Jun Hom, checking out Pooky's Mum's old restaurant, Koh Samui

Pooky was one of the delightful Thai girls we were lucky enough to work with at Parrot Cay. Her food, amazing! So, when we met up with Steve & Kannika, also some old friends we had worked with on the island and we were in Koh Samui, we decided to hunt down Pooky's Mum's old restaurant. We knew it was called Jun Hom, and knew it was somewhere along Hat Bang Po. We doubled up on scooters, and rode the ring road up to the top of the island ... It was hot and dusty, and we were going at some speed. We of course drove past it and ended up at Mae Nam beach before heading back and retracing our steps. It took us a while to find, but it is nestled just beside the Coconut Villas, which is a great landmark should we be looking for it again.. We park the scooters and head on in.



It's so green, the entrance surrounded by fresh plants. There is an undercover eating area, but we are very happy to take a seat out on the beach tables, taking our shoes off with the sand between our toes. We order a couple of big beers, which come Thai style with a bucket of ice.



They have a huge menu, and then funnily enough only a couple of pages translated into English, which lists all the usual suspects. We are very lucky to have Kannika with us, who of course spots a whole range of interesting Thai dishes on the Thai menu. We leave the ordering up to her, just expressing our interest to try and true Southern style dishes. The first dish is just that, a dry fried curry with green peppercorns and lots of tumeric with a few slices of cucumber on the side. This is incredible, almost like a Southern style larb, but a bit dryer.



The soup is also stained with the yellow of tumeric, simply filled with chunks of chicken, slices of onion and some fresh coriander.



The next dish, oh my, I can still remember the taste, the texture of the fried lemongrass, and the amazing aroma. A whole fish was firstly marinated in amongst many other things, lemongrass, garlic & fish sauce and then deep-fryed. Then on top of that, a mountain of smashed up lemongrass and garlic had also been fried, the fine strands so aromatic and crispy. We all love this dish so much, and we have nearly devoured the whole thing before anyone notices the little sauce on the side, not that it needed it!



Majority of the Thai population are Buddist, but many of those from the South are Muslim, immigrating to the area from the Indian subcontinent over the last 2 thousand years or so. Therefor the Southern regions of Thailand bear close similarities to Indian food, turmeric permiating a lot of the Southern Cuisine. It's the fresh tumeric root that is used though, with a beautiful gold colour and mild flavor. We see it again used in the Southern style fish curry. Chunks of well browned fish, with a green leaf that is a little bitter swimming in a light coconut and turmeric broth.



Fried crab with egg, pepper and garlic was our last dish of the day. Whole blue crabs smashed up and piled high, the meat sucked from the shell.



A beautiful, beachside location, with some really interesting and delicious Southern Thai dishes to match. A must if you are up the top end of the island.



Jun Hom
Hat Bang Po
Next to the Coconut Villas
Koh Samui, Thailand


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Bee pollen for breakfast, Radiance Restaurant, the Spa Samui

Bee pollen. These little granules contain a whole range of minerals and vitamins and are high in protein and carbohydrates. Perfect for starting off the day, really. We have now arrived in Koh Samui, and are staying at the Spa Resort on Lamai beach. After 6 weeks of travelling, indulging, heavy eating and drinking, we will be doing a little 5 day detox while we are here. We take a few days to be able to meet up with friends, and not be restricted on what we are eating (or, not eating for that matter..). Think it's a wise choice to at least give the body something vibrant, something healthy, just so it knows what's coming ....

Guy's breakfast at the Radiance restaurant is a bowl of fresh chopped mango & papaya with a Chiang Mai sheeps milk yogurt and bee pollen. It's delicious! The bee pollen really giving the whole dish a nice texture, each little granule popping in the mouth and the sweetness of the fruit being balanced by the rich, luscious yogurt.



Now, let's go eat some fried pork for lunch!

