrote the Oxford Companion to Food), Davidson's interesting background on Lao food culture and ingredients, not to mention the context in which the recipes were obtained (Davidson was ambassador to Laos from 1973-75 and explains that he was probably the last Westerner to meet with the final king of Laos, King Sisavang Vong, who personally lent him Phia Sing's hand-written recipes).

Lending the book a fairy-tale air is the fact that it was allegedly Phia Sing's dying wish that his recipes be published. This mood is also evident in the endearingly anachronistic way Phia Sing describes measurements, examples of which include minced pork 'the size of a hen’s egg' and fish 'the size of a man’s hand'. Some of Phia Sing's recipes can be seen online here. I'm particularly keen to try the jaew bong (a chili paste associated with Luang Prabang) and the khoua sin fahn, a seemingly rendang-like dish of deer braised in coconut and a curry paste.

Highly recommended. If you're not in Laos, the book can be purchased here.

Han Khay Laap T2

  After two weeks in Vientiane I have to admit that I’ve found relatively little in the way of Lao food worth sharing. I’ve encountered one exceptionally good Lao restaurant, a decent phở' stall and a pretty solid night market, all of which I’ll blog about soon, but for the most part I get the impression that the vast majority of people here appear eat dinner at home, and when eating out, require little more a bit of grilled meat and Beerlao. This is unfortunate for visitors, as Lao food really can be good, but I imagine that much of what people manage to eat here is either gentrified for foreigners, or as is more often the case, just kinda crappy.

In voicing my thoughts to some local foodies, I was pointed in the direction of a laap restaurant near Vientiane’s northern bus terminal. I cycled out there this morning and amazingly found the place, which even more amazingly, considering that today was Lao Women’s Day (congratulations, Lao women), was open.

The proprietors of Han Khay Laap T2 (disappointingly, a reference to the name of the road the restaurant's located on, not the Hollywood film) are friendly and even appear to speak a bit of English. The place specialises in beef dishes, in particular laap, which is prepared raw, par-boiled (shown at the top of this post) or fried, but also do a few other dishes including foe (Lao-style phở'), grilled beef (tongue, heart and teats), tom kheuang nai ngua (a thick broth with beef innards), koy paa (similar to laap, but made with big chunks of freshwater fish) and kaeng som paa, a tom yam-like soup with fish from the Mekong:

The laap was an excellent example of the Lao-school of the dish – tart, meaty, crunchy (from roasted and ground sticky rice) and herbal – and unlike most places, the obligatory veggies that accompany it weren’t wilted and even appear to have been washed. The restaurant also succeeded, somewhat, in alleviating my pessimism about finding good Lao food here, and made me realise that I just have to ask the right people.

Han Khay Laap T2 Thanon T2 (Located roughly across from Khounxai Hotel) 020 551 349 8am-3pm Mon-Sat

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Beerlao

  Recently Global Post Thailand Correspondent Patrick Winn and I got the chance to visit the headquarters of the Lao Brewery Company (LBC), the brewers of Beerlao. For those not familiar with the brew, Beerlao is figuratively and literally the beer in Laos, commanding a staggering 99% market share. It's often also generally considered the best beer in Southeast Asia; a lot like saying Chateau de Loei is the best winery in Thailand, although I must say that the brand's Beerlao Dark is an unusual lager and a tasty beer by any standards.

The LBC brewery is located 12km from Vientiane at Tha Duea, and on weekdays from 10am onwards offers free brewery tours and tastings. So following a brief circuit of the brewery, and not long after breakfast, Patrick and I found ourselves conducting the following 'research':

Much of the rest of the day is a blur, so here follow some random facts about Beerlao and the Lao Brewery Company (LBC):

-The Lao Brewery Company dates back to 1973 and was originally a joint effort between French businessmen and the Lao government

Inside the Lao Brewery Company, Vientiane, Laos

-After 'liberation' in 1975, the Lao Brewery Company was taken over by the government, which today retains half (the other half is owned by Denmark's Carlsberg)

