Lone Sept. Post

Argh. The month has flown by! Sorry for the lack of posts. My excuse is that I've been busy writing other things, resurrecting my laptop (hard drive died), and basically running all over the city doing stuff (vague, I know!).

One fun thing we did recently was to join my parents on their annual August Hong Kong trip, where the primary motivation has always been to procure dozens of tins of Wing Wah mooncakes for distribution to people back home.

That type of food obsession sums up the trip as much of the time was spent with old friends eating exceptional meals, including a 12-course veg lunch at the Chi Lin Nunnery (MTR: Diamond Hill station, Kowloon). I never ate so many different varieties of fungi in one sitting before.


Besides the food, the nunnery is worth a mention. It's a grouping of new structures built in the Tang Dynasty style, and the meticulousness of the buildings are reminiscent of temples we saw in Japan. Every piece of wood has been assembled without nails, with dowels and brackets holding them neatly together like a puzzle.

The gardens are just as impressive; each artfully shaped rock carefully sits among trees with gnarled limbs sprouting clusters of needles in varying hues of green. Very Zen, and a great counterbalance to the frenzied pace on the streets.

In general, I like Hong Kong. Many sights trigger a sense of nostalgia, whether they are things I recall as a kid on numerous visits, or places I hear about where my grandparents yum cha-ed, frequented or lived. Those were the days. :)

Kitchen Chemistry

In these trying times...we make ginger beer.

Red Chopsticks

Our friend's brother is an instant food mogul, and he's launched a cool new brand! Check out this site, and help support Red Chopsticks' healthy alternative to instant noodles. Available at Tops and Central Food Hall. Slurp, slurp...ummmm...

Tidbit Treasure

Haven't written about food in a long time since we've almost stopped exploring new eats. But the Chinese restaurant Tidbit Treasure deserves, at the very least, a mention on this humble blog with the modest following.

Since moving back to Bangkok, we've frequented this place no less than a dozen times. On the top floor of Siam Discovery, TT is usually almost empty at dinnertime (the location is terrible, as it's tucked away in a quiet corner of the building). This is a shame because TT boasts some of the best Cantonese veggie food ( I think TT's owner Lydia, a 1980s Wellesley grad, is also vegetarian) in town. There was another branch in Soi 33 but it is in the process of relocation, and there is a TT stall in the Central Food Loft but it's not that great.

We almost always order the salted chili tofu, perfectly deep fried and slightly crunchy on the outside, and squishy inside. TT also offers fake 'chicken' that's made of soy protein; it's a tasty substitute for real chicken in any dish. When on a gluttonous debauch, we also order custard buns, stir-fried noodles, and/or chayote stems with garlic. Two TT dinners ago, we discovered a spinach stir-fry slathered with gloopy egg white and salted egg yolk - it tastes much better than it sounds.

A satisfied customer:

Beirut

Bangkok boasts the best Lebanese food we've ever had. From humble beginnings, Beirut restaurant now has two branches: one in a sketchy building on Silom, and the other in Ploenchit Center. The latter's a nicer building but its parking garage smells like sewage. Not a very nice way to begin a meal, but the delicately grilled eggplant, crunchy, sesame-covered falafels, sumptuous dips - labneh, motabel, and hummus - and other offerings quickly obliterate memories of the aforementioned odor. We regularly dip and crunch here. Yummy!

Steamy nights

We found a reason to live. In Bangkok, that is. Our suki (aka shabu-shabu) is by far the best we've had anywhere in the States or Down-unndah. Woohoo. Bangkok 1; RoW* 0.

Here we are about to dunk the assorted veggies and green noodles in the boiling soup to cook. Yum, who knew broth from pumpkin, cabbage, and many varieties of mushrooms and fungus would be so tasty? Suki almost certainly induces gluttony but we do not care. All hail suki!!!
*Rest of world

Veggie Fest

We made it to Chinatown with some colleagues for this year's annual vegan ("kin jay") food fest. Celebrated during the first nine days of the ninth Chinese lunar month (early October), this is a time of penance and self-purification. No consumption of meat, animal products, and strong smelling veggies such as garlic, chives, celery, and onions.