The Spa Resorts Koh Samui
P.O. Box #1, Lamai Beach
Koh Samui, 84310 Suratthani
Thailand
Tel: +66(0)77-230-855


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Blown away, Bo.lan, Bangkok

It's a big call but I'm going to stand by it..... Bo.lan is the hottest new place in the world to get amazing traditional Thai food and flavors mixed with a smattering of international ideas ( don't read con - fusion, think amuse bouche, palette cleansers and petit fors). After being given the tip off to eat here before it became impossible (thanks Austin and Paul) we had to go. I'd like to apoligise now, as a result of being so slack at blogging as well as being totally unprepared for the experience there will be a few gaps.....sorry.



Started by Duangporn Songvisava (bo) and Dylan Jones with the belief that the best Thai restaurant should be in Thailand, armed with this belief, years of experience from working with such great chefs as David Thompson and Amanda Gale and doorstep access to the amazing produce offered from the markets in Bangkok you know they are onto a winner. After a quick taxi ride down Sukhumvit and only one missed turn we find ourselves outside Bo.lan a renovated thai house with a big beautiful balcony,



as it's raining we slip inside to find the interior is just as beautiful.



The menu is seperated into the traditional Thai divisions of salad, soup, stirfries, currys, relishes and desserts with a couple of choices on each. You can just order a la carte or as we did go for the Bo.lan balance where the chef decides on the dishes to created a balanced Thai meal, perhaps also with some dishes not offered on the menu.

We started off with an amuse bouche of pandanus juice with rice wine, a Thai whisky sour, chilli salt and some other little thing (told you sorry). The raucous flavous of the whisky as well as the sipping smooth pandanus rice wine definitly amused our taste buds and had us raring to go.



This was followed up by a plate of delicious tidbits to keep us going till the meal arrived.



On a long white plate we had a son in law quails egg; depp fried soft quails egg topped with a salty fish sauce caramel and deepfried shallots. Well balanced and delicious.



A thin slice of steam pork wapping something delicious (oh please forgive me)



A small puffed rice cake topped with a spicy fresh lemongrass salad



A small bowl which Kat seems to think had a betal leaf wrap inside.

And finally on the end nahm makam boran (ancient tamarind relish) atop a sliver of pineapple (thanks for the correction anon)

After swooning our war through the first two courses our meal was ready and in usual Thai style all brought to the table at once.

We were asked if we would like jasmine rice or red rice from the north. Of course we both the red rice, it had much more body than regular jasmine but not as much fragrence.

Moments after the rice arrived the table was covered in a delicious feast.



A salad of river prawns and grilled eggplant, all tossed in a garden of fresh herbs a soft boiled egg on the side and topped off with a cloud of fluffy prawn floss and several wickedly hot deep fried chillis. Yum.



Our stirfry was one of fresh squid and garlic chives with a few orange chillis thrown in for the fragrance. Of course it was delicious and of course I tried one of the fragrant chillis to find out it was also tounge meltingly hot (though we may have just been away from Thailand for to long)



Luckly we had a rich, soothing, tounge coating coconut curry at the table. The mon style gaeng khi lek with fall apart braised beef. The mon being one of the hill tribes living in Thailand and khi lek a leaf for which I know no other name. The curry was mild and loaded with coconut cream and with the beef super rich.



The relish we were given has from the first mouthful become my favourite lon of all time as well as one of my top ten farvourite things ever eaten. House made naam (fermented sour pork sausage) gently simmered in coconut cream, expertly seasoned and topped with shredded galangal to create a master piece. The artistic arrangement of the assorted garnishes only highlighting this dish was a work of art. I especially loved the little prawm mince stuffed dok kee flowers and the, well and all of it. Unreal.



Our final part of this awesome meal was the soup as we had ordered we were asked if we would both like the same soup, as it was we had both had our eye one the muslim style beef shank soup so we ended up the same, but I loved that you could get your own one person size soup.



