Ton Tong and dancing shrimp

When in Bangkok, we always make an effort to catch up with Brandon. We spent a bit of time working with him at Parrot Cay, he's a great guy, and must be as passionate about music as we are for food. Which means we always end up at some crazy Thai restaurant / bar out in the 'burbs listening to some super funky Thai folk music. And tonight is no exception !!

We know Brandon is working tonight, so decide to grab some dinner and wait for the call. We end up at Vientiane kitchen down on Suk Soi 36 after some Northern Thai / Loas cuisine. Little did we know we were in for some awful live music / performance. The food was okay, probably just such horrible association because of the deafening music.



Once we get the call we're told to head over to some obscurely random bar in some obscurely random place ... we try to relay to the taxi, but end up calling again and letting Brandon explain. About half an hour later we arrive ..... Andrew, another guy we worked with at Parrot Cay, along with one of his friends was also there. Just nice to catch up and have a chat. We quickly go through a bottle of Thai whiskey and listen to one band before skipping over to the other side of town to Ton Tong.



A few of the musicians who had just played also come along ... again, more Thai whiskey and a bit of food. First up, dancing shrimp; a dish we had not yet tried despite all our visits to Thailand. The little dish arrives and it's as if you can hear them kicking ...... live baby shrimp drowned in a fish sauce, lime and chilli dressing. Brandon gives them a little shake to slow up their movement.



There's loads of fresh vegetables on the side to be eaten along with it .... Then the little fella's are revealed. Kim and I both dive in, wanting to experience the sensation. And it's quite a sensation ... my first bite I actually had them sticking to my lips, tongue and roof of my mouth, the little spiky bits hurting like hell. But a little chomp and there's a firework like explosion of flavors, loads of dried chili, lime and lemongrass and cold, sweet little shrimp.



The next thing we were rather skeptical of was the sashimi. Sure, the fish was live, but it was swimming around in a murky warm water tank. After our time in Japan, I wasn't even keen to try it. I appreciate great sashimi, but really despise bad stuff. The fish is sliced as if a 1st year apprentice did it, there's some vegetable julienne and celery leaves along with enough wasabi to knock out the Japan winter ski team. I guess for Thai's in order to get the chili kick they require from wasabi they need that much?!



Kim tries the sashimi with the verdict that it's bloody horrible, so I just stick to the Thai whiskey ....

A great night spent with friends, old and new!

Nikki Beach White Party and 4am Pad Thai

From the moment we arrived in Samui there was hype about the upcoming Nikki Beach opening White Party. A few girls dressed in white were handing out CD's and information about the party. We took a flyer just out of interest ... We hadn't even thought to seriously about going, but our friend Mike (who we were visiting) got an invite and reserved 'exclusive' table seating with bottle service.

So the morning was spent driving around Samui on the scooter both looking for something white to wear. Kim had a spankin' new pair of white sneakers already, and I had the faithful white havaiana thongs, but we needed a little more than that. Scooting around Chaweng during the day also meant we found these delicious little pancakes, as well as some white clothes.

The evening started off with a few drinks at the UK bar, Ban Taling Nam aka. Lawn Bowls. We then moved onto top-cats for a few celebratory birthday drinks for Mike, the owner, before finally arriving at Nikki Beach around 8:30pm. We missed the VIP celebrations that took place earlier in the day including Muay Thai boxing, monkeys, elephants and the red carpet walk, but we were drinking elsewhere ... The roof of the main bar area is supposed to be something pretty special, due to the amount of copper used or something. It looks pretty, anywhoo.



We escorted over to our little area, with our bottles of bacardi awaiting us. Started off with some katoi cabaret dancers, then moved into bongo drums and saxaphone before some guy was dancing on a ribbon hanging from a crane very cirque-de-solei esque and then an impressive fireworks display.  It was a good night, the sea of white (probably about 1,000 people, and only a few fools wearing blue or green) was very impressive.  

Just after 3am they just suddenly turnt the music off ...  there was still about 700 people who were just like WTF?  No, 'Thanks for coming', nothing.  Oh well, what to do in time's like this?  Eat, of course!  

We would have settled for some chips or something from 7-11 but hear there's an all night restaurant in Na-Thon.  Sweet.  By now it's 4am, and Jit restaurant is bustling.



