Curry Ramen and Tonkotsu Ramen at Ramen Tei

Ramen Tei, Sukhunvit 33/1 (Japan Town)
Curry Ramen and Tokotsu Ramen

Price: 180 baht (US $5.83)

Ramen Tei is an institution that has been around in Bangkok's Japan Town for as long as memory serves. Targeting the large Japanese expatriate community, they serve authentic an authentic menu of ramen in typically Japanese surroundings.

When stepping into the restaurant, the entire staff will greet you with a hearty "irrashaimase!", while you can choose to be seated at normal tables, at the ramen counter or of course, at the tatami tables.

Their ramen doesn't come cheap though, starting at around 180 baht (US $5.83) for a bowl. Their tonkotsu ramen is excellent:  the soup is hearty and creamy and stays true to its Hakata origins, and one bowl will fill you up. It comes accompanied with the usual condiments, including a few slices of Japanese roasted pork (chashu), cabbage and other vegetables.

Having always come here to have the tonkotsu ramen, I decided to go for the curry ramen. I am quite a big fan of curry, and while living in Japan, I often went around different shops just to sample the different and unique varieties of curry on sale.

The curry ramen is basically ramen soup, with thick curry poured on top. When mixed together, the curry is watered down to the right consistency for ramen. It comes with vegetables and thick chunks of pork.

The flavour is strong and the meat is well marinated. For such as strong tasting food such as curry, its surprising to see that the texture and flavour of the ramen is well maintained.

If you have deep pockets, then Ramen Tei comes highly recommended. For a taste of the Japanese ambiance in the heart of Thailand, watch the short video below.

Dusit Thani Italian Pizza

Hotels normally have good pizza. The Dusit Thani with its gas fired ovens and home made pizzas is no exception to the rule.

Dusit Thani, Hua Hin: San Marco Italian Restaurant

Price: 350 baht (plus VAT and service charge)

Staying at the Dusit Thani Hua Hin on company tab gives you the benefit of enjoying the food there without having to worry too much about the cost - especially since you don't really have a choice when you can't get out into town without a car.

The hotel has an Italian restaurant called San Marco. Its an outdoor restaurant adorned with pictures of Venice and like its namesake, San Marco square, and serves a good selection of Italian food. They also happened to have a pizza oven and made hand made pizza, which is why we ordered the pizza pictured above.

For around 350 baht (plus tax and service charge), we received a freshly baked pizza with a decent set of toppings. The crust was crispy but soft, while the cheese, toppings and sauce all equalized, and one did not over power the other. It was a good pizza which I would certainly be glad to order again.

Sumiyaki Coffee

Scant aroma; and even less acidity: just the way I like it.

The presentation is like that in the menu.

Sumiyaki Coffee
$52.80 ($48 + 10% service charge)
Suzuki Cafe (Vicwood Plaza)

I generally can't tell the difference between good coffee and bad coffee. On this occasion, however, I could taste the difference in acidity between this coffee and others that I have had recently. This coffee was verily mild: no pretentious aroma. Although this coffee is the second most expensive siphon coffee on the menu, (Blue Mountain is the most expensive.) the coffee, I believe, is worth the price because it occupies that coveted low acidity niche on the menu.

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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Make It Yourself: Polenta

In the rural south of the U.S.A, what the Italian's call "polenta" Americans call "cornmeal mush". Which one sounds more appetizing? I picked up a pack of Franch brand "Palenta", the most generic looking stuff I have ever seen, at the local Russian-owned market. For 2.29 USD, this box yields over two cups of dry cornmeal. I cooked it up and let it solidify so I could slice it like the polenta you get in the sausage-shaped packages. I have enough to last for dinner for two for an entire week, and I cooked up about 10 slices already!

One of those sausage shaped packages will set a hungry fellow around 3-4USD depending on the quality.

Was the 70 cents I saved worth the extra 5 minutes I had to stir the stuff and then the 40 minutes I had to wait to let it cool in the fridge? Considering I have at least twice the amount in one of those packages just in leftovers, I think so!

Franch "Palenta": 2.29 USD a box!

Fast Fowl: Quail or the Colonel?

Everyone loves good and FAST chicken, and on a lazy day some will turn to a bucket of the Colonel's Original Recipe. A healthier, but alas pricier, alternative is quail, which I can purchase at the local Russian-owned deli and market. One is about the size of a chicken thigh. I ended up eating two. The best part is that they are pre-marinated and cook up in less than 30 minutes in the oven! The worst part is that we bought 4 (two for me and two for my boyfriend), and that jacks up the price to 12 USD for a meal for two.





So here is a little Price and Health comparison:

Royal Market Quail: 2.99USD each
Guilt factor: not sure, I have no idea if they are organic or cage free
Health factor: high - they were baked, not fried!
Easy factor: high, these cook really quickly and are already marinated for maximum deliciousness

The unhealthier alternative:



Bucket of 6-piece KFC Original Recipe: 11USD
Guilt Factor: HIGH, they say these poor chickens have their beaks snipped off in the factory
Health factor: low, notice the first word of "fried chicken"
Easy factor: extremely high since it is fast food

Victoria Park Flower Market Food

Stinky Tofu ($10)
Traditional Coconut and Candy Wrap ($6)
Victoria Park Flower Market
Causeway Bay, Hong Kong

The crush at the Victoria Park Flower market wasn't as oppressive as I thought it would be on a Sunday evening.  The intractable crowds mainly stayed in the shopping lanes between the rows of stalls, and at the food corner near the park's toilets, there was ample elbow room to buy and to consume some local delicacies.  My friends and I first tried some traditional coconut and candy wraps, sickly sweet concoctions that went down fast.  On the other hand, we more meticulously savored the stinky tofu.  I tried it for the first time, in fact, and was taken aback not by the stink, which ironically sufficiently defused the closer we approached the tofu stand, but by the grease into which the tofu was dumped and which coated the bag and my hand.  That was pretty disgusting.  Nonetheless, the tofu proved a big hit in my group, three of taking the plunge.  With a bit of sauce, a choice of sweet, or spicy, the tofu verily lit up my palette, and it filled me to boot.  Trying stinky tofu is definitely one experience worth having while in Hong Kong.