Feeling very happy well fed we were just sitting bach going "ahhhhh" when a little pre-dessert arrived. An elegant martini glass of deseeded lychees and rambutans topped with shaved ice and a perfumed syrup, drapped across the top candied pomelo peel. Just the pre-dessert, wow.



And the spectacule was still going with two plate of three different dessert brought out.
Plate one; Mango sticky rice, palm sugar agar and a light and crispy palm sugar meringue.



Plate two; A cute little paper bag of sweet taro chips, a candied coconut ball and a bowl of sweet coconut cream and banana.



By now were swimming in a delirious haze of contentment but there was still more to come as if just to really let you know you were somewhere really speacial.

We sat and just stared at the petit for plate for a good five minutes. It was so beautiful.
With mangosteens (favourite fruit ever) wafers, tuilles, hand made candies and caramel puffed rice, really incredible.



If we were to have eaten any of that meal as an indivudal piece we would have been happy to .. to have it all in one meal was amazing!!

Bo.lan is well on their way to creating one of the finest Thai restaurants in the world, and doing it in Thailand.

Bo.lan
42 Soi Pichai-rongnarong-songkram
Sukhumvit, Soi 26
Klongteoy
Bangkok
10110

Suan Lum Night Bazaar and fried chicken

We always find time for a stop at Suan Lum Night Bazaar when in Bangkok, and on our first night at the Met. this is where we were headed. There's been lots of talk that Suan Lum was closing making room for massive high rises, so we were glad to see it still there !! There does seem to be quite a lot of movement at ground level, there weren't as many shops as we remember and food courts had moved from one end of the plot to another. So we decide to head down to Soi Polo for a quick fried chicken fix before heading back for more exploring.



We take a seat and place our order. Within moment we are graced with a larb muu - spicy pork mince salad and little baskets of sticky rice.



Then the fried chicken arrives, in all it's golden glory, smothered in deep-fried garlic.



And a som dtum - spicy papaya salad.



It's all covered in alternating spoons of the 2 sauces, a home-made sweet chili and a nam jim jiaw.



With our bodies now fueled, it's back to the Night Bazaar ..... Our favorite find in the little corner of local artists, was GumBKK, an aspiring artist with a very artistic use of gold and rabbits.



He also does some creative things with some Doraemon characters ....



Some of the rabbits are just too cute ... he even does custom shoes / bags / suitcases.



We get our little hot chili rabbit and a few other goodies to declare another sucessful and enjoyable trip to Suan Lum Night Bazaar.

Still lunching with the ladies, le Beaulieu, Bangkok

Day two of our lunch with the ladies tour, Le Beaulieu is just around the corner from where we were staying at Suk 11 so it was just a quick albeit hair raising scooter taxi ride away. We're a bit early so we just kick around in the reception area for a bit before being ushered in.



One wall of the restaurant is a large window into the kitchen, great for guests not so for chefs..



Once again the seats are quickly filled by Japanese housewives (I think they are single handedly supporting Bangkok's restaurants). We are given a menu with the wickedly great lunch deals, three courses with three choices of each for 450 baht, sweet.

We quickly make our choices, with a basket of fresh baked bread to keep us company while we wait.



We started off with baked cheese feuillete with organic salad and balsamic and an onion tart with rocket and truffle cream. Mmm melty cheese wrapped in puff pastry, the tart was topped with a wisp of truffle infused foam.





For our second choices we had a traditional bouillabaisse marseillaise with rouille and garlic bread, a decent piece of white fish and squid sitting in a pool of rich seafood broth, along side a generous slice of toasted garlic bread and rouille to make the dish even more rich.



The braised beef neck, fresh fettuccine and herbs was another super rich dish, large chunks of tender fall apart beef piled over a mound of fresh noodles, while it was delicious it was quite impossible to finish being so rich.



Whilst I was now starting to feel full Kat being in possession of the second dessert stomach that all women have was ready as our desserts arrived. White chocolate Charlotte with fresh fruit, a slice of the Charlotte laid on the plate and topped with macerated fresh fruit.



