Food Trippin: Saladaeng Cafe

I am definitely running late with these things because this happened almost a week ago but only now that I am home in the Philippines can I actually stop to catch my breath and get down to finishing up in between study breaks (reality check, I am still a student after all).

Any how here is a restaurant on mom's list that was a HIGH priority, by this point we were on our third leg of our holiday trip and earlier on in the day we took a 5 hour taxi ride from Siem Reap, Cambodia in to Bangkok, Thailand.  Yep the location for Hangover 2 is the location of my Tita's (aunt's) wedding and this amazing restaurant, Saladaeng Cafe by Jim Thompson.

The menu is not by Jim Thompson himself but the restaurant is merely owned by the conglomerate under the same name.

The cuisine at Saladaeng Cafe is a definitely Thai food but the dishes definitely have a western zing to them.  The waitresses were warm and were not hard to converse with, they bring over shot glasses of lemon grass tea and sweet and spicy nuts along with the menus to start you off.  

The whole restaurant was old world colonial and very expedition-ish if you know what I mean.  It makes me think that if it was not airconditioned and if we came in during the day instead of dinner I would definitely feel like a traveler coming into a jungle nook carved out for explorers.  What's more is if the food the explorers had was half this good I would imagine they'd have enough reason to keep exploring, from the appetizers all the way to dessert none of what we ordered disappointed.  

Sweet and Spicy Wok-ed peanuts, with crispy basil leaves and garlic.  These nuts were NUTS!
Definitely a Bangkok flare on peanuts!

The hot and refreshing lemon grass tea, as to be expected was very clean and soothing, definitely something we needed after traveling and walking around all day.

Another Beer to add to the list of beers I have had on this trip so far, this puts my count up to 6 different kinds. (Saigon, Angkor, Tiger, San Miguel Light, Anchor, and Singha)

The Golden Triangle, a somewhat appetizer sampler of Prawns wrapped in rice paper and egg noodles, Thai Spring Rolls and Prawn Cakes, all of which was fried perfectly and served with sweet chili sauce and spicy plum sauce.  This one was EXCELLENT I wanted to have another order if only we didn't have to try everything else.

They had Jim Thompson water, I just had to take a photo, sorry but Jim Thompson is somewhat of an icon to me and my family. 

Yam Sam O, this was not your run-in-the-mill Prawn and Pomelo Salad, where in most of the ones I have had have been watered down because of so much dressing this one was dry but still had all of the flavor I was expecting and more!  What's more is that they do NOT skimp on the Prawn here the prawn pomelo ratio was just about 1:1 considering the mass and volume of each.  Totally worth it!

This was my sister's steak, Seau Rong Hai Gap Nahm, this was a well grilled rib-eye steak served with garlic tamarind sauce that my sister just sopped up like soup.  She actually had the meat sweats while eating this, then again it may have been because the tamarind sauce was a bit spicy too.

We were in Thailand so we HAD to have some local curry, we decided on the Gaeng Khew-wan Gai rue Goong, the only green curry on the menu I'm not sure if we ordered this one cause it was vegetarian or if my mom's favorite color is green. 

This one was my dish, one of the weekly or daily specials they had, Black Pepper Prawn Pasta, this dish looked so appetizing on the menu that I just had to try it.  It was just as I expected, AWESOME!  What surprised me though was that when it was described as Black Pepper Prawn Pasta I only expected a lot of blackpepper but the description was more literal than I thought, It had more RED peppers than black and gave one hell of a kick but at least it was the good savory hot and not the one that disheartens you from finishing your dish.

Truly and excellent meal but the meal ain't over till we get dessert! 

I love coconut and so I got the Coconut Icecream, normally you see a lot of Buko Sorbet and ice in the Philippines.  I mean I have had Buko Icecream but to see Coconut Icecream on a menu was eyecatching.  I know it should be the same thing with a different name but I just knew it was different considering the quality of food we've had so far.  I was not wrong, this has to be the BEST COCONUT ICECREAM in existence, no exaggeration, it was THAT GOOD!

the other dessert we had was the Mango Sticky Rice, this one was interesting because I like trying everything on a dish individually before trying it as a whole.  The mangoes were incredibly sweet and made me think they were from Cebu if only they weren't of a different shape.  The sticky rice was bland and al dente, and the coconut milk was raw and surprisingly salty.  All together though can be simply put, it just works, INCREDIBLY!

This was an excellent meal from an excellent restaurant, there is no doubt I will find time to come back here anytime I am back in Bangkok.  Not just for the old world feel, not just for the great service and  mainly because of the food.  Saladaeng gets 4.5 out of 5 Prawns from me.  Definitely a must stop when you are in town!

All Photos taken on an iPhone 

All Photos are Copyright MGAntonio

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