Phuket Airport

We spend the weekend in Phuket and we are heading back to Bangkok. Before leaving for Bangkok we always have dinner in the Phuket Airport. You will be amazed how good the Thai food is in the airport. Normally, when you think of airport food, you think fast food or just awful canteen stuff. Not here, the Phuket airport is very famous for its food. Some people even order the food to take back to Bangkok.

This evening we started with Pad-thai, the famous Thai noodle dish. We had dinner the previous evening with an Italian man who said that the Phuket airport had very good Pad-thai, so we listened to him and ordered it. It was actually very good. Big portion, not too oily, the rice noodles were cooked just right and what was a nice touch was that they put in three styles of shrimps.










The next dish was Panang curry. This is one of my favourite curries. It has beef, potatoes and peanuts. The Panang curry was the perfect thick texture that it is suppose to be. It had a good kick of spiciness to it and it was pure delight. The beef tender as usual and the Panang curry tasted so good on rice.







The next dish was Phuket Mee-Sapam; a local egg noodle dish with seafood, green kale and a raw egg in the middle. Oh-so-good! There is nothing else like this dish, and you cannot find it anywhere.










The next dish was a green curry with beef accompanied with roti. An absolutely wonderful dish. The green curry was more liquid than the Panang, which is the way is should be. The curry had aubergine and baby aubergine, sweet thai basil and beef. The beef was not as tender as it used to be. I was also not satisfied with the roti this time. Normally, the roti comes out crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, so that you can use it to wipe up the curry sauce. This time the roti was limp and not crispy. A bit too oily as well. However, when this dish of curry and roti come out perfectly. It is a match made in heaven.








The last dish was Yum-woon-sen. A clear glass noodle salad with shrimp, ear mushrooms and minced pork. This is a very refreshing salad but can also be very spicy. The flavours are the perfect combination of sweet, sour and spicy. Not one flavour overwhelming the other. This was a nice dish to end the dinner with.

Chaboom; Choui Fong Tea

I have recently learned the art of drinking tea. The brother of my friend is an expert about teas. From the million types of teas, to the regions, to how to prepare the teas, etc. I honestly cannot go back to tea bags. It has nothing to do with snobbishness, it has to do with taste. I would love to tell you more about my experiences with teas while I was in France, but that will be another post. This post will be about an exciting find in Bangkok. One afternoon after having duck noodle soup (previous post), we discovered a newly opened tea shop called Chaboom; Choui Fong Tea on Thonglor (near soi 10). It looked very inviting and the window display was interesting. So, of course we walked in. We were greeted with much friendliness and right away were invited to sit down on the counter and drink some tea. I already liked the place.


The manager, is a Korean, Mr. Kwon. A very nice man with tons of knowledge about teas. He is married to a Thai woman (not shown). Her father has huge plots of tea plantations in Chiang Rai. They export most of the teas to Taiwan. Mr. Kwon sat us down and offered us a sip of Ruanzhi Oolong tea, a very delicate tea with a flowery smell and a milky taste and finish. He recommended to drink this tea in the morning. The next tasting was Guihua Oolong tea, a more stronger tea with a richer colour and smell. A longer finish on the palate.


What intended to be window shopping, turned to an hour of tea tasting and talking about tea. Mr Kwon told us that for half a century, Choui Fong Tea has been famous for the highest traditional of teas. In terms of production capacity, they are one of the largest tea manufacturers in Chiang Rai province of Thailand with more than 40 years of experience of producing tea.

Choui Fong Products focuses always on organic and non-chemical technique to grow and process their tea. The followings are their tea selections:
Green Tea, Jinxuan Oolong Tea, Ruanzhi Ooling Tea, Guihua Oolong Tea, Ginseng Tea and Jasmine Tea.

Duck Noodle

There is a very good duck noodle soup on Thonglor soi 10. It is a basic shop house with no exciting decor and its clean & air-conditioned. The duck is very good. For a basic and cheap lunch on sundays, we normally head to this duck shop. Consistent delicious duck; and you can choose it anyway you want to eat it. A big plate of duck alone, duck noodle (rice or egg) soup, dry duck noodle, duck rice, duck shanghai noodle, duck feet, etc. etc. This day we decided to share a medium portion of duck with no skin.

The duck is always so tender and juicy. The sauce is always tasty with a strong mix of spices but the main spice is anaise. We always order a bowl of rice to accompany the duck because the sauce taste so good on rice. You can always enhance the taste of spicyness, sweetness or sourness with the sauces on the table (in the photo).


