Siam Smiles Cafe, Chinatown, Manchester

So I’ve finally got round to posting my review of Siam Smiles, the Thai cafe in the basement at 48 George St in the heart of Manchester’s Chinatown. This was the second visit, we ‘discovered’ it after making it’s acquaintance in April and felt a follow up visit was much needed.
I’ve eaten at quite a lot of Thai restaurants in the UK and the majority follow a very safe formula; using pre bought red, green and massaman pastes, overly sweet and sticky pad thai noodles and a general lack of fresh Thai herbs and vegetables (such as my particular bugbear- substituting Mediterranean basil for sweet or holy Thai basil).
This cannot be said of Siam Smiles, despite only having a few tables alongside the supermarket produce, you know you’re going to get real Thai street food. The condiment caddy and pot of nam prik pao is a good indicator you’re going to be eating very well.
On this occasion I ordered some simple comfort food- khao moo daeng (red pork over rice) and the som tam pla ra (fermented fish sauce papaya salad) with added crab. The rice plate also came with a warming bowl of herbal broth which was a nice touch and a palate cleanser.
There is a clear Chinese influence with khao moo daeng- the red pork and sauce not too distant from char sui/hoisin. The pork was lean and firm and had a great depth of flavour with star anise coming through quite strongly. The cucumber and boiled egg added some lovely texture too; definitely a unfussy and comforting dish.
The som tam pla ra was a different beast altogether. Those who follow my blog know I love som tam and make it usually once a week at home. This was the first time I had encountered the pla ra version and it’d been on my ‘to try’ list for quite some time. However for my taste buds I think it was a step too far. The salad itself was great, crunchy green papaya, not padded out with large amounts of carrot, cherry tomatoes, long beans and I loved hearing it being pounded up in the pok pok in the kitchen. The salad also had pounded up small crabs (for the flavour rather than meat) and contained slivers of pickled limes which are delicious. The pla ra isn’t how I expected it to be, it’s not that it’s especially fishy, though it is strong, it made me think more of the bottom of a pond. My husband however, preferred it to regular som tam. I was pleased to see it arrive with the customary cabbage wedge.
The portions are a perfect size, plenty enough to fill you up but not wasteful and the prices are good- £7-£8.50 for most plates. The staff are also really friendly and helpful, answering some of my questions about ingredients.
We’ll most certainly be back again, we’re slowly making our way round the extensive menu and will continue pushing our flavour comfort zones in our quest for authentic Thai street food!
https://twitter.com/SiamSmilesCafe
https://www.facebook.com/SiamSmilesCafe

Ikan Bakar, Kuala Lumpur & Langkawi

Sorry for the massive delay with posting. We’ve recently just bought our first home- in fact it happened a few days after getting back home from Malaysia and ever since things have been a bit hectic!
Here’s the final Malaysia post; the promised Ikan Bakar. I did actually try to do this post about a week ago but Tumblr decided it wasn’t happening and killed the page just before I tried to post.
Our experience of ikan bakar actually happened in two halves. Regrettably as we were shortly to catch a flight back to KL we didn’t have time to eat at the roadside restaurant just next to Langkawi airport where these photos are taken. A few days later, back in Kuala Lumpur, after a bit of research we headed a few stops down the Kelana-Jaya line of the LRT to Dato Keromat station where we found a small local wet market. The Ikan bakar spot we were looking for was Mat Teh Ikan Bakar. We managed to find it fairly easily despite the torrential downpour that was going on as there were huge crowds of people huddled around a smoking grill of banana leaf wrapped fish. After a bit of smiling, gesturing and pointing we had a spot at the shared tables, were slurping on fresh mango juices and watching our fish being grilled (all while trying to keep feet dry!)
We were served a  bowl of rice, a lovely plate of mixed herbs and vegetables and bowls of a fiery tomato dip- very similar to salsa before our fish arrived. We had ordered the ikan pari (stingray) and another fish (a mackeral type) peeled back the smoky banana leaf wrapper and got stuck in.
The fish was incredibly fresh, flaky and very delicate. Both fish had a light marinade that included a lot of turmeric and spices which was still very subtle in taste. The stingray was particularly good- meaty and bone free and it went beautifully with the herbs and spicy dip.
It was a fantastic way to end our food adventures in Malaysia.

Home Cooked Meal from Fox Hill Homestay, Langkawi

On our first night whilst staying at the beautiful homestay resort of Fox Hill in the centre of Langkawi, we were offered the chance to try a traditional Malaysian meal. This was without a doubt, the food highlight of our stay. We headed to the outdoor restaurant/communal area where a candlelit table had been set out for us. We had been hearing all the typical kitchen sounds of stir frying, pounding of spices and deep frying so our anticipation had risen even before we got to the table.
When the food arrived, fresh from the kitchen we were served four different dishes, each beautifully presented; asam (tamarind) prawns which were enormous, some of the biggest prawns i’ve ever seen and were coated in a sweet/sour lacquer of caramelised sauce. There was ayam berempah (spice coated chicken)- this was amazing and I’ve since recreated it; deep fried and crispy but with an exquisite blend flavours from the spices and curry paste. To add greenery and texture there was a tasty pak choi dish stir fried in garlic and to top everything off was the best beef rendang I have had to date, cooked with local beef. It had obviously been cooking down for hours as the meat and collagen fell apart. The sauce was rich, subtly spiced, a little oily and slightly sweet. This feast of Malaysian flavours came in at just 66 MYR (about £11.30).
Many thanks to Maria and her wonderful team at Fox Hill for the stunning food.

