Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Thailand: Fruit & Vegetable Carvings

One of the highlights in visiting Thailand is seeing all the amazing fruit and vegetable carvings. They are an incredible work of art! And, they make it look way too easy!






Here are a couple videos of Chef Chamnan, from The Peninsula Hotel in Bangkok, demonstrating how "easy" it is:

Paragon, Bangkok

Apart from eating and local markets, I love going to local groceries and food centers to learn more about a culture. We took the Sky Train to Paragon for an afternoon of food browsing.

Here are some of the local foods that caught my eye:








Hotel Food in Thailand

After our cooking classes ended each afternoon, we enjoyed the hotels' restaurants for dinners. All of our meals were successful (in that it was delicious and well-executed) and satisfying!

The Peninsula Hotel, Bangkok
The Lobby

Thai Iced Tea
Before coming to Thailand, I had a mental-list of things to eat and drink. This was on the top of my list. Sweet and rich with tea flavor!

Ginger Biscuits


River Cafe and Terrace
This restaurant served buffet breakfasts and dinners every night. The spread was pretty decent.




Thiptara
Authentic Thai home-style cuisine. A nice outdoor setting complete with traditional music and a beautiful riverside view.



The Beer Pairing
Leo. A local Thai beer. It's a decent light tasting lager, but it gets pretty bitter as it sits and gets warm.

Spice-Coated Cashews
A complimentary snack to start the meal. Nice and lightly spiced.

Miang Kham
Dried shrimp, roasted coconut, roasted peanut, shallot, ginger, and lemon wrapped with betel leaf. Served with palm sauce.
A fun starter! I love the freshness of the ingredients!

Satay Gai Rue Moo
Thai spice marinated pork satay with peanut sauce

Poo Jaa
Crabmeat and minced pork filled in crab shell, with chili sauce

Crispy Bananas
With coconut ice cream



Mandarin Oriental Bangkok
Sala Rim Naam
Lunch buffet. This is probably one of the best buffets I've been to. I think it's partly because of my increasing love for Thai cuisine. Everything was fresh and delicious!







Terrace Rim Naam
Outdoor a la carte Thai dining by the River. Another beautiful setting with great food.


The Beer Pairing
Singha - Local beer at its best. A great taste, while maintain the light, refreshing taste.
Tiger - Singaporean beer. Another refreshing lager.


Taro Chips with Tamarind Dipping Sauce

Mee Grob
Herbed crispy noodles with minced shrimps and chicken mixture
Delicious! And, I love that this came with a bowl of fresh vegetables. The fried noodles tasted healthy when eaten with all those raw veggies.

Yaam Hua Plee Goong Gub Gai
Spiced banana blossom salad with shrimps and chicken

Naam Prig Makham
Dip of chili, young tamarind, minced chicken and shrimp accompanied by deep-fried Siamese sardines. Also accompanied by fresh raw vegetables. The balance of freshness and spice awakens your senses.


Gaeng Si-yang
Four assorted curries. Delicious, but spicy! My palate is slowly getting used to spicier foods, but a couple of these curries brought me to tears.

Chuchi Poo Nim Rue Goong Lai Suea
Soft Shell Crab curry with lesser galangal

Gaeng Kua Sabparos Gub Goong
Pineapple and prawn curry.

Gaeng Khiew Waan Phag Je
Green vegetable curry

Panaeng Ped Gub Linchee
Creamy red duck curry with lychees

Rice Noodles
The palate "mellower." When the wait staff saw we were sweating and crying from the spice, they gave us bowls of rice noodles to ease our pains.



Mandarin Oriental Chiang Mai
Horn Bar
We opted to sit out in the lobby while enjoying drinks from the bar.
Lemongrass Tea

Lemongrass Martini

Le Grand Lanna
A beautiful outdoor setting for traditional Thai and northern Thai cuisine

Som Tam Farang
Chiang Mai's original spicy guava salad with prawns and cashew nuts
A nice balance of sweet, sour, spicy, and freshness.

Ga Pi Lon
Traditional shrimp paste coconut milk dip with river prawns and young chili, accompanied by mixed vegetables and boiled egg
Another great dish that features fresh, raw vegetables.

Moo Ping
Chiang Mai's favorite charcoal grilled marinated pork, accompanied by roasted chili dip

Khao-Soi Nuea
Traditional Chiang Mai egg noodles in yellow curry with beef
This was a fun dish because of the crispy fried noodles. As the noodles sat in the curry sauce, it softened the noodles to an al dente state.

Gaeng Hang-Lay Moo
Spicy curry with pork, pickled garlic and ginger


Steamed Brown Rice


Coconut Ice Cream

Assorted Thai Sweets
A fun plate, but I found the sweets were too sweet.



In-House Vegetable Gardens
I loved that each of the hotels had their own vegetable gardens. Some were more extensive than others.
The Peninsula Hotel, Bangkok





Mandarin Oriental Bangkok

Mandarin Oriental Chiang Mai