As usual, one dish is never enough for my bottom less pit of a stomach. So, one more dish for the road. I ordered a duck egg noodle soup. As usual; the soup was filling and comforting. So full of duck flavour. You can assume their broth has the duck cooking in it for hours.


The portions are not so big here, so most people end up ordering two or three soups. The prices are very very reasonable and the staff friendly enough. This is one place I hope stays like it is for a very long time.


I forgot the name of the restaurant, but I definatley will edit this post with the name of the restaurant once I go back and have another bowl of wonderful duck noodle soup.

Yokayoka

There is a Japanese restaurant on Sukhumvit soi 16 called Yokayoka.  With very good but also very unique Japanese food that you do not get anywhere else in Bangkok (that I know of).  The owner is a very young Japanese man who is very helpful and obliging.  Since the menu offered a lot of interesting things, we did not know what to order, so we asked the owner to decide for us. Here were his recommendations.  

The first dish was deep fried chicken with vinegar.  We never had this dish before.  At first the chicken did not look very appetizing, but once we tasted the chicken, it was actually very good.  The chicken was tender inside and slightly crunchy on the outside and the vinegar sauce was a pleasant surprise.  

The next dish was a long finger shell fish, with the consistency of abalone.  It was grilled over the fire and we simply had to spray fresh lemon juice onto the shell fish.  They were very fresh and had the right saltiness from the sea.  

The next dish to come out was a very strange and unique dish.  It is called octopus dim-sum.  It did not look like dim-sum but it actually looked like snow balls.  But it was an eye trick.  It was shredded octopus and put back together again by shaping it into a ball.  What was holding the octopus ball together was the filling of an egg custard with bite size octopus mixed in.  It was not my favourite dish.  It was bland, but was ok if you dipped it into the soy sauce.

The next dish was a selection of sashimi by the manager.  You can always judge a good Japanese restaurant by its fresh sashimi.  The selection was very fresh and tasty.  Nothing new or exciting, but a good selection non-the-less.

     

We ended the dinner with squid tempura.  The tempura was fried very nicely and it was not too oily.  The squid was fresh so it was not too chewy.  

Yokayoka is very popular with the Japanese community.  The first time we went to Yokayoka, the Japanese manager asked us how we found out about his restaurant because he never advertised in english.  We are lucky that we had a Japanese friend who knew about this great restaurant or we would have never experienced such unique and tasty Japanese food.  One very nice aspect of the restaurant is the friendliness of the manager.  

Anotai

I never thought I could be a vegetarian.  Until I ate at a restaurant called Anotai.  If vegetarian food tasted and looked this good, there is not a problem becoming one.  It is in an area of Bangkok you would not consider to go eat, but because Anotai is so good, there is a loyal following of vegetarians and non-vegetarians who go out of their way to eat the yummy food. 

The restaurant is a mix of old world thai & chinese charm; consisting of brown woods and colorful pillows on the chairs.  

Anotai only uses the freshest ingredients and organic products.  Even their delicious & decadent desserts are vegetarian.  As seen in the photo above, the desserts are displayed so you cannot resist.  On the chalk board hanging above the counter, it lists all the unique flavour ice creams and sorbets.  

We normally order many dishes to try and share.  The first dish that came out was the deep fried tofu wrapped in nori sea weed with a wasabi mayonaise.  This is a great dish.  The wasabi gives a punch to the delicate taste of tofu & nori sea weed.  A very good combination.

The next dish that came out was the spinach lasagna.  A lovely dish that has great texture and flavour of spinach with small bite size mushrooms mixed in.  They tend to top the lasagna with too much shredded parmesan cheese (vegetarian style, so I have no idea what it is actually made of).  A kilo of it that you have to wipe most of it off.  

The next dish out was young coconut heart stir fry with mixed vegetables with sweet thai basel & ginger.  A fine dish with delicate taste but a lot of textures from the vegetables but of course the star of the dish is the young coconut heart.   

The next dish was a green curry with egg-plant, baby egg plant and mixed vegetables.  A fantastic dish because the green curry's flavour is heightened with shredded kafir lime leaves.  Oh so good this dish.  It is also so good when you put the green curry sauce on top of the organic red rice that comes with the meal.  

              

We have been coming to Anotai for a long time now and have never been disappointed for Thai vegetarian food.  Anotai also has a  big selection of teas and health drinks that can either be drunk cold or hot.  Prices are very reasonable for the quality.  The staff though very competent, are not very friendly.  For all the time we have gone to Anotai, I have never once seen the staff smile.  But don't let this discourage you, because the food is the star at Anotai.

