Hot Pan Mae Nam

Recipe for a great time; first take a bunch of friends, then some how find yourself at the northern end of Koh Samui in Mae Nam, now find the restaurant with "We are number 1" plastered across the front, the great time is sure to follow......





Hot pan Man Nam is a Chinese BBQ restaurant, the Chinese BBQ some times called hot pan is like a cross of a steamboat and a BBQ plate, with a vented dome where the funnel is usually located on a steamboat, placed on top of a charcoal pit full of glowing coals the moat is filled with soup and a good whack of pork back fat is placed on the center of the dome



while this is heating up you can then take a stroll over to the (in this case) expansive array of sliced meats and prepared vegetables, oh and don't forget the dumplings and eggs as well.











Once you've filled your plate with tasties you bring it back to the BBQ, now hot and the plate nicely lubricated with the rendering pork fat, which once it has flowed down the domed plate slides across the surface of the soup in shiny rivulets. Now you can grill the meats to your liking while cooking the veges and dumplings in the ever increasing flavor soup. Some prefer to baste the meat with the soup to encourage the meaty flavor back into the soup, we just like to let the natural juices flow.



You can repeat these last few steps until you feel like the reason your not going back for more is your unable you move under your own power, it's ok, if you look around you'll see most of the people at the other tables in the same state. Of course even after all this some how when ice cream is mentioned the ladies will magically have found room. All this can be yours for the princely sum of 100 baht, that's right for hours of belly busting taste bud tantalising fun just 100 baht. How sweet is that!  Add it to you list.

In the eyes of the beholder

Tucked away on the beach front street in Nathon a little cafe called about art and craft is both about art and craft and about the art and craft of food.



We dropped by for a look see and were impressed with the simple wholesome fare being served. I picked up a vege burito with braised red beans and zesty tomato salsa



Whilst Kat opted for (and quickly lost half of) the tomato and garlic on rye toast with pesto.




Mango slushie and carrot and stuff juice

After a super tasty lunch we browsed the other art and craft adorning the surrounding walls and shelves before we jumped back on the scooter for further Samui adventures....ok ok more eating.

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Mor Din, Koh Samui

"This traditional Thai pot, the Mor Din, is earthenware, large and rounded at the bottom and narrowing at its neck, opening out at its rim. It was originally used to cook rice: the narrow neck ensured minimal evaporation, and allowed excess water to be poured out easily. It also reduced the chances of ash dropping into the cooking pot, something that is not always meant to be included in the ingredients. Being of unfired clay, it was also less likely than a fired pot to shatter when exposed to a naked flame." - Glenn Walis, a friend of ours and publisher for C Holiday magazine in Samui describes the Mor Din in this way. Below, is our encounter of this little gem on the south of the island.

We remembered talking about this earlier on our trip with Mike & Glenn, but it wasn't until one of our last nights in Samui, we were actually trying for dinner at home cooking, but it was closed, that we spotted the Mor Din sign. We take a turn on the Thong Krut road down a windy little dirt road, then we see the lights. It is a jungle setting, with soft lighting and a little fountain in the middle.



I start with a refreshing saparot pun, frozen pineapple slushy. Delicious!



Then we start with a banana flower salad, before the mordin pot's arrive. The salad is packed full of crisp, fresh, banana flower that's enhanced with some fresh coconut and a tangy chilli dressing.



The first mordin pot to arrive at the table for tonight is the tom yum. Delicious spicy broth, with a nice kick of lime, is full of corrinader, spring onion, tomato and chunks of chicken.



Gaeng som, the sour orange Thai curry is something we both love. It's usually done with fish, but we spot a pork verison on the menu. It's the next pot to arrive. As the lid is lifted the chilli wafts into the air and tickles our nostrils. The chunks of pork are tender and full of flavour, and there's some nice little sweet surprises of fresh pineapple and we naviagate our way through this incredibly spicy, and delicious, interpretation of the gaeng som.



Even the rice arrives in a mordin, cooked in the pot which it's served, with all the crunchy bits of rice on the bottom of the pot.


We thoroughly enjoyed our meal at mordin, and we found ourselves glad that Home Cooking was closed on this occasion, otherwise we may have missed out alltogether. Next time we'll be be back with a few more persons as the pots are huge.



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Mama's

Feeling a major burgin urge that comes on every so often, we swung by Mamas, a little burger bar between Lamai and Chawaeng. All decked out in old school american diner threads with red and white walls, movie and music posters and neon lots of neon. Theres a few style of burgers on their own or in a combo. We order a couple delux burgers then takes a seat in a both while we wait for them to be made. Minutes later we're facing a fresh grilled beef burger, lettuce, tomato, bacon and pickles pinned between a sesame seed bun with a Mamas flag sided with golden fries and a frosty coke. Sweet, burgin satisfied.












