Tag Archives: Soup

Thailand Food Exploration: 129 Baht Buffet

On a previous visit to Thailand, one night we ate out at the “99 Baht Buffet” (on the Pattaya Thai Road, Pattaya, behind Big C). The name was a real tongue-pleaser, as was the meal (…too much?).

On our recent trip the price had risen to a less mellifluous 129 baht, but the food was still as good, and at £3 a head, wonderful value.

The proceedings start (oh yes, this is no simple setup) with an alarming charcoal brazier being set into your metal table. This is then topped with a shallow metal bowl with a raised hole in the centre, to which is added a conical slatted metal hat.

coals

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Hong Kong Food Exploration: Beef Brisket Noodle Soup

My dad was a keen cook, and most weekends would turn the kitchen upside-down to create a meal which was immense in size, calories and deliciousness.

Thick Yorkshire puddings with a crispy base that can only be achieved by the use of alarming amounts of oil, mixing bowls full of buttery mashed potato, bread and butter puddings which could feed a family for a week; even the vegetables would find themselves drowning in butter or reclining in a white sauce.

Boiled beef brisket was another of his specialties, usually served with a squadron of airy dumplings. I love beef cooked this way. As a child I wasn’t keen on a red-rare Sunday joint, and much preferred the tender slices of brisket accompanied by long-stewed veg and those heavenly dumplings. For years I tried to emulate the aforementioned dumplings, for some reason under the mistaken impression he had used butter and not suet. It was only when I had a go with suet one day that I recreated the taste I remembered so well.

You can probably appreciate, therefore, that when I saw brisket noodle soup on the menu in Hong Kong, I was very keen to try it.

beef brisket noodle soup

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Hong Kong Food Exploration: Roasted Meats

There are some to whom the window below would be a terrifying sight.

I can’t deny I prefer my food to remind me a little less of its origins, given that I suffer from survivor’s guilt and feel that my potential vegetarianism is largely postponed due to cultural acceptability twinned with selfish greed.

That said, I’m afraid that despite my occasional wrestling with my conscience, what I ultimately take away from seeing such a window is the anticipation of something delicious to eat.

roasted meats on display

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