Thai Air, Dinner

I don't write much about airplane food at all because I've never really been fond of it. Somehow, everything served by an airline always seem to taste "plastic" to me. Normally, I just eat a heavier meal before flying and snooze through the meals. However, due to some "technical glitches" my flight was delayed considerably and I had to have dinner on board. The shrimp cocktail and waldorf salad were pretty ok. The shrimp had that weird artificial flavor that airplane seafood tends to get. I don't know, but there's something about seafood flying so high up that doesn't seem right.

The main was a choice between "barbecued roast duck", "tab tim fish" or "beef tenderloin". Needless to say, it wasn't hard for me to make my choice. Since the steak is already pre-cooked it's anyone's guess to how well-done this may be. But as with most airplane steaks, this was done well, I was perhaps rather lucky to get a slight tinge of blood right in the center. However, to be fair to the steak, it was still quite tender and the roasted spuds were tasty too.

The dessert of ginger and bale fruit jelly was ordered purely out of curiosity. I've seen the popular (indigenous?) bale fruit being sold in Thailand and a drink made of dried bale fruit (nam ma-toom) and just wanted to see how it tasted like. Ok, I'm sure airplane food is not the best yardstick to assess this fruit but it tasted exactly like fruit cocktail! I have to try the real thing the next time.

D

Royal Silk Lounge, Bangkok

The Royal Silk Lounge was very similar to the CIP lounge I was at the last time albeit alot larger. In fact, the spread was uncannily familiar as well. Nothing really much to shout about here, although the sandwiches did taste fresh and the pomelo was quite refreshing.

D

Bourbon Street, Bangkok

Bourbon Street claims to be the only 100% American owned and operated restaurant in Bangkok. But what really caught my eye was that they specialized in Cajun and Creole cuisine. Well, since there isn't really a Cajun restaurant in Singapore per se (sorry, but the gumbo at Botak Jones doesn't count haha) I decided to give this place a shot. However, to be fair, I've had Cajun food in the states but not in New Orleans itself, so as far as authenticity goes, don't take my word for it.

So we started off buffalo wings, not really a Cajun dish but I've always liked this appetizer. This had a lot more kick than the ones at Charley Browns and the blue cheese dressing gave it a nice twist, plus the blue cheese flavor was subtle enough not to be overpowering.

If this is how gumbo should be, I'll be making my way down to New Orleans pretty soon. Hearty and generously filled with chunks of chicken and Andouille sausage, it was great for dipping the corn bread into.

Another dish that I find difficult to ignore if I see it on the menu; the deep fried breaded mozzarella chunks were pretty decent. They could have been fried a little longer to be more melty but at least it wasn't cold.

A beef po-boy (from "poor boy", there's a story behind this) is basically a traditional New Orleans sub-style sandwich. Well, I don't know if this Lousiana French bread, but it was slightly more chewy and crusty than your typical baguette. At least this roast beef po-boy was served with a generous dallop of hot brown gravy or the so-called "debris" in Lousiana jargon.

Blackened salmon is basically a fillet of salmon topped with spicy Cajun seasoning, grilled on a heavy skillet and served with buttered zucchini and eggplant "dirty" rice. I'm not a big fan of salmon but they said it was not too bad.

I ordered the blacken chicken version instead. These boneless chicken breast fillets were fully cooked and yet still tender and moist. It was served with jambalaya (a cajun fried rice with tomato sauce and andouille sausage) instead of the dirty rice, which was fine by me since I liked the sausage.

Just to make sure we had our protein requirements we ordered a serve of their "famous" bbq porkribs. I didn't expect so many slabs of this. This sure was tasty, the meat was well marinated, had a smoky aroma and was tender enough to fall off the bone. However, towards the end, we were filling pretty stuffed especially when that bbq sauce (which was a little too sweet) started getting to us.

To top off the meal, I had a slice (huge) of their homemade apple pie and two scoops of ice-cream. Even though the top of this pie was coated with sugar, this wasn't overly sweet because the filling was still sufficiently tart. Most important, this tasted fresh and the pastry wasn't dried out. What a sweet way to end off a week of feasting.