At the Lao Brewery Company outside Vientiane, Laos

-In 2008 the Lao Brewery Company produced 210 million litres of beer in its two breweries in Vientiane and Pakse

Inside the Lao Brewery Company, Vientiane, Laos

-Beerlao is presently available in 10 countries around the world (although paradoxically it's still relatively hard to find in Thailand)

Inside the Lao Brewery Company, Vientiane, Laos

-Beerlao's current brewmaster, Sivilay Lasachack, studied brewing in the then Czech Republic

Glasses of Beerlao at a restaurant in Vientiane, Laos

-Of the malt used to produce Beerlao, 70% is barley from Belgium and the remaining 30% is rice from Laos

At the Lao Brewery Company, located outside Vientiane, Laos

-In 2009 the Lao Brewery Company introduced Beerlao Gold (pictured at the top of this post), using 'sapphire aroma hops' from Germany

Read more about Beerlao in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and NPR.

Laos!

  I'm updating the next edition of Lonely Planet's Laos guide, and have based myself in Vientiane, that country's capital. I've rented a colonial-era shophouse strategically located within walking distance from an excellent Lao restaurant, a traditional Lao sauna, the city's evening market, two very good French bakeries and the tam maak hung stall illustrated above. I'll most likely in Laos for the better part of the next three months, and you can look forward to dispatches on the places mentioned above, and more.

Khua kai at Phlapphlachai

After more than a decade in Bangkok, I’m still stumbling upon new entirely new dishes and places to eat. My latest discovery is an obscure intersection near Bangkok’s Chinatown that is home to several restaurants serving kuaytiaw khua kai, a fried noodle dish that’s also a relatively recent discovery of mine. The dish, which consists of wide rice noodles fried with chicken breast and pickled squid and served over lettuce, I first encountered at this alleyway vendor in Chinatown. He has been my go-to guy for the dish, and I don’t believe I’ve tried it anywhere else.

Until now.

For some reason, the Phlapphlachai intersection is home to at least five restaurants and street stalls serving kuaytiaw khua kai. Visiting the area over the course of two nights, I did three of these restaurants.

Located right at the intersection, Nong Stamp:

Does the standard kuaytiaw khua khai as described above, but we opted for the slightly unusual seafood version of the dish (pictured at the top of this post), which includes fresh shrimp and squid. Smokey and crispy, it was a very good interpretation of the dish, although I found it a bit under seasoned, and missed the combination of chicken and egg. (Nong Stamp also has an interesting menu of other non-kuaytiaw khua kai dishes, so you can expect to hear more from me about this restaurant in the near future.)

Just up the road, Nong Ann:

does several versions of the dish, and very little else, other than tasty fruit shakes (try the watermelon). We opted for the traditional, chicken with pickled squid:

Although good by most standards, particularly in terms of seasoning, it wasn’t as satisfying as Stamp’s, lacking the smokiness and slight crispiness I associate with kuaytiaw khua kai.

Located in an alleyway behind Nong Ann, Nay Hong immediately won me over its huge crowds:

ridiculously old-school and photogenic setting:

and crusty old cook:

who cooks the dish, over coals, almost pancake style, allowing the messy mixture of chicken, eggs and noodles to crisp on one side before flipping the whole lot over en masse. This provides the dish with a crispy texture and lots of tasty singed bits:

Smokey and well seasoned, and it’s the perfect kuaytiaw khua kai.

Kuaytiaw Khua Kai vendors Phlapphlachai Intersection, Bangkok Dinner

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Khrua Paking

  Northern-style Chinese food is relatively hard to find here in Bangkok. This shouldn't come as a surprise, as most Chinese-Thais trace their roots back to southern China, and anyway, heavy wheat-based food isn't generally the first thing people reach for when they're sweating from every pore. So stumbling upon Khrua Paking (Beijing Kitchen) while actually in search of another restaurant, was a spot of good luck.