La Terrasse du Mimosa

Ok, the last post was not my last post about France. I need to add La Terrasse du Mimosa. A fantastic wine bar/ bistro/ wine shop in the small village Montpeyroux. A really nice and comfortable place to have a wine of glass, tapas, food or buy a bottle of wine to take home.

We eat here so often because it is one of the best and convenient in the area. However, this time, we had friends visiting and eating at the wine bar, so I decided not to take photos of the food. I promise to next time. I will just post beautiful photos of the wine bar for you to want to go there yourself. Enjoy.

Canal St. Martin

One of the last days in Paris before heading back to Bangkok.  We headed to a place that I have never been to in Paris.  I have heard a lot about it and always say I will go, but for some reason have another place to go or something else to see in Paris.  Finally, we decided to GO!

The wonderful place is Canal St. Martin in the 9th arrondisement.  This is the up-and-coming bohemian area of Paris.  Artist, cool bars and stylish bistros are lining the streets.  It a place a lot of people want to live.  It is also family orientated.  We were there on a late saturday afternoon.  People were sitting on the edge of the long canal and were drinking their beverages that they brought along with them.  Along with their friends, family, lovers or pets.  

We went to a very popular bar/ bistro called Poisson Rouge.  The dinner menu looked very good and it just had a fantastic review in one of the french magazines (we are going to try it in the next trip to Paris).  We sat outside had a glass of white wine and 'people watched'.  As well as watching the sun slowly go down.  Highly recommended lazy afternoon place to go in Paris for drinks.

 This will be my last review in Paris.  I am headed back to Bangkok now.  I did not capture and review all the fantastic food I had in my two weeks in France.  However, I will be back in September for the harvest of the vineyard and I promise to review more wonderful eating establishments and anything related to food and wine.  

MacMoules

It was a sunny & blue sky day in Montpeyroux and two friends and I decided to drive to the beach lunch.  We felt like having fresh fried seafood.  So, we got into my friend's car tried to find a restaurant that served fried seafood.  Well, its not as easy as it sounds.  We went to one beach resort famous for their fresco dining and seafood.  To my amazement, all the restaurants we asked admitted that they used packaged seafood for their deep fried dishes.  So, we drove on to the next beach resort.  This had a seafood restaurant that seemed very interesting for several reasons, lots of people eating, had outdoor seating to soak in the sun rays, all you can eat fresh moules and or sardines (which we were craving for) but the real reason was its name...MacMoules.   

 

Ofcourse, I am joking that is the main reason why we decided to eat in this restaurant.  We were just starving to death and the idea of all you can eat fresh moules and grilled sardines sounded good.  

We on purpose got three different type so dishes  to try and share.  The first order was small deep fried fish (I have no idea what they are called).  Very fine and deep fried with a good oil.  The french fries were just ok.  But with the atmosphere, all was Good.  

The second order was fresh grilled sardines.  They were very 

tasty.  The meat fell of the bones and tasted wonderful with a squirt of fresh lemon.  I ofcourse could not refuse a second order of the stuff.  

                                                                  

The last dish was the fresh moules.  You had a choice between three different sauces.  The typical white wine, tomato and dijon mustard.  Well, we needed to try all three.  The moules were plumb and juicy but the sauces added the right flavours that were needed.  My favourite one was the tomato sauce.  Shown below is the white wine sauce.  

And finally after two serving of small fried fish, four servings of freshly grilled sardines and three servings of moules, it was time to take a walk on the beach to get some exercise.  Lovely sunny day but windy and no one swimming and I would guess perhaps because the water was freezing cold or it was a shark infested beach.  

Le Mimosa II

The next dish was amazing, half a lobster, so tender           

and juicy.  It was laying on a bed of shredded zucchini 

and carrots.  

Ending the meal was a perfectly cooked lamb.  The best thing about Le Mimosa is how simple and elegant the dishes are, yet each dish is so full of flavour.

Le Mimosa is very famous for their cheese and dessert trolleys.  What is nice about the restaurant is that if you take the dinner menu, the portions are just right.  Meaning that you will always have space for the huge selections of cheeses from around the region and the decadent selections of home made desserts.  

ps. I promise to take better photos next time at Le Mimosa

Le Mimosa

Le Mimosa is one of the most famous restaurants in the Languedoc. Le Mimosa has been successfully running now for 25 years. It is owned by David and Bridget Pugh. It will take another blog to explain their fascinating life stories. But, I first will tell you about my meal at their restaurant. I eat at their restaurant at least once every time I am back to France and I have been eating there for the last 4 years and have never been disappointed.

