Greyhound.Chicken.Wings.Yum.
Jasmine rice with lots of crabmeat. They weren't lying about that!
My favourite drink in the whole wide world. Especially this version.
Oysters and Foie Gras for lunch. Unheard of... according to my lifestyle. But there's always a first time and it's easy to get used to this!
The menu says this is noodle soup with very tender beef... they weren't lying about this either! Look at all that lard. I gobbled every single piece. :o) ... :o(
The train passes the Victory Monument on its way to Mo Chit. This is where protesters usually gather when there is a mass demonstration, like the last massive one in 2010. The screen that overlays the picture is the advertisement stickers on the exterior of the train. Makes it impossible to get a nice clean shot! :(
An aerial view (well sort of) of Chatuchak Market. I believe it's the biggest in the world. The mantra when shopping here is that if you see something you like, buy it immediately cos you're not going to be able to find the shop again. I know where the shops I regularly patronise are, but beyond those few, I'm too at a loss.
It's rainy season, thus off-peak for tourists, though it didn't seem off-peak to me that afternoon!
Interesting colours of an umbrella.
Another must visit... Or Tor Kor, a very clean market where rich Tai Tais buy their fruits and produce. Naturally the prices here are higher than in other markets but it's so dry and clean, and one is spoilt for choice in terms of local food and fruits. We bought two crates of honey mangoes (Nam Doc Mai) home. Each crate of 12 was about S$45.50 but these are the largest ones. Works out to about S$3.70 each minus the 'shipping' aka MJ and Steph hand delivery express!
This is a section of Chatuchak that most people don't venture to. It's behind the main market and has retro and traditional furiture shops and lots of pet shops. There are a few stalls within the main market which display cute little puppies but this section is chocabloc full of pet stores. Some are so exotic that I was quite appalled that they keep these animals like lizards, turtles, rabbits, etc in cages. I just wanted to get outta there!
And now for the highlight of the day, and perhaps the entire trip... our dinner at Bo.lan essentially Thai restaurant, located at 42 Sukhumvit 26 Soi Pichai Ronnarong Songkram Klongtoey Bangkok 10110, Thailand Phone:+66 2 260 2962. Reservations essential. They are open only for dinner, from Tuesday to Sunday, 6pm till late. (about midnight) http://www.bolan.co.th The name for the restaurant comes from a combo of its two owners, husband and wife team of Dylan Jones and Duangporn Songvisava (Bo). It is also a version of the word "ancient" says a NYT review... Thus Bo.lan was founded. Read about their philosophy and history in the link above.
Look out for this sign, midway into Soi 26. We entered by Rama IV but it's about the same distance if you enter from Sukhumvit.
They offer indoor and outdoor seating. Very mood.
We had the Bo.lan Balance menu at B1880++ per person. We started off with pre-dinner drinks. Since we don't drink alcohol, they gave us this instead.
We are supposed to start from left to right. I don't know what the drink on the left is. I asked the staff and they told me but my bad memory didn't allow me to retain the information. It was sweet and pleasant though. The green liquid is pandan water. It was not sweet, just fragrant. Then the yellowish green fruit is gooseberry and the orange seed is mango with tamarind, chilli flakes and salt, and a slice of mango.
Again, we were to eat this dish from left to right and I didn't manage to catch what each taste is. But here's what I managed to catch: (L-R): curry chicken on a cracker; I don't know what the second one is. it was like a light, crispy, ball shaped appetiser; spicy bamboo shoot. this was really spicy and I had to wipe my nose after having it! rice wrapped in banana leaf. of course it wasn't just rice but done in a certain way but I couldn't pin down the style; pork in steamed egg. I'm useless at remembering things!
This was a pretty spicy noodle dish, which tasted like lasksa, but more interesting with bursts of lemak and salty flavours.
An 'intermission' of sweet shredded dried pork to take the spiciness of the first few dishes away.
Stir-fried pork tender with Santol. This was tasty too but the least special, I thought.
Relish of salty duck egg simmered in coconut cream and minced prawn served with grilled squid.
This was my favourite dish. The light saltiness and sweet creaminess of the dish was heaven to the tastebud!
“Mon” Style Khi lek curry with daily ocean fish. The curry had lots of spices and the fish was very fresh. A delicious dish, not too spicy.
Preserved mustard green (otherwise known as kiam chye) to go with the beef and mangosteen dish below. I liked the stone bowl it came in.
Salad of “KU” Beef with organic mangosteen and chili mint dressing. This was good. The beef was done medium and the mangosteen was sweet and complementary.
Fried fish in tumeric with bits of garlic. The fish was very fresh and the portion was sizeable. Each of us had one piece that was very meaty.
We had three choices of soup: Chicken and prawn (non spicy); pork rib (medium spicy); chicken (spicy). We both had the first option.
Ah... hot Chiang Mai tea with ginger, spices and honey to wash everything down...
Oh there was one dessert which I forgot to photograph... its the granita ice pop infused with yeasty pandanus leaf essence. Sweet and refreshing...
Just when we thought the tea was the end of it, this lovely cracker with sticky honey and sago in coconut milk. We were truly stuffed by this time... and almost fainted when the next and last dessert (dessert du joir) was brought out!
Such a lovely, colourful dessert so well presented on a granite slate. There was crackers, thai biscuit, green sago with coconut strips, agar agar, fried banana fritters, tamarind, toffee, a kueh bangkit like white coloured biscuit and a small bowl of coconut cream with something in it.
We were ready to roll out of the restaurant after the last dish was served. We paid compliments to Bo and chatted with her for awhile. She and her husband will be coming to Singapore next month to host a couple of cooking classes. We mentioned that there was too much food and we were really full towards the end and she acknowledged this but said that Thais like to get their money's worth so she and her husband spent a lot of time and effort coming up with the menu, and they had to make it 'value for money'
We enjoyed this wonderful dinner and will recommend Bo.lan to our friends. It was definitely more than value for money and we had a lovely evening. They were fully booked when we called to make a reservation but were available from 9.30pm. We began our meal at around 10pm and didn't finish til about midnight.