Here we are sampling the wares of street-side stalls on Yaowarat Road. The food was mostly deep-fried carbs or imitation meat, akin to hot dogs or ham. The food was not very delectable but the atmosphere was fun. It started pouring shortly after the photo was taken and we ended up at the Scala Shark Fin Restaurant. The food was ok, nothing memorable, and they didn't have fake shark fin.

We didn't achieve the intended purification of body and mind as we couldn't observe the dietary rules for the entire nine days. The "jay" meals weren't that satisfying and had to be supplemented with ice cream. "Perhaps we will do it again next year," we snort derisively. Hehehe.

Unpalatable

If there is a law of averages, it caught up with us this week. After all the great food we had here, we were overdue for a disappointing, if not completely distasteful, dinner. We sought out ChiJuYa, a Japanese vegetarian restaurant in the roachy 55 Plaza building (Thonglor).

Having been sick and wanting something simple and familiar, we ordered clear soup and sushi rolls. Also ordered a dish of fake eel in basil sauce. The soup was fine but the rolls were very blah. Akin to eating paste stuffed with iceberg lettuce that fell on the floor, we couldn't finish them, needless to say. The fake eel (fashioned out of mushrooms) was interesting but unpalatable for two reasons: 1. it looked too real and 2. mushrooms should not strive to be fish. Even the gloopy sauce could not mask the slimy taste of the deep fried morsels.

Disgruntled, we went home hungry.

Hare Krishna Pizza

From first glance, Govinda's may appear to be a Hare Krisha-affliated joint but it's actually Italian-owned, serving homemade egg-free pastas and other nice veggie items. It is located in Soi 22, sort of hidden away amidst slightly sketchy bars and skanky peeps. (Sadly, such scenes have spilled over into more sois along Sukhumvit. It's sort of a normal Bangkok-after-dark kind of thing.. Not really the Bangkok we remember from way back.)

As a vegetarian Italian restaurant, Govinda is definitely a unique idea that may have stemmed from the owners' personal interests as images of Indian deities harmoniously co-existed with bottles of olive oil, chianti, and jars of pasta. We started with arancini that was fried up as expected but served with Thai sweet chili dipping sauce. Um, at that point we wondered how authentic the food was going to be. The homemade tartufo (pasta) in a creamy truffle sauce more than made up for it. The egg-less pasta was nice and chewy in a comfortingly rich sauce tinged with a mushroom flavor. It was so simple and so good, the gluttons had to order a second pasta dish. Same sauce but with artichokes. Even after the two dishes, bread basket, and arancini, we ordered affogato (espresso poured over vanilla gelato). Such piggyness. Oink.

We are getting so fat here.

Gloopy spinach

Tonight's surreal dining experience took us to India and back. The moment we entered Bawarchi, a Northern Indian restaurant in Suan Lum, we had deja vu. It felt like a Delhi diner with the requisite Ganeshas, psychedelic shrine, live singing, and all-Indian staff. The place also accomodated large groups of Indian tourists.

We kind of stumbled upon this place. We originally set out to play tennis tonight but v forgot shorts so we ended up at Suan Lum night bazaar, among the 3,700 stalls (so the sign said) and hundreds of haphazardly parked cars. The sour smell of rancid garbage wafted from the dumpsters where we managed to park. Happily, the smell helped identify our parking spot. A nearby landmark included a huge, dusty, striped circus tent of unknown use. The restaurant, resembling a mini Red Fort of sorts, was situated in the middle of the lot.

Despite the sketchiness, the yummy dinner consisted of spicy saag paneer and baingan bartha (v turned a little red from all the spices and I chewed on a rather big piece of cardamom). The minty paratha was also excellent although it was served on a food-stained napkin (ew!). We would recommend it as a great vegetarian eat if you can handle what's around the area... Apparently they have another location on Sukhumvit Soi 3 - we will check that out sometime later.