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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Food Trippin: Chamkar Vegetarian Restaurant

Here is our first hit in Siem Reap, Cambodia, the restaurant is called Chamkar it is a sort of Thai-Malay-Khmer hybrid restaurant from what we understood from the waiter who we were conversing with.  The restaurant is small and quaint, it is parallel and one street off of Pub Street so it should not be to hard to find if you ever find your self in this neck of the woods.

Pretty much we were feeling just a tad peckish in the mid-afternoon and so decided to try out some of the food fare to set us straight till christmas eve.  The lucky restaurant was this one which drew me and mom because it was a mostly vegetarian menu, I know the title of this entry says Vegetarian Restaurant and if I had a clear photo of the name plate I would show you because that is what it said BUT the menu did have some meat and seafood on it just so you know.

Anyhow the food was superb and unfortunately quite filling (but not in a terrible way) that we decided to walk back to the hotel so that we could make room for dinner later that evening.

Anyway here are the goods...

Gotta have the Fresh Spring Rolls when you eat at a Vegetarianesque Restaurant, these ones had rice noodles in them with the typical green mangro, cucumber, and carrots but was topped with black sesame seeds.  The surprise here was the sauce which was totally new to me, it was like tangy savory tomato based with a little kick and was AWESOME!

This dish is named the Wedding Day Dip, it may be because its served at weddings here in Cambodia or it could be because it is SO GOOD once you've tried it on a date the wedding may not be to far away.  But seriously this coconut milk based sauce with mushrooms and peanuts is a best seller at the restaurant and after one bite you will under stand why, the chilis served on the side add a delayed reaction kind of heat that is not to overpowering.  

Here's the side alley with the restaurant that stand on the right is the menu, sadly I forgot to take a photo of the frontage clearly but if you can see my mother and sister on the right you can catch the sign on top of them sort of. (see it SAYS vegetarian restaurant!)

The main entrees.

This is the Vegetable Curry, mostly carbed out veggies but the flavor was ecstaticly yummy.  What I mean was the veggies in it were sweet potatoes, pumpkin, and tomatoes, for the dish I know carrots would not have gone well with it but maybe some okra or something green besides the thai basil would have been nice.

The curry came with this brown rice, nothing special, just the typical high fibre brown rice we have all tried at one point or the other.

This last dish is a doozie, something totally unique, Stuffed Tofu.  This is not your everyday run-in-the-mill dish cause before this I have not seen tofu stuffed with anything.  This one was stuffed with grilled mushrooms and peppers, I apologize I did not take a photo of it when it was cut open.  This dish was extremely flavorful, note especially the sides it was served with which were pickled oyster mushrooms and caramelized onions with green peppercorns.  The stuffed tofu could definitely have stood on its own but I guess some people just want as much flavor as possible.

All in all this was a good meal which was supposed to be a snack, but hey how often are we in Siem Reap was the logic behind this.  To bad my sister doesn't appreciate food like this yet but we think she'll come around sooner rather than later.  So between me and my mom this place was good and rounds out to 3 and a half out of 5 stuffed tofu.  If you like vegetarianish food this is worth a stop next time you're in Siem Reap.

All Photos taken on an iPhone 

All Photos are Copyright MGAntonio

Please message for inquiries

FoodTrippin: Nha Hang Ngon

Hey folks, welcome and salutations.  This is going to be my first foodtrippin entry on my blog and well I kinda want to get it over with.  First off I am apologizing in advance because for the longest time I have known that food will be a part of this blog one way or the other, whether it be my tales of eating out, a munchie craving I may be having or merely me going all mad scientist in the kitchen. So I want to post this, get some feedback and work on number two and onwards with gusto.

Another fact of the matter is that I am quite nervous cause I have not really decided on how this section of my universe is supposed to go.  There are so many ways to choose, I could keep things simple and concise or I can tell a story on how boy met food, then again I can post nothing but photos and make you drool or maybe I'll let my sister type something out and see how that goes (not so good I would have to think, so far she loves to eat BUT she has not developed appreciation for it yet).  Whichever way I go again I apologize for this first attempt at being a food blogger, I hope you enjoy it one way or the other.

