River Hotel, Nakhon Pathom, Thailand

Most of my meals were partaken at the River Hotel which kind of makes sense since I was staying there but it's more than that because it helps that the whole River Hotel chain is but part of the bride's family businesses. Thus individual luxury rooms with king sized beds were provided for the special wedding guests (whom I'm conveniently one of). This is a bowl of delicious king shrimp porridge that was served prior to the wedding lunch after the ceremonial formalities.

The porridge is eaten with this side loosely translated as Thai bacon. It's a sweetish, savory pork jerky that's fried and gets really addictive to snack on.

The wedding couple had to consume this traditional dessert of ultra sweet red jelly-like thingy with hard-boiled eggs. I sneaked a little bit to taste and this was sweet!

Unfortunately, I did not take any photographs of the wedding feast itself as I was seated at the most important table and there were way too many seniors there for me to whip out my camera. But I managed to get pictures of some of the food we ate at the River Hotel's restaurant. These were some minced-prawn fritters, which came as a starter to one of our other big meals. Crisp beancurd skin on the outside and chunky bites of prawn within, we knew that from day one, there will be no skimping on quality when it comes to everything; including the food.

Boiled free-range, wild chicken; I'm not a fan of chicken usually as it's just too mass produced and lacks flavor compared to their red-meat counterparts. But free-range and wild running chickens are a different class altogether. The flavor and texture of this bird was so hearty that it didn't need much seasoning to make it tasty.

Another dish with fresh green peppercorns and basil leaves, this time using fish instead of razor clams, but it was just as yummy.

Deep-fried pork marinated with red preserved beancurd. Crispy, salty and greasy, great beer grub.

Fried pork neck with sesame seeds; another staple seen in Thaistreet food. The restaurant version definitely did not disappoint either.

Here's a steamed fish with an assortment of vegetables including Thai eggplant (the green round things that look a bit like hot-crossed buns). The purity of natural flavors were what stood out here and despite minimal seasonings, it wasn't bland at all.

For all the Thai food lovers out there, I know that Pad Thai is almost synonymous with Thai food but my favorite Thai noodle dish is actually pad kee mao (drunken noodles). This stuff is spicier than pad Thai and less sweet. Give this a shot when you're next at a Thai restaurant as a refreshing change over the standard pad Thai and you may become a convert just like me.

The River Hotel provided excellent accomodation and tasty food throughout my stay in Nakhon Pathom. If anyone is planning to travel here, do consider booking your room here.

D