The restaurant appears relatively new, is a literal hole-in-the-wall, located in a neighbourhood I imagine only Chulalongkorn University students are familiar with, and serves most of the northern-style standards. The dish above, which was recommended, combined tasty hand-pulled noodles with a minced pork topping and slices of cucumber. The pork topping had an intensely meaty flavour and an almost dried texture.

The restaurant also pushed their flash-fried greens:

which, seasoned with garlic, a pinch of salt and a few drops of soy sauce, and just barely cooked, were very Chinese and very good. It's funny how such a simple dish can be so hard to find in Bangkok (the Thai equivalent uses different greens and seasonings and a lot more oil).

I'm usually not a fan of Chinese-style soups that combine egg, corn starch and vinegar, but the restaurant's Sichuan soup:

was actually pretty good.

There was a salad of Sichuan-style preserved greens:

which was a bit heavy on the sliced leeks, but crunchy and satisfying.

And fried dumplings:

although to be honest I thought I was ordering something similar to the stuffed breads described in this post. These were good, if a bit greasy, and like all the dishes here, were fully flavoured, made and served with confidence, and exceptionally cheap. Khrua Paking is definitely worth checking out if you're looking for something a bit different. And yes, it's air-conditioned.

Khrua Paking 229 Soi Chula 11, Bangkok 02 611 9281 10am-10pm

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Nang Loeng Market's khanom beuang

Located near Bangkok's historic Nang Loeng Market is a narrow alley where you'll find two slightly different dishes, united in their use of the same name, a crispy shell and a predominately sweet flavour:

The first vendor, Ya Sam, makes the rarer form of khanom beuang (pictured at the top of this post), a crispy egg- and flour-based omelet filled with bean sprouts, tofu, coriander and a savoury/spicy mixture of coconut meat, shrimp, black pepper and coriander root. The dish is served with a sweet/sour dipping sauce that combines sliced cucumbers, chili, ginger and shallots. Frankly, I find this type of khanom beuang a bit too sweet, but this is a personal preference, and in fact think these flavours are probably representative of authentic old-school Bangkok-style food.

Virtually across from this stall there's also a vendor of the more ubiquitous form of khanom beuang:

Lung Noy still makes these crispy taco-like snacks the traditional way, with a bean-based batter and two fillings, sweet, which combines dried fruit and sweet duck egg yolk strands, and savoury, which has a spicy shrimp mixture similar to the one mentioned above.

An ideal one-stop meal destination for those who appreciate linguistic redundancy, sweet flavours and a bit of crunch.

Khanom beuang vendors Soi 4, Thanon Nakhon Sawan, Bangkok Lunchtime

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Where to eat in Bangkok 2010

I often get emails from people en route to Bangkok asking me to recommend the best places in town to eat. I reply to these when I can, but sometimes the volume of mail can get overwhelming, so back in 2006 I put together a blog post to address this problem. I recently stumbled upon the post, which by now is somewhat out of date, and thought it was high time to provide an updated version.

Again, this isn't a definitive list of Bangkok's best restaurants, but rather a general guide aimed at first-time visitors trying to make sense of the city's food offerings.

If you're fresh off the plane on your first trip to Thailand, I still feel that the best place to dip your toe in the water of Thai food is a mall food court. They're clean and cheap, the menus are written in English, you have a wide range of choices, and actually, the food can be pretty good. My favorite food court is probably the one on the sixth floor of Mah Boon Krong (also known as MBK). There you’ll find most of the Thai standards, a huge variety of Thai-Chinese food, and there's even a stall selling Thai-Muslim food and a good vegetarian stall. The food court in the basement of Siam Paragon is a bit more expensive and mostly Chinese-Thai, but is also a decent and convenient choice. If you're feeling a bit more adventurous, you could also try one of the slightly more downmarket food centres such as the two huge food halls at the end of Silom Soi 10 that serve the area's hungry office staff, or Food Plus, the alleyway between Soi 3 and Soi 4 at Siam Square.