Mr Asam Pedas, Restoran 1, Kuah Jetty/Eagle Sq, Langkawi

Well what glorious food we had here thanks to the recommendation of Mark Wiens of Migrationology.com  (click here and go 5 minutes in for his visit to this great restaurant). We’ve been following Mark’s blog for around two years now and when we saw  he was in Langkawi just a week before we got there, we were very excited to see where he would eat and what recommendations he would choose. He certainly didn’t go wrong with Mr Asam Pedas.
We found the restaurant almost by chance actually, we’d come into Kuah, Langkawi’s main town just to do a bit of shopping and to see Eagle Square. When it started raining (and it was lunch time anyway) we spotted a quiet, modern brick built food court at the far side of Eagle Square. It was very quiet with just a couple of other people on their lunch break inside the open air dining area.
Mr quickly recognised Mr Asam Pedas from Mark’s Youtube video and quickly knew what we were having for lunch. Mr Asam Pedas serves only two dishes, so we went for one of each. The red dish is the asam pedas (spicy tamarind) and the yellowy/green one is masak lemak cili padi (rich, cooked, hot chilli). Both dishes were made to order and came with chunky slices of tuna steak on the bone. They were served with a beautiful array of fresh herbs, cucumber, egg, spicy sauce ( a bit like a salsa), prawn crackers and steamed rice with crispy shallots on top.


I don’t know whether these dishes are local to Langkawi or Northern Malaysia or not but they certainly shared a lot of common ingredients with Thai food and similar taste profiles too.

Both dishes were outstanding- the asam pedas was sour, spicy, fresh tasting and well balanced while the masak lemak cili padi was beautifully fragrant, comforting, refreshingly sour but with a little sweetness from the coconut milk broth. Mr Asam Pedas himself was also very friendly and welcoming too!
If you’re in Langkawi, definitely make a lunchtime visit here!

Grilled fish from the Ikan Bakar restaurant near Langkawi airport- amazing smoky smells from the huge grill. Full post coming soon about the experience!

Biryani at Hamza Bistro, Jalan Tun Sambanthan, Kuala Lumpur

If ever there was a lesson in writing things down at the time, this would be it. It’s two weeks since our visit to this Indian cafe in Brickfields and I have literally just spent 2 hours searching Streetview, 4square, tripadvisor etc. for this bloody place! I eventually found it via Facebook by identifying the colour of the tables!
I now know it’s a new place, having opened in March and hasn’t made it’s way onto Google as yet. Here’s the link to the FB page though- Restoran Hamza Bistro.
We ate mutton biryani which was served with poppadom, pickle and some sauces. The biryani was perfect, lightly spiced, not too oily (I avoid eating oily food where possible) whilst the mutton was rich and tender. Some sweet elements came from the sultanas, creating a nice balance and the lightly pickled crunchy vegetables provided contrast in both taste and texture. I was less keen on the lime syrup drink, which somehow I managed to inhale (not recommended!!). The plastic trays, known as thali are on my purchase list- we ate off them regularly in Malaysia.
We ended up here at the recommendation of Kerry, our guide for our photo tour of Pudu Market and also an impromptu trip to Brickfields (also known as Little India). Hopefully you’ve liked seeing some of my images of Pudu market over the last few days. I’ve spared you some of the grislier ones such as heaps of chicken feet being ‘manicured’ and half pigs heads. That aside, it gave us a fantastic opportunity to see a real market at work and people going about their daily lives. We also had the chance to go inside a working Hindu temple dedicated to Hanuman and then go behind the scenes to see craftsmen at work, carving, moulding and painting the new extension to the temple. Hearing music, we popped outside and witnessed the consecration ceremony for the breaking of the ground as the first pillar was driven into the soil for a further temple extension, complete with sacred cows.

