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chocolate covered seaweed
I was at Chatujak Market around Valentine’s Day this year where I encountered some Thai TV stars and their crew promoting these chocolate covered seaweed treats. It’s a very odd combination and reminds me of something the people that eat peanut butter and mayonnaise sandwiches might enjoy. Seaweed is very popular in Thailand even though it is definitely not a traditional food here. I’m sure a lot of it has to do with the popularity of Japanese and Korean food, music, fashion, and games with middle to higher class teenagers. If it Japanese or Korean culture, they will force themselves to like it and fit in with the current fad. When I did taste it, it was more or less exactly as expected. Something along the lines of crispy, salty chocolate. I won’t plan on buying these as a Valentine’s Day gift anytime soon.
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duck tongues
I wasn’t even fully aware that birds really had tongues, but sure enough here we have a plate full of grilled duck tongues (ลิ้นเป็ดย่าง [lin bped yaang]). Duck tongues aren’t terribly common, but if you go somewhere with an extensive menu you might run into them. They are considered a drinking snack and we ordered these at a Tawandaeng, a massive “German” beer garden place that features a variety of performances throughout the evening. Of course it was necessary to order the duck tongues when I saw them on the menu. They weren’t too bad, mostly tasting like fried stuff. Despite calling them grilled, as has been the case with many other Thai foods, I am almost positive they were actually deep-fried. I am not 100% sure, though, because I have never eaten a duck tongue before and it had a strange meaty and chewy texture with a few crunchy bits mixed in. I should have asked, but I was too awed by the oddness of the dish while I was working on the beer tower.
ลิ้นเป็ดย่าง
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stinky tofu!
While in Hong Kong, I finally encountered one food that’s been on my list for quite a while: stinky tofu! I had only seen stinky tofu on TV before, but as we were wandering through a remote section of Hong Kong and rounded a corner, I knew exactly what the raunchy odor wafting through the air was. There was nothing else it could be and, of course, I bee lined directly for the stand selling it.
Stinky tofu, as its name implies, stinks. A lot. Imagine the odor from someone’s feet when they finally take off their shoes after they’ve been walking around in hot weather all day. The stench comes from the fermentation process that regular tofu does not go through. Here’s a choice quote from wikipedia:
The nature of the stinky tofu production process makes it extremely difficult to pass government food regulation even in Asia. The diversity and lack of formulated methods also makes it nearly impossible for the government to regulate and inspect. In Asia, no stinky tofu factories were ever officially licensed or constantly monitored; in most cases, government inspection can only focus on the cooking procedure and ventilation.
If that doesn’t sound scary enough, let’s delve deeper into the fermentation process. The key to the entire process is the brine, which is essentially each producers secret recipe. More about the brine from wikipedia: “the process can be extremely unsanitary; the brine is covered with maggots and has extremely strong rotten odor.” And, as if that wasn’t enough, we also have this: “less scrupulous stinky tofu factories in China reportedly used rotten kitchen waste, chemical dye and human feces to prepare the brine in order to achieve the odor and texture in short period of time.” I honestly can’t think of any other foods that sound like such a health hazard. Even sausages, traditionally known for their “unrefined” means of prodution, sound like a pristine product compared to stinky tofu.
Unbelievably, and despite that, I found the taste to be pretty good. Andrew Zimmern (of Bizarre Foods fame) couldn’t even handle all the stinky tofu he tried. No one else in my group would even go close to the reeking cube of tofu. I generally despise tofu for its bland and spongy taste, but this had much more character. It had a strong, sour taste much more to my liking. Advocates for stinky tofu do say the stronger the smell the better the taste. Too bad the process of making it will probably be enough to scare me away in the future.
Don't put your nose too close
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squid ink rice and cheese
This was a weird fusion dish that was quite tasty. Rice cooked with squid ink topped with shrimp and cheese. Certainly not a common dish in Asia, although you really can expect any sort of fusion food in Hong Kong. Despite the odd combination, this dish worked quite well. I especially enjoyed the extra crispy grains of rice that were clinging to the edge of the clay pot. I’ll have to file this idea away if I ever run a fusion restaurant.
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mmm...turkey
Thanksgiving was more than a week ago, but we just had our belated feast. Turkey is not common in Thailand although it can be purchased at a pretty penny in most upscale grocery stores. If you do decide to splurge on a turkey, then you encounter the problem that ovens (and definitely not ones big enough for a turkey) are not common either. So how can we get a nice, big turkey cooked on Thanksgiving? Enter Tops delivery. We are fortunate enough that Tops will be happy to cook up a turkey for you and deliver it with some stuffing, gravy, and cranberry sauce. The only thing you need to worry about is carving it.
Our turkey arrived on time and hot. The guests brought dessert, salad, and mashed potatoes. I’m not sure if it was simply a dearth of turkey over the previous year or simply that it was good, but the Tops prepared turkey was delicious. In true Thanksgiving fashion, we had plenty of leftovers to last us a week later. A little bit expensive, but after you factor in the leftovers and holiday mood, it was totally worth it.
our 'buffet'
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mangoes
Ahh…the mango tree in front of my house. I still haven’t figured out how it works. The fruits are psuedo-seasonal (I guess) but they come at seemingly unrelated parts of the year and in varying sized batches. The trick is being able to time it well enough to let them grow nice and large, but still pick the ones on the outside of the fence before the neighbors do. Well, actually I don’t do any of this. I just watch as all the action unfolds. I will spring into action when our papaya starts fruiting. Papaya trees grow unbelievably fast and can have large fruits in less than a year. I think I’ll prefer those over the sour mangoes, but I do know many who would disagree with me.
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Leo!
It has gone on long enough. How have I forgotten to mention the best (by a huge margin) Thai beer there is? Leo has the right taste and right price to make it my beer of choice. It is much tastier than Singha and Chang. Much cheaper than Heineken and other brands. They even have a cool logo. How could you go wrong with it? Despite the claims here, I am a staunch supporter of Leo. I know many of you will grill me for this, but perhaps the main reason I enjoy Leo so much is that it most reminds me of American beers such as Bud Light or Coors. Yes, those are the kinds of beers I like.
I still don’t understand how Singha and Chang are more popular than Leo. In fact, I’m not even sure that is the case within Thailand. Leo is unknown outside of Thailand due to the huge marketing budgets the other beers command, but inside Thailand I almost always see the locals drinking Leo. Very often when I go to my local corner store or 7-11, they are out of Leo but have a full stock of the others. Anytime I go out (not somewhere nice) all the beer drinkers always order Leo. Whenever I see some random dudes sitting on the street corner, guess what I see them drinking. That’s right, Leo (usually through a straw)!
In this wiki article, there is a reference to something called Leo Super. In 5 years here, I’ve never heard of it, but I’ll do a little research and try and get my hands on it if it exists. If it’s super, then it must be better than even regular Leo.
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Here’s a few photos from Indonesia. Mostly from Bali since Jakarta basically has nothing worth taking a phot of. All in all a fun trip.
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ox tail soup
This is some ox tail soup I ordered in Jakarta. The soup was pretty good with a tasty broth. I did get a huge chunk of bony tail. In fact, it was so large that the majority of the bowl was filled with the bone. That’s too bad, though, because there was only one sliver of meat on the tail bone. Essentially, I only had a bowl of broth with some potatoes mixed in. With some more meat this would have been a tasty meal.
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Hi, I'm Joe, your typical cyber traveler and world tourist currently based in Thailand. This blog is about:
