Visiting a Thai Restaurant 06

We had a visitor from America today so it was a good excuse to go out for a meal at our local restaurant. This one is called Paknam Seafood and it is on Sukhumwit Road. It is not far from the fire station and just before Soi 31 where I live. As usual I took my camera so I could make you all very hungry. I have plans to do video soon of the cooking so look out for that in the not too distant future.

เนื้อผัดน้ำมันหอย – neua pat naam man hoi
stir-fried beef with oyster sauce (120 baht)

This is an old favourite of mine that I haven’t had for a while. It is worth having though some restaurants go over the top with ginger which I don’t like. You can see the white strands of ginger in this picture. This is about the right amount for me without being overpowering. It is quite easy to cook. First marinate the beef in a mixture of flour and light soy sauce for about 15 minutes. Fry the garlic until golden brown. Add the mushrooms, carrots, ginger and beef. Stir-fry until done. Season with oyster sauce, sugar and pepper. Add the sliced spring onion and red chili if you so wish. Give a good stir and it is done. I think this dish is a bit on the expensive side. Food shops would do this for only 40 baht at the most.

นกกระจอกเทศผัดพริกไทยดำ – nok gra-jok-tet pat prik tai dam
Ostrich fried with black pepper (200 baht)

Maybe not your typical Thai meal but there are a few ostrich farms around in Thailand. Funny how they label black pepper as “Thai chili”. The ostrich was surprisingly tender and tasted good. Much better than the crocodile which I bought at the local supermarket. However, at 200 baht a dish, I probably won’t order this one again.

ไก่อบสับปะรด – gai op sap-bpa-rot
Baked chicken in a pineapple (150 baht)

This one looked like a good idea when I read it on the menu. The sweet and sour sauce part was a bit of a surprise but it did taste surprisingly good. It wasn’t too sweet which some Thai food can be. Nice mixture of baked chicken with pineapple in the sauce with cashew nuts on top. I will probably have this one again though not too often.

ปูนิ่มผัดผงกะหรี่ – bpoo nim pat pong ga ree
stir-fried soft-shelled crab in curry powder (200 baht)

Now this is one I like eating at the moment. I wasn’t going to order it but my guests had never tried it before. The normal crab version is very expensive and you don’t get much meat. But this crab has a soft shell so you can eat everything. Yummy! I recently ate a shrimp version and a few months back I had a chicken version. All very good. I had this one not long ago for 180 baht. The shrimp version was 120 baht. The chicken version was 30 baht at my local food shop!

แกงเขียวหวานผัดแห้ง – gaeng kieow waan pat haeng
green dry curry with fish balls (80 baht)

Actually, the title of this one is a bit misleading. It didn’t say anything about fishballs. Which is OK, but I would have preferred if it was chicken. Green curry is very popular with foreigners. This is a different version that is more “dry” as it doesn’t have a soup.

กุ้งทอดตะกร้าเผือก – goong tot dta-graa peuak 
Fried shrimp in an edible basket  (150 baht)

We quite often have fried shrimp in a batter. But, this was the first time I had tried this version that was dipped in a kind of “sweet and sour” sauce. It was certainly interesting though I prefer the ones we had before with the “nam jim” dip.

Well, that was it. Rather a large meal for four people but we managed to eat it all with no problems. We had quite a few beers between us so the final bill came to just under 1,500 baht. That is about 360 baht each or nearly $10. Probably the most expensive meal I have had for a while. But, it was worth it.