Bann Klang Nam: a Thai Family Restaurant

While America has Denny's as its premier family dining restaurant, Thailand has Bann Klang Nam (roughly translated to "House in the Middle of the Water"), and with it's "II" prefix, its a chain which caters to families and small parties.

Serving a range of typical Thai food and some seafood, it also offers a few Japanese sashimi and sushi dishes just in case you wanted something different. The Rama III branch is often jam packed during the weekends, and reservations are necessary to get a table beside the river.

Prices are quite reasonable, and you could easily get a decent meal for two people for under 600 baht (US 16 dollars). In the picture below, we've ordered green curry, fried shrimp patties served with sweet plum sauce, stir fried vegetables as well as Kang Kai Cha Om, or Curry with Scrambled egg. All very typical fare, but filling and good.

Menus are also available in English, and this place has been named one of the best restaurants in Thailand Tatler in 2006, so you can't go wrong. Parking is a bit skimpy, so make sure to arrive early.

Call ahead for reservations: http://www.baanklangnam.net/

Khao Soi

Khao Soi (Northern Thai Noodles with Chicken and Curry)
Ros Niyom, La Villa, Ari, Bangkok, Thailand.
Price: 80 baht

Khao Soi is a traditionally northern Thai dish, found in Chiang Mai. It's basically chicken with curry, served with a mix of crispy and soft yellow noodles.

Like the ubiquitous fried rice, the taste varies depending on which shop you go to. The curry here is thick and tasty, and they give you a nice large piece of chicken. The lime, raw red onion and pickled vegetables provided as condiments are in the correct proportions, and compliment the dish exactly.

Ros Niyom, which roughly translates to "the taste which is popular", is an offshoot of iBerry, a Thai premium ice cream chain. They also serve other traditional Thai dishes such as green curry, and they also have an English menu. Their selection of dishes is small, but they are all good.

The decor is made to resemble an old Thai shop reminiscent of the 60s and 70s, except with air conditioning and much higher hygiene standards. The service is simple but snappy, while the choice of drinks is also very traditionally Thai.

It comes highly recommended if you're in Thailand. The establishment is a shop in the La Villa shopping village, which is beside BTS Ari.

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Excellent Fried Fish Fillets in Thailand

Affordable and good Western food in Thailand is hard to find, and usually you would get one but not the other. This small shop, only known to locals, offers both and provides good food at excellent value.

Fried Fish set with Toast and Salad: 45 baht (1.48 USD)

A plate of french fries: 40 baht (1.00 USD)

On Nut Soi 46, Bangkok, Thailand

At shopping malls or "proper" fish and chip shops or places selling Western food, this could easily go for 150-300 baht. The portions there would be just as equal, and the only benefit is that you get to use a napkin with the shop's name printed on it.

At this particular shop, the food is cheap but good, with large portions. You simply cannot argue with the value it provides. 

Although only known to locals and you would need a car to get there, it's worth the trip. The fish is crispy on the outside but maintains its tender texture and softness in the inside, while the french fries (ordered separately) is also freshly fried and crisp.

An additional piece of fish will only set you back 30 baht, which is excellent value given what you would need to pay anywhere else. They also offer food such as steak and som tum, but it truly shines with the fish.

Even though the shop is non-airconditioned, it is equipped with cool water fans which will keep you cool even during the summer months.

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Tony Roma's in Thailand

While immensely good, Tony Roma's in Thailand proves to be an extremely expensive proposition.

Tony Roma's is famous for its ribs, which are done so that they literally fall off the bone. Cooked in a variety of sauces, the restaurant has gone upper-scale since leaving the US and landing in sites in Asia.

In Thailand, the price of Tony Roma's puts it squarely into the range of the expensive and luxurious, suitable fare only for the affluent bourgeois willing to blow over 1,500 Thai Baht (45 USD) for a meal for a family of 4, in a country where 1,000 baht is more than what the average person earns in three days of work.

Starters cost around 300 baht up (9.12 USD), while main courses start at 250 baht (7.68 USD) and go up to 600-800 baht (18.25-24.33 USD).

The taste is authentic, and are cooked using the same techniques as the ribs in America. The meat is tender and sweet, and does fall off the bone according to Tony Roma's lore. The coleslaw is delicious and feels home made, while the baked potato skins has a generous helping of cheese and bacon bits smothered on top.

Tony Roma's is known for its ribs, but the same can't be said for its burgers. Arriving with a barely cooked beef patty, it felt as if even the average Joe could've thrown it together. The toppings on the burger are decent though, as are the freshly fried, hot and crispy french fries.

We went as a group of 10, and we averaged around 350 baht per person for the entire meal. It's an expensive proposition to go eat at Tony Roma's alone, so unless going with a group, on company budget, or desperate to get some excellent ribs, it may not be the first choice on my list.

Tony Roma's Burgers

True Coffee

True Coffee: Thailand’s answer to Starbucks, and More

Iced Velvet Chocolate: 80 baht/glass

The True Corporation in Thailand does many things. It runs a mobile phone service, fixed line service, broadband internet service, a cable TV service and for some reason, a coffee shop.

True Coffee is a locally developed and managed coffee chain competing directly with Starbucks. The interior is plush, comfortable and modern, while it does more than just coffee and iced chocolate. They also offer internet services, through both wireless and internet workstations where people check their email and play online games. They also even have print services, where you can make cute photo books and photo montages, among other things.