At this point you’ve found a dish or two that you like and are likely at least somewhat familiar with the flavours of Thai food. Assuming you're on vacation, you'll want to hit up at least one upscale Thai restaurant. Unfortunately I haven't actually been to many upscale Thai restaurants in the years since I wrote the first version of this post. The only one I'm really familiar with right now is Bo.lan, which despite having eaten there at least five times, I've yet to blog about (they're open for lunch on weekends now, so I'll get around to it soon). The restaurant is owned and run by two former chefs of David Thompson's London restaurant Nahm, and their dedication to great ingredients and obscure old-school Thai recipes combine to make it a worthwhile investment. Another alternative, although it's upscale in the Thai sense, is the delightfully old-school Sorndaeng.

Once you’ve downed a few plates of food court nosh and have consumed the requisite nice Thai meal, I reckon you’re ready for the next step in Thai dining: a good food neighborhood. In my opinion, this is the highest level of Thai dining, and a good food 'hood will have mix of good stalls, specialist shops and a good all-around restaurant or two.  The downsides to this are that you'll need a bit of experience to recognise what's on offer, and language can be a barrier. If you're game for a bit of adventure, one of Bangkok's best is the area around Thanon Tanao:

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a strip of road teeming with legendary Thai eats, including several specialised vendors including my favourite khanom beuang the excellent Paa Thong Ko Sawoey, and a few good all-around restaurants such as Chote Chitr, Poj Spa Kar, Kim Leng and a couple blocks away, Krua Apsorn.

At this point you'll have sampled a cross section of Thai cuisine and you're most likely ready for the final step: Thai street food. These affairs are generally only open at night, are not the cleanest restaurants you’ll ever see, very little English is spoken and are located in inconvenient parts of town. But the food can be outstanding and the experience fun. In this regard, I wholeheartedly endorse Bangkok's Chinatown:

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Simply walk down Thanon Yaowarat, avoid the annoying touts at touristy seafood restaurants, and pay attention as you reach the intersection at Soi 6. There you will find virtually every form of Chinese-influenced Thai street food. In this area I particularly like the egg dishes at Nay Mong, the kuaytiaw khua kai vendor and Nay Uan's kuay jap.

Breakfast in KL

Combine roti canai, a type of fried flatbread served with a spicy dhal-based dipping sauce, teh halia, sweet ginger tea, and throw in a copy of theSun with fresh dirt about Anwar's sodomy trial and you have a thoroughly delicious and entertaining breakfast one could only find in Malaysia.

Sek Yuen

Last week I found myself in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, attending Joe McNally's photography workshops. Thus, not only was I in photo geek heaven, but this being KL, I was likewise also in Asian food heaven, and with the guidance of EatingAsia and Jarrett, had a string of virtually faultless meals, ranging in scope from vegetarian southern Indian to porky Chinese.

But the meal that stands out, and which was recommended by both of the above, was Sek Yuen. This longstanding restaurant is unabashedly old-school, and was allegedly a popular destination for wedding receptions in the past:

But it isn't all about appearances here. The kai lan with crispy pork belly:

is quite possibly the tastiest Chinese-style flash-fried veggie dish I've yet to encounter: smokey (they still cook everything over wood here), crispy/crunchy, meaty and garlicky; the only thing it could possibly use was a bit of chili.

The restaurant's famous roast duck (virtually every table had an order of this):

although not entirely photogenic and slightly dry, was immensely satisfying, the crispy skin holding the subtle flavour of a complex dried spice rub.

There was steamed pork ribs:

served with an oyster sauce- and sesame oil-heavy sauce, making the dish somehow seem even meatier than its already meaty appearance.

An attempt to order what in Thailand is known as kuy chai phat tao huu (garlic chives fried with tofu) instead got us gourd fried with egg (Thai-accented Teochew Chinese doesn't get me as far as I assumed), but communications problems aside, I found the staff here lovely:

Lovely enough, in fact, for a re-run. Visiting again the very next evening, I had yusheng:

a raw fish 'salad' that has apparently become associated with Chinese New Year in Singapore and Malaysia. The dish is only available for two weeks at Sek Yuen, and with disparate ingredients including (but not limited to) ginger, pomelo, sesame oil, cinnamon and jellyfish, was a fascinating combination of virtually every texture and flavour imaginable.

