Hua Pla, Chongnonsea, Thailand (Day 1)

Thai Airways is one of my favourite airline at all time, not only it is a direct flight straight from Sydney to Bangkok but also their friendly services, reliable and the most importantly the meal on board is yummy too (so far!!!).

BBQ pork (Moo Deang) with Hokkien noodle, crab meat salad and carrot cake

This dish wasn't actually on the menu.  At first, we wanted something else from the menu given (can't remember what it was now) but they ran out of it so they offered us with this BBQ Pork dish or another one (Lamb dish) which wasn't in the menu as well, weird but not complaining!!!  Hehehe..  Anyway, the dish turned out to be the best airline's meal I ever had.  Generous amount of chunky BBQ pork given, very flavouresome and loaded with sauce that also comes with Hokkien noodles and steamed vegetables with a hint of chilli that's totally awesome.  On the side, they got this warm bread roll, crab salad, cracker and cheese and our dessert of the day is a heavenly tiny piece of moist carrot cake.

In that nine hours of flight, I managed to watch only one movie and two of the TV show.  I didn't wanna do a marathon movie as I did last time, cos I got a terrible headache right after.  Spending time relaxing and napping was actually pretty good and time just fly.  Not long after that, our second meal just arriving in the corner.


Stir-fried Shanghai Noodles with Prawn and Tofu Vegetables, Fresh Fruits, and Wattle Seed Cookies

This time we got the prawns with dried noodle but it wasn't as good as what we had earlier, but still 5 pieces of big tasteful King prawns was all I need and accompanying with fresh fruits and a packet of yummy Anzac biscuits.



I really can't wait to dig in to my favourite Thai food  in their home soil as much as my stomach can handle.  As soon as we landed in the Suvarnabhumi Airport, we took our huge luggages, then quickly bounced to my hubby's home town and have dinner in one of the famous Thai restaurant that his family often go.  My apologise... of course it's Thai food what else can it be??  But what I mean here is for Thai food lover, you can't top that feeling of authentic and the original exotic flavour that this country has to offer.


ร้านหัวปลาช่องนนทรี
Huapla Chongnonsea Restaurant
http://www.huaplachongnonsea.com/ (in Thai language)
127/45 Pharam 3 Road
Chong Nonsea, Bangkok 10120
Ph: +66-2-294-4963, +66-2-294-4960


Drinks Trolley

It is quite common that in many big restaurants in Thailand will have this drinks trolley parked right next to your table complete with ice bucket and whatever drinks that you order.  The waiters will normally serve the drinks for you but also if you want to help yourself, it's there for you to grab.


Moo Satay (Pork satay) with condiments

Me personally don't really like this famous entree dish of Thai people because of those overpowering cumin and turmeric spices that they use as they tried to achieve the yellowish colour for the right Moo Satay.  I prefer the Moo Ping which also grilled on the skewers but with much simpler marinated sauce and they have lots of those yummy fatty part, mostly in every single skewer at least they have a piece or two of it.  So, bad luck for people who don't like those luscious oily and pork fatty.  Hopefully, in my trip this time I will have a chance to eat those delicious Moo Ping so I can show you what it looks like.


Or Suan (Fried Oyster Omelette)

Or Suan is basically a Chinese-influenced omelette dish with stir fried oysters in a batter.  It is a simple dish but absolutely delicious and goes well with Sri Racha chilli sauce.



Deep Fried Platter (fish cakes, fried tofu, fried taro with meat and crab cakes)



Tod Mun Goong (Thai shrimp cakes)

I prefer this shrimp cake much much better than the original Thai fish cake.  Heaps of shrimp flavour in this tiny little pieces with the crunchy bits on the outside and served with sweet plum dipping sauce.



Kor Moo Yang (Grilled Pork Neck)

Geezz...  my mouth watering just by looking at this picture.  Those grilled pork was totally fabulous, succulent, full of flavours with a little bit of slightly burns edge that's what I am aiming for.  A great balance of flavours Nam Jim served on the side as well to achieve a perfect dish.  Warning for those who in to healthy food!!!  Cholesterol free dish  NOT!!!!


Tom Yum Goong Maphrao

The traditional Tom Yum Goong is served in the hot pot style serving bowl.  Tom Yum Goong Maphrao is exactly the same with the normal Tom Yum soup but with extra coconut flesh, to add the texture and genuine sweetness to the soup.

And let me tell you guys, those prawns were extremely huge and still fresh and RAW when they arrived on our table then we just need to chuck them in to the pot and let it simmer for few seconds.  Then voilà...  Tom Yum soup is ready to be enjoyed with those incredibly fresh and juicy prawn.  But I better be quick cos it's only 5 pieces of them while seven of hungry mouths were starring at it.



Yam Pla Duk Foo (Cat Fish Salad)

Crispy fish crumbs that served with some nuts, fried onions and dried chilli.  It's not Thai salad if there is no combination flavour of sour, salty, sweet and spicy that's why to balanced them off we need this genius sauce.  You can pour it all over the crumbs in one go so they can absorb those great flavours but on the other hand it will make them soaky if not eaten straight away.  Here, in the home land of Yam Pla Duk Foo, I found that the sauce is more thicker in texture and sweeter and spicier as well and they never been served without their favourite fella, young green mangoes.

The food costs roughly about ฿80-฿300 per dish.  The total damage for tonight is only ฿1250 ($39) for 7 of us.  Pretty good, isn't???


Keep on reading for the next blog in Thailand:
http://octieappetie.blogspot.com.au/2012/04/childrens-day-and-mont-nom-sod-mbk.html