D

Suan Lum Night Market, Bangkok

Suan Lum night market has truly become a tourist area with rip-offs round every corner. But despite that, it's still quite fun a place to come by for a browse and a beer.

Sticking to the non-Thai trend, we opted for Asahi instead of the local Chang or Singha.

D

Charley Brown's, Bangkok

I've been have a craving for a decent taco for sometime (sorry, but Tacobell just can't cut it) and came across this Texmex joint at 1/23 Sukhumvit Soi 11, Nana.

As soon as we were seated we were served some nachos and salsa. The nachos were served warm and the salsa tasted fresh. Good signs so far.

These are touted as "Mexican Wings" although they are really a variant of buffalo wings. There pretty tasty although a tad bit dry and not chilli-hot enough.

The tostada is pretty much like a salad with chilli, minced beef on a bed of nachos. The lettuce tasted crisp and freshly shredded. It could do with more minced though.

Their quesadilla was made of two flour tortillas filled with cheese, minced beef and chilli in the centre, before being baked. So it was larger than the quesadillas I'm used to which are made of one tortilla folded over. Taste-wise it was quite good, somehow, a large round quesadilla reminded me of pizza for some reason.

The chimichanga is essentially a deep-fried burrito. If you think a burrito can be greasy enough with all that cheese and minced in it, imagine dropping it into a deep-fryer prior to being served. I would have preferred the sourcream and salsa on the side instead of on the top of my chimichanga because it made it go soggy abit. Other than that little hiccup, everything was greasily tasty as it should be.

Alright, what I've been waiting for, their tacos. A pity this came last because I was pretty full from the other stuff but at least these tacos satisfied my craving for now. The serve of shredded chicken and minced beef were generous in both tacos, coupled with the salty cheese and tangy salsa, this went down pretty quick despite us being already so full.

D

Zanotti, Bangkok

Zanotti is unarguably one of Bangkok's best Italian restaurants. Bookings are essential here, even on weekdays.

Despite being complimentary, the starter of bruschetta was very good. The bread base was crisp enough to impart a crunch but not tooth-breakingly hard. The tomato chunks tasted very fresh as well.

The bread basket was served warm and with whipped room-temperature thawed butter. The assort of breads included the softest rolls and crispy pizza dough based slices. Definitely another winner.

This starter was more like a moussaka than the traditional Italian caponata because it was served warm. The cheese layers and the soft grilled aubergine slices went extremely well with the anchovies on top. Especially tasty were the crisp burnt cheese edges and corners.

Next up was the entree of lobster with homemade egg pasta. The pasta was nicely done al dante but I felt that the lobster flesh wasn't the freshest because it was slightly mushy. Nonetheless, the subtle flavor of the lobster and mild pasta made this a pretty good prelude to the mains.

The grilled seabass wasn't really what I expected because it was drowned in the sauce. Fortunately the sauce was quite tasty, not too salty and complemented the grilled seabass fillet quite well.

The next main of grilled beef tenderloin with a mushroom sauce was better than the seabass. Although it was done well, it was tender and thin enough to have a decent masticatory texture. The sides of buttered spinach which came with both mains deserves a special mention because it was really quite excellent. With a strong buttery flavor, you won't even know that you're eating spinach when you sink your teeth into it. Great stuff!

Before our desserts were served, we were given a complimentary serve of chiacchiere. I was never a big fan of these crispy sugary pastries but they tasted fresh here at least. Some of the pre-packaged ones that you get from the European grocers have that disgusting taste of rancid oil, luckily this tasted light and fresh.

The creme caramel slice was nothing to shout about. It wasn't even made individually, although the texture and flavor was better than the one at Shahrazad.

The profiteroles however, restored my faith in Zanotti's desserts. Sometimes the simplest desserts are the hardest ones to master. The soft puff contained a slightly sweet but rich and creamy core but the warm chocolate sauce on top really made this king.

D

Polo Fried Chicken, Bangkok

Ok, I know this Bangkok series was supposed to focus on non-Thai or atypical Thai foods but I realized that I've not done a post on this before which would be a great injustice! Polo Fried Chicken has been serving a mean fried chicken in this area for a long time and has even been mentioned in the New York Times.

Started off with a tangy and spicy Isaan style raw pawpaw salad. Just the thing to whet our appetites.