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A Star Bar

The Coco bola bar was just a 3 minute scoot away from where we were staying in Samui so the natural choice for a drink or two to relax away the hardships of doing not much all day.



Star and her crew mixed up some wicked drinks and there was always a bowl of chips and beer nuts on hand.




Master of the bar and crochet Star






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Again with the really hard life.

Who are you calling duck face?

On the inside track again with our friend Mike taking us to an Issan place away from all the touristy side of Samui. Lured with promises of exotic tidbits we arrive at a place on the ring road up past Chawaeng, we know what we're after but once again we are baffled at the the absence of these items on the English menu. With a quick mime and some broken Thai we're back on track, a few minutes later and the dish of deep fried duck bills and tongues are on the table. With a quick dip into the chilli on the side and it's mouth to mouth for these tasty morsels deep fried enough that most of the bill becomes crunchy they soon disappear. Yum a new dish to the repertoire and some new Thai words for the future, Bet bart tod _ duck face deep fried.




Not wanting to waste we followed up with a spicy larp made from the rest of the duck.

Is food worth your life??

Is it?? I only ask because as we were driving down the main street in Chawaeng (not a place you would regualy see us but we were shopping for white clothes for the opening white party of Nikki Beach Samui), we saw this guy doing something interesting on his scooter fooderie, we only saw it as we passed so with a cry of "ohhh whats that?"



We threw on the brakes and chucked a uwie in front of a little oncoming traffic (I'm pretty sure we're not the worst farang drivers they've seen). We pulled up and watched for a minute to see what was going on, this guy was making little rolled pancakes with two types of fillings.



First the a little batter was poured onto the hotplate the fillings added, the first filling was whats commonly called funny sausage in Thailand, like a small frankfurter.



but it was the second filling that caught out eye as the batter set a quials egg was cracked over the pancake then it was topped with a little chicken mince, white pepper and soy before being rolled.



Yes please six of those all for the bargin price of eighteen baht.  Super sweet.  With pancakes in hand it was back onto the scooter for a snack on the go.



Was it worth stopping traffic? oh yeah, the batter was a little sweet the inside salty and peppery. What a great snack I wish we had got a few more, thats the proble with the moblie fooderies you never see them again.

Lawn bowls and som dtam

What type of fool goes out in the heat of the midday sun in Koh Samui and decides to play lawn bowls? Well apparently we do.
Off Samui's ring road down to the south in Ban Taling Nam an English couple by the name Lisa and Rodger have set up a bowling green with bar attached and it's a great way to pass the time while enjoying a few drinks. I do suggest that you go towards the later end of the day, as we found when the sun is beating down you can only manage a couple of ends before retreating to the shade covered bar (not such a bad thing).


bowls surrendered to the sun

Bordering the greens all sorts of local delicacies grow from banana, papaya, baby pineapple and betel leaves, this led to discussion of what to do with all this produce and resulting in us ending up with two very handsome green papayas for dinner. A quick ride past the local market to grabs a few extra veges and a whole roasted chicken and we were set.


papaya retrival

We pounded the green papaya up into a som dtam and served it with the roast chicken, some cucumber, wing beans, apple eggplant and sticky rice.



Not a bad effort at a pinch. We get by.

Home cooking, Samui

One of the things we were really looking forward to when we reached Koh Samui was that we would be able to go to Home cooking again, oh yeah and see our friends again (sorry guys). Home cooking is a little food hut off the ring road and down the Thing Krut end, we were first introduced to Khun Beeat's gourmet delights when we were house sitting a few years ago and she was the local food stop. Our daily routine tended to be; wake up late, ly by the pool all day, play with the dogs, head down to home cooking for dinner then lounge around watching movies all night, it was a really hard life.



Any how we were back and we wanted some home cooking. Scooter aquired we pulled up out side to a warm welcome from khun Beeat who remembered us just fine, she wanted to know where we live and work now (She told one of the other guests all about us and he seemed to think a couple of westerners living and working in Japan and speaking Thai was a little strange). We both knew what we were after a Lipton ice tea (why is it they taste so much better in Thailand than anywhere else in the world?) and a Pad kii mao muu sen yai - stir fried drunkards noodles with pork. There are a lot of theories about these noodles and where they came from I like to think it's the chilli and Thai basil added in such quantity you can taste it even drunk. These noodles cooked here are the best we've ever had. Khun Beeat really works the noodles in the wok so they are a starting to crisp on the outside, turn all gelatinous inside and have picked up the woks breath (smokiness) wonderfully.



This dish prepared here is one of my all time favourite meals. After the fantastic noodles we are given a plate of grapes to pick at.



Seriously, life is sweet.

more Home cooking to come


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