Thai Food 6

Encouraged by my experience the day before, I made a return trip to Noen Khumthong Garden, "the" kanom chin place. This time I wanted to try out their other goodies on the menu.



Here are more shots of the place.



They even have a little garden area complete with kiddie playground. BUT realistically, under that scorching heat?



To kick things off, we ordered the "nam prik kapi". This was discussed in the first post "Thai Food 1". Technically, nam prik kapi is just that bowl of chili super-duper-blaster. But it usually comes along with an assortment of fresh raw veges.

If you're like me and take this by the spoonful, this is a tongue-numbing experience. It rocks!



Next up is the "tom yum ruammit" or mixed tom yum (a mixture of various seafood and meat). Another of Thai's perennial favourite, tom yum is spicy sour soup. We decided against the traditional fiery-red tom yum koong (tom yum with prawns) and went for the clear-stock version.

Taste-wise is identical to the red-soup version except for the conspicious absence of the chili oil that makes it red. The tom yum here is just the right blend of spicy and sour. All the flavours that makes up a tom yum are all there - crushed lemongrass, kaffir-lime leaves, tiny "khee-nu" chilis, thai basil, galangal and a healthy dose of lime juice.

Definitely an appetising start to any meal.



Yes folks, this is "kaeng som" (again!). Spicy, sour and yummy.



This is the surprise find of the day. This is "kaeng kari kai" or curry chicken, Thai style. I fell in love with this at first taste. This thick curry is extremely creamy from the generous use of thick coconut milk. The curry paste is made (as far as I can make it out) from lemongrass, shallots, garlic, turmeric (saffron), galangal, candlenut, shrimp paste and fresh red chilies.

What made the kaeng kari kai here unique is the use of sweet potatoes (note orange-coloured thingy floating in the curry) which added natural sweetness to the curry. Absolutely gorgeous!



If you note the timestamp on the photo above, you would realise that this was taken a day earlier. I actually had this right after the kanom chin in the preceding post, but decided to post it here as there was way too many photos in that post. *yawn* let's move on to the food.

This is another of my favourites, "khao phat kapi" or fried rice with shrimp paste.

What you get is rice fried with shrimp paste ("kapi") and surrounded by (clockwise from top) cucumber, shredded unripe (i.e. sour) mangoes, shallots, "khee-nu" chilies, deep-fried thinly sliced pork (well seasoned and sweetish) and omellette strips.



Mix everything well and enjoy a spoonful of heaven. We ended the meal with more "tub tim krob" but you know how that story goes so no need to repeat it here. :o)

Yes you could have guessed a mile away that I would conclude favourably. So far, there is nothing here that disappoints. The khao phat kapi (part of yesterday's meal) costs Bt50 (USD1.30). Today's meal cost about Bt500 (USD13.00) inclusive of deserts. How can you complain?