The grilled beef was abit tough which is quite common with local beef but what it lacked in texture it made up with a nice smoky and greasy flavor.

I guess the Isaan sausage is an acquired taste. The odd sour flavor and the soft texture didn't really agree with me. I like snappy hotdogs.

Their spicy fishcakes have got to be one of the biggest I've seen. It's as though they were on steroids. Big in size and big in flavor as well, this was nice.

So this is the dish that allows this restaurant to make a name for herself. Fried with minimal batter till the skin is light and crisp, this chicken is a lot less greasy than it looks.

But despite the lack of grease it's not lacking in flavor. The generous crunchy fried bits of garlic sure helped enhanced that taste. This bird definitely lived up to her name.

Instead of normal rice, you can order a pretty fragrant sticky rice which complemented the dishes pretty well.

Do drop by Polo Fried Chicken if you get a chance, it's just up along Wireless Rd, so it makes a great dinner spot before browsing the nearby Suan Lum Night Bazaar.

D

p.s: Just a minor correction, they open till 10pm now. Their cards are just not updated.

Nam Sing, Bangkok

Nam Sing is a Chinese-Thai restaurant located in the Chinatown area of Bangkok which is supposedly pretty popular with Singaporean tourists. This joint was recommended by a friend based here for a nice roasted piglet. We ordered a few more dishes to complement the pig whilst we were here.

The shark's fins soup was not bad, quite tasty and with a generous serve of bamboo pith. The beansprouts were served raw though and I felt the soup was not abundant and hot enough to cook them enough to get rid of that beany flavor.

The crabcakes were pretty decent. Nothing really spectacular but greasy and salty enough to be a decent starter.

The deep-fried spareribs were also average. I was getting abit worried that so far, the dishes here weren't particularly mind-blowing...

The crab meat fried rice wasn't impressive either! It was rather plain and there was not enough crab meat in this. I was really getting worried at this point...

Fortunately, this meal was redeemed by this little porker of crispy porcine splendor. True to my friend's description, this place serves an excellent roasted suckling piglet. The skin was extremely crispy and the seasoning of the meat on the under surface fragrantly tasty as well. They even provided us with some sliced Chinese bread buns on the side with the sweet sauce so that this could be eaten Peking duck style. If there's any reason to come to this joint, it's for this porky.

Abadee, abadee, abadee that's all folks!

D

Shahrazad Restaurant, Bangkok

There's something to be said about a city which you can visit four times in less than six months. Bangkok has become my favorite quick getaway for good food. Besides the traditional Thai food, Bangkok is also home to many other excellent cuisines. This round in Bangkok will focus on these slightly more interesting non-Thai eateries.

The sois (streets) off Sukhumvit in the Nana area are home to many Middle-Eastern restaurants. Shahrazad is one of the oldest ones here and true to their staying power, they do serve some tasty grub.

Their Egyptian breads are like slightly crispier and lighter versions of North Indian naans. Fragrant and served hot,

they went very well with the chilled hummus.

We had to order a serve of butter chicken to dip our breads into as well. Most of the Middle-Eastern restaurants have a little Indian variety on their menus and it's done pretty well too. The butter chicken pieces were pre-grilled chicken tikka chunks in a tangy creamy tomato gravy.

Grilled meats are a staple of Egyptian food so we ordered a bit of everything to sample. Here's the mixed grilled platter which had shishkebabs and beef slices. The shishkebab was not bad but unfortunately the beef was overcooked and hence too dry and tough.

The grilled lamb chops were described in the menu as "juicy" and "tasty" and boy did they lived up to their name. Skip the grilled beef and order this when you're here. Each bite is a mixed of salty and greasily juicy flavor.

If you want something more lean than the lamb chops, the grilled lamb shank is an excellent choice as well. Slow grilled till the meat is tender enough to fall off the bone, the amount of meat in this also gives you a substantial blast of protein.

Their minced stuffed breads are pretty good too because they use a different dough from their normal breads which doesn't go soggy when filled with the juicy minced.

Their creme caramel had a decent flavor but wasn't smooth and soft enough for my liking. The one I had in Vietnam was a lot better, but do visit Sharazad for their breads and grilled lamb meats.

D