We were accompanied by friends from Thailand, so it was a

table of 7. I have to apologize for my photos. I turn off the flash of the camera in restaurants so that I do not disturb the other customers of the restaurant.

The start of the dinner was a simple pan fried scallop, but boy oh boy was it cooked perfectly and tasted so fresh and good.

The next dish (from right to left) was a soup of fois gras, a terrine

of fois gras and mild sweet onions on a toasted baguette. The soup was so light in texture but heavy on taste. The terrine of fois gras was soft and silky and the special sweet onion only grown in this area has the softest yet sweet taste to end the dish.

         

Following that dish was risotto with seasonal fresh asparagus.

The rice was cooked just right, and the flavour of the seasonal asparagus was to die for.  We really appreciated and were reminded how special it is to be able to eat seasonal vegetables.

To be continued

O Bontemps III

Finally the end of our meal at O Bontemps

The dessert was a layer of a yellowish candied banana foam 

and the second layer was a rose mouse with big chunks of marshmallows.  This was my least favourite dish of the meal.   I thought the banana candy foam tasted artificial and the combination of the layers & marshmallows was too sweet.   

The cheese trolly was a delight in terms of originality               

and choice of local cheeses.   The cheese trolly itself was a wonderful piece.  

We ended the meal with coffee and wonderful selection of hand made candy to accompany the coffee.

This was one fine and delicious lunch.  I consider this restaurant now one of the best in the area and would love to return.  The chef is a genious in fusing flavours, turning traditional dishes into contemporary meals without going overboard.  

On top of it all, the lunch menu for starter, 2 main dishes, dessert or cheese was only 45euros.

  

O Bontemps II

The continuation of our fantastic lunch at O Bontemps.

The next dish was (starting from left to right) was, a terrine of eggplant, fresh goat cheese mixed with herbs, regional salad and stuffed octopus (in the beginning we were all fooled to think that 

it was bone marrow).  Another wonderful dish with 

fantastic flavours and textures.  A medley of fresh flavours. 

The main dish was a show stopper.  The chef and his 

assistant came barging out of the kitchen with a very long wooden plank with a lovely 600 grams meat on it.  We had to duct our heads if we did not want our heads chopped off from the plank.  It hovers over our heads and landed on a serving table.  The chef slowly & gracefully sliced the tender meat like butter. Cooked perfectly medium rare. 

Accompanying the wonderful meat was a mix 

of bean sprouts & stewed beef with the fusion of 

asian flavours of anais, ginger and soy sauce.  

O Bontemps

I am back in France for my Spring holiday.  Its Songkran in Thailand (Thai New Year).  Its time to have great french food and wine for two weeks. 

Chef Oliver Bontemps used to be the chef at L'Octopus in Bezier.  Now, he has opened his own restaurant called O Bontemps in Magalas.  This restaurant has had a buzz around our area, so ofcourse, we had to try it out.  What was amazing is that you could not get a dinner reservation for the next two to three months, we could only have lunch reservations, for the following week.  So, when we are starving for delicious food in our area, beggars cannot be choosy and we accepeted the lunch confirmation.  

The 'day' of our lunch arrived and we drove to Magalas.  We were greeted with friendlienss and was shown to our table in the middle of the room, which was good because I wanted to witness all that was going on in the restaurant.  There were some tables free.  But the restaurant said that they were completely full.  The reason is that they only accept 

20 people per lunch setting. 

I had already a good feeling about the restaurant when they were friendly and accepted our special companion, Archie the yellow labrador.  They immediately brought Archie a bowl of water, 

which he thought was very considerate.  

While looking at the menu, the chef himself comes out of the kitchen and serves us amuse bouche of mussles in a velvety white cream sauce from a big steel pot.  How often do you see the chef coming out of the kitchen to be so close to his customers.  The mussles were fresh and big.  The sauce was not too salty, which a lot of times other muscle dishes are.  With bits of fresh bacon, it was a great mouth starter.  Even better with the crusty bread dipped into the left over sauce.

   

The next dish was a fantastic sea snail soup with cabbage foam, brussel sprout leaves toped with salmon eggs and mustard flowers.  Amazing mix of light taste and complex textures.   

(continued in next post)