Okay, lets get cracking!  Welcome to Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam, a city that is a far cry from the perception of lands of rice paddies, lotus blossoms, and (thank God!) provinces that still have the philosophy that if it moves on its own power its edible.

Though to embrace the inner chef in me I may actually consider trying stuff like bats, lizards, insects, or even man's best friend. . . or not but only the last one.  Even as enticing as these proteins are to some distinct locals, the food scene in Ho Chi Minh has definitely embraced the international fare especially with the amount of tourists and investors coming into not just the city but the country as a whole.

I could go on and on about the stuff I have heard regarding the food scene of the city so far but that is not what this is about and it is about time I get down to it and talk about this place we had dinner at.  The place is called Nha Hang Ngon and it was a ten minute walk or 5 minute cab ride from our hotel (we taxied going and then walked back).

Technically it is a restaurant but if you caught it, I meant to really just call it a place that coming from the way you order and get served here.  Strange as it seems I think mom best described it and so I'm running with it, this place is a "high end hawkers" cooperative, sort of.  Well first of they did not come together by themselves it seems that some time back a foreigner who moved to Ho Chi Minh came up with this crazy idea to pull together all his favorite side street stand vendors under one roof, bank them up, and give them what I suspect to be a better life for it.  Then again the thought did cross my mind that he may have just gotten tired of going all over the city to mix and match his favorites.

By my count there were at least 16 different vendors, most of them had similar offerings but obviously not EXACTLY the same and so if you liked the noodle soup in one stand wanted the spring rolls in another you could have em both and at the end you just pay once rather than pay each and everyone individually so easier for you, one less load of and look you're happy.

To order there are two ways really, the touristy way and the local way.  The touristy way is of course what we did we called a waiter to help us though I suspect they already knew we needed help just by looking at us.  Anyhow this way involves going around all the different concession tables pointing at something and waiting to try and get a half decent description of something that looks and smells amazing but could have been pork toes for all we knew.  This of course is quite time consuming and I am sure we missed out on a lot of best sellers because we could not understand them but hey it was an experience, and a delicious one at that. 

We got to try our hand at the local way of ordering later on once we sat down, mainly cause thats how we ordered our drinks and well the local way is simply by menu (exciting right?).  The only main difference being that each page belonged to a different concession or hawker and guess what the menu was in fudging ENGLISH, and we get this after we already ordered!?  Dear waiters, ehem, don't you think it would have been nice and not to mention easier if you at least thought of bringing a menu with you for tourists to browse through while we walk around?  Just a thought, anyway moving on here is what we ordered, I hope I did not get the names mixed up.

Banh Xeo - Basically its make your own fresh spring role with
mashed up prawn that is steamed around a sugar cane.

Banh Hoi Tom - It looks like a pork and shrimps omelet but tasted more like a pastry,

I suspect French influence in this one.

Com Suon Non - Sweet pork on rice barely got to try it
cause it literally flew into my sister's tummy the verdict
is still out if it was that good or she was just starving.

Oc Buou Nhoi - This one was a surprise for me because I actually liked it

its chopped up snail mixed with minced pork and stuffed back into its shell

this was REALLY good and something I would actually order again. 

Also this was my first snail dish, EVER!

Ca Ri w/ Pho - 1 guess as to what it is, oh and this was my dish, kind of on the
sweet side which I did not expect but it could have been from the amount of sweet
potato I found at the bottom of my bowl when I finished it.

Duo of Pho (L-R) Seafood & Chicken - Both with similar clean tastes but the red one
thought it looks spicy was actually quite savory because it was tomato based broth.

Close up of Chicken Pho

Close up of Seafood Pho - a pork stuffed pepper surprise in the soup and my second noodle bowl
of the night, the pepper was amazing and I actually wanted just more of it, the squid balls were
above average but the fish had no taste but the broth more than made up for it.

Che Lanh (L) and Ca Phe Sua Da (R).
When I saw it I knew I was ordering it, kind of like love at first sight with
the one on the left, the iced coffee tasted like my canned nestle mocha at home.   

All in all the food was great, we had a lot of it, and well if I used some form or rating one way or the other I would give it 3.5 out of 5 Bowls of Pho.  I know I'm taking away from it because of the language barrier and maybe a little more because it was our first real Vietnamese meal but they are viable claims.