Anybody visiting Kuala Lumpur is well-advised to check out EatingAsia's Top Ten Eats in KL (I made it to nearly half of them).

Sek Yuen Restoran 313-315 Jalan Pudu, Kuala Lumpur 03 9222 9457 Lunch & dinner, Tues-Sun

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Snapshots from Mae Hong Son: For sale

20 rai of land, located just outside Mae Hong Song city, 3 million baht (approximately US$90,000).

Sigh...

Snapshots from Mae Hong Son: Extreme Engrish

  It's been a while since I've checked out Engrish.com, but this sign, at the Pha Bong Hotsprings, 12km outside Mae Hong Son, reminded me of the site. In case the text above is too small to read, it says:

prohibit dip foot appeareds a pond

prohibit down water uncle in a pond

prohibit sit take a bath on pond edge

I was bathing here one morning (a wonderful experience) and apparently violated the last rule, as a man walked over to tell me that I shouldn't sit on the elevated edge of the hot spring. According to him, people were complaining it 'didn't look nice' and that the 'dirty water' from my body would go back into the hot spring (a vast pond of boiling water, I remind you) and make it unclean.

I obliged, but was also reminded of how utterly important appearances are in Thailand, often taking precedence over reality, common sense and proper grammar.

Snapshots from Mae Hong Son: Khao puk ngaa

Khao puk ngaa, pounded sticky rice coated with ground sesame, a traditional sweet, Mae Hong Son

Snapshots from Mae Hong Son: Still life

Gourds for sale at Mae Hong Son's morning  market

Hotshoe in KL

  Last week I attended two of Joe McNally's photography workshops in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, The Hot Shoe Diaries and Let There Be Light. I learned heaps and got the chance to use lots of previously unfamiliar lighting equipment, although not always successfully, as illustrated above. But regardless of our success, Joe was an enthusiastic, fun and inspiring teacher:

and in addition to two of his excellent books and some cool new Lastolite gear, I took home several techniques and ideas that I hope to use soon. If Joe is ever in your part of the world, I'd highly recommend investing in his workshops. Failing that, do check out his books The Moment It Clicks and The Hot Shoe Diaries, both of which are fun and pretty enough to grace the coffee table, but informative enough for the photo geek.

(For any photo geeks out there, the shot above was taken with my D700 and a 70-200 f/2.8 with two barn-doored SB900s providing the backlights and to camera left, an SB800 shot through a 30" Ezybox Softbox diffused additionally through a TriGrip, all of this, believe it or not, in TTL mode.)

Snapshots from Mae Hong Son: Party animals

Handing out khao ya kuu on the streets of Mork Jampae, Mae Hong Son

My stay in Mae Hong Son coincided yet again with khao ya koo, a Shan celebration in which caravans of partying locals hand out packets of sweetened sticky rice to anybody and everybody in the name of making merit. It's heaps of fun and reminded me of the fact that I seem to bump into some sort of festival or another virtually every time I'm in Mae Hong Son.

Snapshots from Mae Hong Son: Village Life

 Typical Thai Yai house and resident, Mork Jampae, Mae Hong Son

Sometimes Mae Hong Son can appear as if it's stuck in a time warp. A considerable amount of the people here still speak the local dialect, eat the local cuisine and dress traditionally, many even wearing the kup tai (a conical hat). Likewise, most villages here appear to have changed equally little in decades. This is particularly the case with Thai Yai villages such as Mork Jampae, shown above, located about 12km from Mae Hong Son. The vast majority of the houses in Mork Jampae are made from wood and many still feature roofs made from bai tong tueng, a type of local leaf. And as is the case in other Thai Yai villages across the province, the houses are almost always incredibly tidy with a wooden or bamboo fence out front, upon which flowers and/or vegetables are grown. The only obvious concession to modernity is that instead of the tho, a clay vessel of water traditionally situated in front of the house for passers by, most houses now have modern water filters with a tap.