Wednesday, May 09, 2012

Yaowarat Street Food, Bangkok

Yaowarat aka Chinatown has got so many stuffs to eat that we had to return the next day :P
Sorry I've been kinda sucker for chinese food of late :P
and chilis is a must every single day
no chili no kick no life!!!

the above depicts a typical Shark Fin's stall in Chinatown aka Yaowarat, Bangkok
just a simple setup with a huge pot of stocks
stoves for individual claypot
nothing fancy
the easiest way to locate a shark fin stall is through its cartoonish visual of sharks
hmmm come to think of it...who's more dangerous???
more people eating Sharks or more Sharks eating people????????
go and ponder about it

batches of shark fins in a basin of water over a slow fire
it's simmering there
preparation of shark fins is pretty tedious
the cleaning process and the braising part to achieve its texture

Yaowarat is famous for Shark Fins soup
every single Hongkie that visit Bangkok will find their way here
anyway this is Chinatown so most people here do speak some form of a chinese dialect

Soya sauce, Black vinegar, fish sauce, chilis sauce, mustard sauce, white pepper
and toothpick :D
only Asians will use toothpicks  :P:P:P:P

soon our claypot of Shark Fins Soup came
JS was so enthusiastic and ordered the largest and most expensive shark fin on its menu
the most expensive shark fins soup here is RM 50
T_T
and it's more than enuff to feed 4 person


Chunks and loads of Shark Fins with healthy servings of freshly peeled crab meat
I like it that the crab meat are still intact on its "pods"
not those disintegrated ones that we usually get here
coz then U'll question the freshness of the crab meat

each claypot usually come with a plate of Spring Onions shoots, Bean Sprouts and coriander leaves
nom nom nom nom
this was our starter for the nite :)))))

Since I was so GAGA over Thai omelettes, we had an appetizer of crab meat omelette
aaaAAAaaaaa
I dun mind this for breakfast actually :))))))))))))
Soon after it's time to "hunt" for our main course
the key is to walk the entire street of Yaowarat on both sides...
identify wat u want to eat for each courses and come back

These stalls were set up only at late evening/nite
during day time, it's pretty much a busy road with shops and traders
the Chinese had been trading here since 200 years ago
eating by the road side has never been this fun
coz u are "INSIDE" the hustling bustling of it
now wat???
wat is Monkey eating again at a different stall????

really super AWESOME "Kway Chap"
it's actually a teochew dish very popular in Singapore
not easy to find kway chap in Malaysia, only certain places has it
the version served in Singapore and Malaysia comes with dark sauce/soup
with the "kway" served separately

in Thailand everything is in a bowl, well that makes sense coz it's a "chap" = mixed
the broth here is clear intense pork soup with intense peppery taste
really yummy and heaty too!!!!

its ingredients consisted of al-dente broad rice sheets almost kuey teow liked but much nicer and yummier than kuey teow
with loads of pig offal = intenstines, organs etc u get it
and CRISPY ROAST PORK
"HAIYOOO next time when u order tell the uncle...we only want the crispy roast pork inside the kway chap!!!"
JS frowned >.<
anyhow it was our first time eating this Thai Kway Chap...no experience
so dear readers, if u ever visit this place..u'll know wat to do :P

every table has got the typical standard mis-en-place
fish sauce, sugar, chili sauce, vinaigrette roasted green chili sauce
u add a lil bit of it to your liking
all the four taste - spicy, sweet, savoury, sour

after our appetizer, soup and main course, it's time to hunt for desserts
loads of stalls selling Bird Nest and other Thai delicacies
it's just so mind boggling
in the end we settled for this one....
every pot were on CHARCOAL FIRE!!!!

Off topic:
a few days back I was having a debate with my roomies on soup boiled with charcoal fire tasted better than with gas
In the end, we all agreed the worst soup has to be the one boiled with slow cooker.....
now my avant garde slow cooker that JS bought for me is hibernating inside some dark corner in our dry kitchen ~.~

so back to those yummy sweetness bubbling in their individual pot over charcoal fire
consisted of dates, ginkgo, gingery stuffs and more yummy goodies I can't identify   

an entire bowl of bird nest with ginkgo
every spoonful that u scooped were all bird nest
-_-"
wahhhh and it's cheap....
please...if u dun eat this...u won't forgive urself
hahahahahahahaha

dumplings with black sesame paste inside
cooked separately and served with a bowl of ginger soup
notice how dark the soup was?

they used palm sugar and TONNES of ginger
coz the moment the hot liquid went down my esophagus down my stomach
it was setting fire all the way down

I was murmuring to myself as I fan my mouth
"this is good for health....whack whack whack!!!"
Pomegranate juice....no space in my tummy to try it
Later we walked around the street again to ogle at more food
aaaAAaaaa wat a wonderful nite that JS brought me to 3 different places to dine

really really contented
while his face was >.< the whole nite watching me spooning food into my tiny body
*which I think is no longer tiny*

yeahhh I'm a food monster and I'm loving it
:D:D:D

Do u all eat like this???
if u are...then I am really really perfectly normal
can't be that the whole world is abnormal and JS is normal rite????
heeeeeeeeeeeeee :D:D:D

4 comments:

Melissa said...

YES! I'm with you...I like to whack food too...esp. when I go for holidays.. =p

Chasing Food Dreams said...

I can fully support that you are Perfectly Normal... just like ME! muahahaha....

Thks for the tip! BKK Chinatown... here I come... woots!!

CHER-RY said...

HAHAHA so now I have my consensus that the abnormal one is JS
:P:P:P:P:P:P

JS said...

We are what we eat........so eating too much does make one's body go out of shape........- fact u cannot deny :))