Chicken Rendang & Nasi Lemak at the Old China Cafe, Jalan Bilai Polis

This place features on all the ‘must eats’ in KL pages and frequently crops up as an essential place to try Nonya food. After a lot of wandering around the rainy streets of KL’s Chinatown and gesturing with local shop keepers we found the restaurant which sits in a traditional and historic Chinese shop house.
It was quiet when we arrived which surprised me given it’s prominence on the web and we quickly discerned it was more of a tourist spot (though still a very attractive and low- key atmosphere).
We ordered the lobak to share (fried beancurd sheets stuffed with carrot, turnip and pork) which was served with a spicy/sweet chilli jam- these were hot, crispy, salty and very moreish. I went for the Nonya chicken rendang which was very similar to a Thai red curry which surprised me; I was expecting a dish with more spices and fewer herbal/citrus notes. It was rich and creamy from the coconut milk and came with several chunky pieces of chicken. I wonder whether being chicken, the spice paste is lighter/fresher than the richer aromatic paste used for say a beef rendang? I’m certainly not an expert in Malaysian food by any means so would be more than happy to hear your thoughts. My husband settled on the nasi lemak for his meal, which was beautifully presented and came with the usual assortment of ikan bilis (fried anchovies), peanuts, boiled egg, cucumber, sambal, some of the chicken rendang and some puffed crackers. The beautiful blue colour of the nasi kerabu speckled throughout the rice is a natural colouring from a flower. The textures within this dish are incredible; soft, crunchy, chewy with huge contrast between the very salty and the sweet.
The food (excluding drinks) bill came in at 34MYR (about £6.50) which was good value for the quality of food, presentation and ambience. It’s perhaps not the best place to eat if you are looking to eat where the locals eat but for beautifully prepared, tasty food in an interesting building, it’s a great choice.

Jalan Alor, Kuala Lumpur

Okay, so I’ve finally had chance to sit down and put something together; in our first 2 days we’ve had so much food I think I already have enough to cover a month of posts; we’ve eaten Indian, Nyonya, Malay, Chinese and even Japanese (with Vietnamese to come tomorrow too).
Our first evening’s introduction to KL, as indeed every travellers should be was the street food of Jalan Alor. The air in the street was hanging heavy with the smoke of grilling skewers of meat and fish and mingled with frying garlic, chilli oils caught in your lungs, making us splutter and at one end of the street; the pungent hum from the durian stalls was potent (more to come of that in a later post)
We ate at Charn Kee Tasty Corner run by Elang and her team which is a regular favourite of my Uncles who we’re staying here with. We ordered up a range of chilli laden dishes which arrived quickly and in quick succession:
Chickenfish (middle photo) deep fried, crispy skinned and meaty and came with a delicious tangy spicy dipping sauce
Stir fried chilli frog- whole frogs pan fried in a light chilli broth, slurp on the soft meat and removing the tiny bones as we went.
Gai Lan (Chinese kale) leaves stir fried in a soy/oyster sauce mix, smoky with wok breath and a ton of sliced garlic.
Chilli chicken- deep fried chicken stir fried in a rich red chilli paste with spring onions
Fried rice- this was a meal in itself- full of shrimp, omelette and vegetables with a soy/chilli dip
we eventually left, very full, very happy and headed off for our first experience of durian… (to come in part 2)

Moo Khua Kling (Dry Roasted Curry)

 I Had a break from Thai food over the weekend and as a late birthday treat sampled some amazing Japanese/Danish hybrid food at Sticks n Sushi in Greenwich. We couldn’t decide what to pick from their vast menu so went for the lazy option; basically tell the server your budget and they pick for you! We sampled tataki, rice crispie shrimp tempura two ways (whole and with avocado in rolls), black sesame and truffle crispy cauliflower, salmon sahimi, tuna, pork and steak yakitori. The quality of the ingredients and the imaginative way they were served was amazing!
Anyway, since we’ve just arrived back, Moo Khua Kling is a perfect dish to cook as it’s really quick to make and doesn’t need many ingredients. It’s not really a curry at all, as it’s a dry dish though it is stir fried in red curry paste. It’s a Southern Thai dish and like most Southern dishes packs some serious heat. It’s traditional not to add vegetables to the dish but to serving cooling ones alongside.
For two people use:

• 350g minced pork
• a level tablespoon of red curry paste
• a ‘finger’ of fresh turmeric, if available, or a heaped teaspoon of powder
• 8-10 kaffir lime leaves, spine removed, rolled and shredded fine
• a large red chilli, or 4/5 small red, sliced
• a big splash of fish sauce (nam pla)
• optional vegetables (cucumber, green cabbage, lettuce etc.)

Bash the fresh turmeric (if using) into a paste in a mortar then mix the turmeric (fresh or powdered) with the red curry paste. Use a non stick wok to dry fry the meat over a high heat until fully cooked and any water has evaporated. Add in the curry paste and mix thoroughly, cooking for a couple of minutes until fragrant and even coloured. Throw in the fish sauce, chilli slices and lime leaves, leaving some back for decoration if you want to. Cook until dry (1 minute or so) then serve with the cooling vegetables.

No to Mediterranean Basil in Thai Food !!!

This winds me right up- so much so I just made the silly sign above to prove it. Thai restaurants in the UK (and in the US too?) that use Mediterranean basil instead of Thai basil.

I went out to a Thai restaurant for a friend’s birthday last night and ordered my favourite meal- chicken with Thai sweet  basil and let me say, on the menu had the Romanised Thai name Phad Bai Horapha which means sweet basil. What was otherwise a pleasant dish came with feckin Italian basil leaves on the top!! Nearly every Thai restaurant I’ve been to in the last 5 years does this. Every time I feel cheated and it does nothing for the flavour. ARRRRGGGGHH! Thai restaurants of the UK- for God’s sake if you can’t source Thai basil, holy, sweet or otherwise, stop pretending your customers are too stupid to tell the difference between something that should be on top of a pizza and something that should belong in a Thai curry! Rant over.