Jason recommends the pad Thai, and tells us about the orange noodles.  Well, som maak (very orange, indeed!)  Even the chicken has turned a shade of orange, tossed in the wok with peanuts, bean sprouts and egg.  A ton of dried chilli was sprinkled over the top, and honestly, I couldn't even tell you what it tasted like ...



It was 4 in the morning!

A-bu-cha pt. I, Niseko Hirafu

A-bu-cha is a cute little cottage sitting on the corner of the main intersection in Hirafu. We tried going here with Shouya the first night we arrived in October, but they were closed. They didn’t re-open until 1st December, which, funny enough was when we opened. We didn’t make it over on opening night, but I think just about everyone else in Hirafu did, it was packed to the rafters. The following night we finished work and headed on over. It is nice that they serve food until like 12:30am, so it made for a good after-work stop throughout the season.

The greeting, with every staff member in the place participating, is an enthusiastic ‘Ishimase’ that really makes us feel welcome. We walk on in, it’s cosy inside, to the left there’s 2 non-smoking booths and then up a few little stairs a long bar stocked with all sorts of spirits, sho-chu’s, sakes and beers. The kitchen is straight ahead and it’s tiny, but they manage to get about 5 Japanese chef’s back there … To the right is the main dining area with a few more booths and some tables. There’s a heater blasting out hot air and it’s snowing outside, how beautiful.

We order a few things.. The first to arrive a ceramic bowl set ontop a bamboo basket with just a few crisp green edamame peeking out from underneath.



The bowl is turned over (used for the pods, of course) and we both dive in. The beans are so plump and juicy, our fingers getting all salty from the outside as we eat them. They are served cold, which when they’re this good they should be.



Zangi, we’ve heard so much about this delight, so are very looking forward to sampling it. It’s like a karage chicken, big juicy bits of chicken thigh that taste like they’ve been steamed first and then coated and fried. When you order, you have the option of sweet chilli sauce or black vinegar. We choose the black vinegar. A generous bowl sits to the side, it’s a nice tart vinegar and there’s plenty of chopped spring onion and ginger. Some of the best karage we’ve eaten.



We settled on just 2 kushi, things on sticks. If you can’t already tell, we love food, especially meat, on sticks. The tsukone is the first to arrive. Tsukone is chicken mince, this one seasoned with garlic, ginger and shallot, then pressed around a fatter stick and grilled. This one is then dipped in yakitori sauce. Sitting to the side a perfectly plump, sunshine yellow egg yolk. The stick is taken and swirled through the egg yolk before each bite.



Next, buta-yaki, pork stick. The pork is quite tender (not quite as good as Sen chou’s) and covered in the rich, sweet sauce. We prefer the pork one seasoned just with salt.



We were both intrigued by the ‘Chicken wing in Gyoza’ on the menu. It arrives and looks to be a beautifully golden, crispy fried chicken wing.



But then we bite into it. Oh-my! It is indeed a gyoza inside a chicken wing. It’s pork mince and garlic chive stuffed, and somehow contained, within the de-boned chicken wing. A touch of soy raises this unsuspecting little morsel to divine.



Now both feeling quite content after our little midnight snack, of course it’s only now we see the specials board that is up behind us. There’s quite a few things on there that we must eat. But tonight there will be just one more. We both swing between the Grilled Hokkaido chicken with Salt and the Delicious salmon. The decision is made, delicious salmon it is. They like to call what is indeed the most delicious part of the salmon, the belly, delicious salmon. We have had this on several occasions, usually served sashimi. This time the skin has been left on, and it’s been grilled over charcoal. The flesh is bubbling from the hot grill, there’s a nice sprinkling of salt, and the skin charred to crispy perfection. This goes brilliantly with the mountain of freshly grated daikon sitting to the side.



Okay okay, maybe just one more thing from the special board.

Today’s special dessert, Maple cheesecake. It arrives, a generous slice with a whipped cream rosette and some chocolate sauce gracing it’s presence. The cheesecake itself is oishii! The crumbly base topped with a rich, creamy and oh-so-mapley sweet baked top.



Ab-u-cha is a bakery during the day, and if this cheesecake is anything to go by, it’s going to become a regular of ours before work also ….

〒044-0081
190-13 Aza-Yamada
Kuchan-cho
Abuta-gun Hokkaidou
The little red and blue cottage at the main intersection, just beside Seicomart
TEL/FAX 0136-22-5620

Winter Season 18:00-02:00 Open Everday
Summer Season 18:00-00:00 Closed on Monday's