The other a freshly baked apple tart vanilla bean ice cream, you can't go wrong with that. A disk of pastry topped with thinly sliced and baked apples and soft ice cream slowly melting its way down over it all.



Really for these prices you can't complain, so I won't.

Le Beaulieu

the Sofitel Residences
Sukhumvit Rd., soi 19
Bangkok, Thailand

Gianni's Ristorante, Bangkok

There were some crazy lunch deals going around in Bangkok while we were there .... and there seemed to be a following of Japanese house-wives (who's husbands must be working for mega-corporations in BKK) but we were quick to jump on the band wagon. First stop, Gianni's.

Located over in the shopping district, it was just a short stroll from Chidlom station. On our walk down to Gianni's, we discovered another little Soi just bustling with Thai workers on the lunch break, and a whole array of delicious looking foods (why there's just not enough time!) In particular, I loved this little noodle cart which seen taxi drivers and businessman sitting side by side on minuscule chairs chowing down their bowl of noodles ...



But then another few hundred meters down the road we arrive at Gianni's. There's valet service, and loads of black BMW's and Mercedes, but we just walk on in. The initial greeting was a little cold from the Thai host but she seated us anyway ...



after we receive the menu, Gianni himself comes over and gives us the run down and recommends a nice wine to accompany our lunch. White we ponder, we explore the incredible array of bread on our table. There's a vase full of grisini, as well as a basket with about 6 different kinds of bread. We dip the bread into the olive oil and balsamic on our table and have fun trying all the different types.



We have both gone for the 3 course option, at a mere 370B no reason not to! My first course, Vitello Tonnato con Peperoni. A superb interpretation of an Italian classic, thinly sliced veal (that was cooked, and tasted like a milk roast beef) was blanketed in a super smooth tuna mayonnaise with some sweet roasted peppers on top.



Kim has the Carpaccio di Polipo. Thinly sliced octopus is layered into perfect circles, and then stacked with a crisp vegetable vinaigrette layered between. It looks amazing, so colourful, and tastes just as good!



In the bottom of our little bread basket, we had spotted a little treasure, an unusual looking black bread roll, with a heavy dusting of flour, and both decided to save it for our main course. But while we were so into our entrees, a waiter just whisked the basket away, perhaps thinking we didn't want that one lonely bread roll. I call someone over and explain that we were actually saving it, and then what appears, but a basket full of those little black bread rolls.



Arrosto di Maiale Salsa alla Senape - low temperature roasted pork neck with mashed potatoes and mustard sauce. We both liked the sound of this one, and it comes out in it's simple glory. Beautifully roasted meat, a tangy mustard sauce, and super creamy mash.



Petto d'Anatra al Balsamico - pan roasted breast of duckling with vegetables and balsamic. Another one that grabbed both of our attention, so splitting half way was no problem. The duck was pink and tender, with a nice crisp skin. The vegetables, potato, sauteed spinach, baby carrot and a too-cute little pancetta wrapped bean bundle that all paired well with the duck and the rich balsamico sauce.



Now I love a liqueur trolley, but an olive oil trolley? That's superb! While having a little rest before dessert I notice the liqueur trolley which indeed had an impressive selection ....



but it was the olive oil trolley that took my eye. Perhaps it comes out at dinner time, and you can even select your oil to dip your bread in.



Mm, dessert. Kim takes the olive oil tor ..., er I mean gelato torta ;) It's a layered ice-cream cake with raspberry coulis.

Tiramisu is my choice. I love the simplicity. This one is rich and light all at the same time ...



Coffee's finish an incredible lunch, my cappuccino almost defying gravity with the tower of foam !!



Gianni Ristorante
34/1 Soi Tonson Ploenchit Road
Bangkok 10330
T: +66 2252-1619
F: +66 2 652 2584