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Archive for December, 2008

My Little Addiction

December 3, 2008 1:42 AM

Vacations are highly addictive. Once you go on one, you come back wanting more. That was the case with me when The Company took us to Hua Hin last month. Now, less than a month later, I was craving another holiday to the beach. Luckily, the nearest beaches are only a few hours’ drive from Bangkok. They may not be as nice as Phuket or Samui but they’re enough to satiate my yearning – for now at least.

In an effort to save as much money as possible, we chose to go to Pattaya, where my family owns a place. Besides doing the usual things such as eating yellow chicken, falling asleep listening to the rhythm of the waves, taking a dip in the pool and wandering around town, we also had to stuff our faces with as much seafood as possible before coming back to Bangkok.

It can be a dizzying experience to pick one seafood restaurant out of all the lots available out there, but one place that I make it a habit to visit each time I go to Pattaya is Pla Thong Sea Food 2 (no, it’s not a sequel to a movie…it actually means this is their second branch).

The restaurant has an indoor air-conditioned room and an outdoor area with a view of the ocean. The sea isn’t particularly pretty; a body of murky greenish olive, and the shores are littered with small fishing boats waiting to be taken out for a swim. A few plumeria and coconut trees grow lazily here and there, as if someone carelessly dropped them from the sky and they just got rooted to the ground. Although the trees provide a spot of shade, you also have to be careful of the little fruits and red ants that might fall “innocently” on your head while you are busy tucking into your meal.

On this occasion, I was nearly killed (or knocked unconscious) twice by fruits that plummeted from the tree. I swear, this must be the work of The Evil Monkey residing on top of the trees. He may have missed my head by inches when he hurled the berries at me, but he finally got me when one of his red ant armies bit me as I was sitting down. Despite all these drawbacks, I am drawn to the outdoors seating and the natural sunlight that filters through the leaves overhead.

Feeling ravenous and greedy, we ordered enough for an army and only had to wait a short while before the scrumptious dishes started arriving one after the other.

There’s no question about it…oysters are a must-have when you’re eating at a fresh seafood restaurant. Seriously, who can resist fresh oysters? As much as I adore oysters, I only like them prepared in several ways. And when it comes to fresh oysters, there’s only one way to eat them and that’s the Thai way. For us, eating oysters isn’t just about sprinkling some salt and dousing them in cocktail sauce. It’s much more complex than that. It’s almost like creating a work of art, and you need the patience to see the process through ’till the end or you can’t truly enjoy the experience.

First off, you need to detach the oysters from the half-shell (the ones we ordered came on a bed of ice, already shucked, for 120 baht) and sprinkle some salt on it. Next, scatter some fried sliced shallots on top and layer with thinly sliced garlic. Now drop a small dollop of chili paste on the oyster and nip off the tips of kratin to get the leaves. (Note: I suppose in some parts of the world, people don’t really eat kratin, or Leucaena leucocephala, if you want the scientific name. It has an underlying taste of earthiness and a slight bitterness that enhances the sweetness of the oyster. It also has a strong odor so some people just go without it.) Finally, squeeze some fresh lime juice or spoon the desired amount of seafood sauce (made from lime juice, fish sauce, garlic, and fresh chili) onto the already growing mound. Add fresh chili to the package if you’re feeling adventurous and slurp the whole thing into your mouth. Mmm…delicious! Although some may disagree. Well, whatever floats your boat.

Next to arrive was an interesting dish called Yum Khai Poo (150 baht), or spicy crab roe salad. Generous chunks of crab roe, fresh crab meat, stings of grated raw mango, and vibrant carrots mingled together to create a festival on a plate. The tang of the raw mango helped reduce the heaviness of the cholesterol-laden crab roe, making it another delectable item on the menu.

Yum Khai Poo

We started with two excellent dishes but the highlight of the meal was the Pla Krapong Tod Nam Pla (350 baht), or sea bass fried in fish sauce. One would think the fish would be overly salty, having been fried in nam pla, but not at all. The fish was fresh with the right crunchiness and I ate every bit of it, leaving only the bones that would put a dog to shame.

Pla Krapong Tod Nam Pla

Khao Phad Poo

To help us fill up, we also ordered a medium sized plate of Khao Phad Poo (crab fried rice, 150 baht) and perhaps, the most famous Thai dish of all – Tom Yum Koong (150 baht). Bird and I both love tom yum koong and almost always order it whenever we visit a Thai restaurant, so you can say we’ve had our share of tom yum. While the one at Pla Thong Sea Food 2 didn’t leave much of an impression, it did have an ample amount of prawns.

This meal (and trip) was certainly enough to satisfy our cravings for a while.