It ups Starbucks because it is the place to hang out, and it offers more cool services than Starbucks does.

I was there one evening with a friend, and we just hung around talking over a cup of iced velvet chocolate (80 baht). It’s expensive compared to local wages, where lunch is often 25-30 baht only. All coffee and drinks are around that price range, and it is obvious that True Coffee is truly targeted towards the affluent middle classes.

The chocolate itself was rich and sprayed with a generous portion of whipped cream, but there wasn’t anything particularly unique about it. If anything, it felt like we were paying more for the décor than the drinks.

Despite the prices, it’s a really nice play to hang out so I’ll certainly be heading there again with friends.
   

Ajisen Ramen - Japanese noodles in Thailand

Ajisen Ramen proves that chain stores can still make decent noodles at a good price.

Tenderloin beef ramen: 135 baht (4.08 USD)
Bottle of water: 15 baht (0.45 USD)
Ice: 5 baht a glass (0.15 USD)

Ajisen Ramen is a Japanese fast food chain selling Japanese noodles with chains across the globe, which actually makes decent noodles.

I’ve often found that noodle chains tend to taste more artificial than your traditional local family run stores, as they take shortcuts to make the same bowl of noodle over and over again, but Ajisen Ramen was a rather pleasant surprise.

I ordered the beef tenderloin ramen, which came in miso soup-based broth accompanies by cabbage, bean sprouts and other vegetables, along with half a boiled egg.

The broth was delicious and the taste didn’t burn your tongue or throat when eating it. The beef tenderloin had been broiled for so long it was soft and crumbled in the mouth. It had obviously been marinated well, for the taste of the beef itself was excellent, slightly sweet and savory.

At first, I was afraid that the noodles themselves would taste industrial. Here, they were slightly chewy and absorbed some of the broth flavour into it. The texture was good while it didn’t taste pre-processed.

It was a very good meal, and I intend to go back. The prices are reasonable, and a decent bowl of ramen starts at 79 baht (2.39 USD). For that quality, it’s a good deal, although more quantity would have been helpful as well.

There are several branches of Ajisen in Thailand, and the one we went to was on the 6th floor of the MBK shopping complex.

Lad Naa

Although you can find lad na everywhere in Thailand, there is only one which really takes the prize for being the best out of all of them.

Lad na: 30 baht (0.89 USD)
Drink: 10 baht (0.29 USD)

Lad na is a classic Thai dish found in every corner of the kingdom. At its essence, its thick gravy sauce with kale and marinated pork, poured over wide rice noodles.

There are a whole variety of different versions and variations. There are normally three varieties of noodles to choose from: the wide rice noodles, tiny rice noodles (a bit smaller in size to spaghetti) and deep fried crispy noodles. The recipe has also been adapted and at restaurants, different types of meat or seafood can be added while the kale has been replaced by cabbage, carrots and even broccoli.

You will be offered a series of condiments, including chilli, sugar, vinegar and soy sauce for you to flavor the food the way you like it. I’m quite happy with the taste made by the chef though.

The taste differs from store-to-store. The typical food court lad na often has very thick gravy and is often too salty. The road side stall here, despite its location, offers a lighter gravy and with fresh kale, cooked so that it’s still fairly crunchy with pork that’s marinated overnight so the flavor truly comes out when served with everything else. The taste is unparalleled in all the lad na’s I’ve had throughout the country.

This particular stall receives my personal recommendation. At 30 baht per bowl, or 35 if you want additional noodles, it’s certainly a cheap and filling meal. There is also a whole range of drinks from fresh rambutan juice, chrysanthemum tea and of course, Pepsi, for around 10 baht. I usually order ka jeap, which is this sweet but slightly sour fruit drink as you can see on the left.

It's open from Monday to Saturday, from around 10:30 am to 3:30 pm, depending on how fast they sell out. Although it's underneath the freeway, all food is freshly cooked so it's quite safe to eat. The closest MRT station is Queen Sirikit National Convention Center, and the store is located opposite Talad Penang.

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Katsu Curry in Bangkok - authentic and tasty

Authentic Katsu Curry can be found in the heart of Bangkok at a very reasonable price.

By Karn G. Bulsuk

Katsu curry: 130 baht ($3.92 USD)
Bottle of water: 10 baht ($0.30 USD)

Because of the number of Japanese expatriates living in Thailand, there are a wide range of Japanese restaurants and bars. Some catered to the Thais with the taste modified accordingly, while many still cook precisely to discriminating Japanese standards.

There is a Japanese curry store which I eat at regularly located in Central World, a large major department store. The taste of their curry is certainly Japanese while the toppings are also equally tasty and authentic.

Their signature dish is the katsu curry, or curry with rice with deep fried pork cutlet. In general, the flavor is alright, although I find the katsu too crispy for my taste. The best katsu I have had was in Kagoshima, where black pork was used. It was thickly sliced and fried so that the juices were sealed in, but the meat inside was still soft and firm. A bite into the cutlet starts out with a deliciously moist but crunchy exterior, bread crumbed and fried to perfection.

Nevertheless, it only costs 130 baht (3.92 dollars) while a bottle of water goes for 10 baht (0.30 USD). There are a range of other possible combinations, such as adding hamburger patties, cheese, toriage (bite-sized deep fried chicken pieces) and even natto, fermented Japanese soy-beans.

The price is reasonable and it provides an authentic Japanese experience in the middle of Bangkok.