April 15, 2019
Today I’m in search for a well known dish in Thailand called Tom Yum.
A spicy, sweet, and sour combination soup made with kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass, lime, chilies, and shrimp sounds like something nice to indulge in tonight.
I’ve had this dish before at restaurants in Canada, but I’m curious if it would taste different here. So far many of the foods I’ve had here has tasted fresher, like a mango tasting more mango-y? If that makes more sense. I’m wondering if it’s because the foods available in Canada are too pumped up with chemicals that make it taste bland? I don’t know, but I’m thinking the Tom Yum here will blow my mind.
I went on a search for a while and settled for a place called Kang Ban Phe Noodle & Seafood Cafe in Siam Centre.
The presentation was neat with little fire going underneath the bowl of Tom Yum to keep it warm while I enjoyed it.
I chose to have river prawn as the protein for the soup since I’ve never had eaten it before. Dunked inside the soup to cook, it came out tasting very similar to a shrimp, even down to the texture. Note to self: must try roasted river prawn with garlic butter in the future. I bet it would taste really good.
By the way, did you know river prawns can grow up to 12.5 inches?! That’s massive.
So was the Tom Yum soup mind blowing after all?
Yes! It was a lot different compared to what I have tasted in the past. The waffling of spicy soup aroma in the air and the taste, the taste…. was something more authentic. Creamier, spicier, everything about the taste of Tom Yum was more.
I’m suspecting the reason for that is because the ingredients are more pungent from what you can find in the western world.
Have you ever had fish sauce full of chilies like this?
After dinner the restaurant made ice cream dessert complimentary. How nice!
Around Siam Center are places where you can just hang out like these folks here. During the night when it’s a cooler, many young folks like to be around Siam since it’s an upscale place and it’s close by one of the main universities here that has businesses that caters to younger tastes.
Around the corner was a market where I saw something unusual. Oranges with green skin! These oranges are common in Asia and tastes a lot different than what a Californian orange taste like. These are sweeter.
