Thai cuisine: Chote Chitr in Bangkok

April 5, 2009

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We were nine all together, one Thai, one Burmese, three Germans and three Australians plus myself. A famous Thai restaurant was our object of desire. We assembled at pier N 9 at the Bangkok Chao Phraya river, jumped into two taxis and drove to the area near the Grand Palace. Here, in a little side street called Phraeng Phuton you will find “Chote Chitre”, a family restaurant of the highest order.

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The entrance to the living-room restaurant

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The menu

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The gods were with us

The owner of the place is Mrs. Krachoichuli Kimangsawat, or Tiem as she is called. Ms Krachoichuli inherited her restaurant from her grandparents whose pictures are stuck to the wall. It’s about 100 years old. Khun Tiem learned her trade from her mother and grandmother. The restaurant is open from 11:00 AM to 11:00 PM, six days a week.

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Restaurant’s reviews on the wall

The family style cooking produces the most amazing results. All the dishes we ordered were just delectable, delicious, just great food. Awesome. Below you’ll find some of the dishes we had ordered.

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Fish and green mango salad

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The signature dish: Banana flowers in coconut sauce

We had also some pork but I failed to get a picture. There was no wine but Singha beer. I was told that one can bring wine from home. I might do this the next time (maybe a Spaetlese Riesling).

Table loaded with delicious and magnificent Thai food.
Before

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and after

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My recommendation: Chote Chitr is a must; I would award it all the stars I can think of. We had such a jolly good time and a great feast.

After dinner we wandered the streets around the restaurant. On some of the many food stalls my friend Bjoern bought some sweets for dessert. We passed by a Chinese temple and I heard singing and music from the door. I could not resist and checked it out. There was a fully fledged Chinese opera performance going on. Mostly older folks were sitting on plastic chairs. The actors were in colourful costumes and sang in a southern Chinese tongue, if I am not mistaken. How wonderful. I love Beijing opera. I was reminded of our times in China in the early nineties and the great time we had there. We watched for a while. What a wonderful end to a great evening.

Address:
Chote Chitr
146 Soi Phraeng Pu Thorn, Thanon Tanao Rd.,
Bangkok, Thailand
Monday to Saturday, 11 am to 11 pm
Telephone: +66-2-221-4082
(Not far from the Grand Palace and the Democracy Monument)

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Lazy Saturday in Bangkok

April 4, 2009

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My blue water lily

This is the first weekend in a month that I have for the family. It’s already April, 25% of 2009 are over. We took it easy. Breakfast on the terrace, some exercise, some gardening (after last nights thunderstorm), and listening to many stories the girls had to share with me; that was the morning.

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Last night’s thunderstorm played havoc with my pots

For lunch we went to a small restaurant in our neighbourhood. The Thai food was delicious. We enjoyed the food with Singha beer. It is so nice to wander the small streets in our part of Thonglor. We passed by the many little shops, the eating places on the street, our little mosque, taxis waiting for customers and the tuck tucks or motorcycle rickshaws.

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Thonglor footpath

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Four in a restaurant

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A selection of delicious Thai salads

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Eat, ate, eaten

I will introduce you to this restaurant at another time.

In the afternoon we watched “Sita sings the Blues”, a most wonderful little film.

Enjoy what is left of your Saturday!

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Fine dining in Bangkok: Thai cuisine at Patara Restaurant

March 9, 2009

On the 8th of March 21 years ago, I entered an Italian language class and sat next to a blonde girl from Australia. In the morning of the same day, my boss, Luciano Montesi, had send me out to buy flowers for all the women working in our service. This is how I learned about world women’s day.

It was a glorious day in Rome and I was glad that my friend Jim had taken me to his language class. What I did not know at the time was that I would marry that blonde Australian two years later.

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Today, we felt like celebrating this first encounter and decided to go out for lunch. We called the Patara Restaurant which is only one Soi away from us in Thonglor, Bangkok, and they sent their tuck-tuck to pick us up at 13:20 h. All four of us like Thai food, so the choice of Patara came very natural.

Patara is located in Thonglor, Soi 19. The building used to be a private residence in a single house with a large garden, I guess. Inside you’ll find an elegant Thai restaurant, just the right place for such a celebration as ours was.

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The interior of Patara

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The decoration is very tasteful

We ordered two starter platters, a selection of various small Thai dishes and the three dumpling assortment. Don’t get fooled by the colours. The dumplings are most delicious.

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This was the first starter platter

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Three kinds of Thai dumplings

Then we ordered the main dishes, among them a tofu in red curry, a green chicken curry, an oxtail red curry, some green vegetables and some rice (which came in four colours, unfortunately my photo of the rice was blurred). All of us like spicy food, therefore we just followed our instincts when ordering.

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The main dishes

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Green chicken curry

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The ossobucco-type dish

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Green veggies

The food was so wonderful, so perfect, so delicious; our taste buds went from one sensation to the next. This is Thai food at its best, wow. I could not believe it. Margit and the kids had visited Patara earlier but for me it was the maiden visit. This was the best Thai food in ages.

What about the wine? Food and wine pairings in Asia are at times a challenge. Patara has a well assorted wine list. Since the first encounter had taken place in Italy, I choose an Italian wine. The ‘2005 Campogrande Orvieto DOC Classico Superiore’ by Antinori seemd to be just the right choice.

First, many times we had stopped in Orvieto when returning to Rome from Umbria so that a lot of happy memories are tied up with Orvieto Classico wines. Second, just a day earlier we had this wonderful ‘2005 Antinori Tignanello’, so I thought why not stay with the same producer.

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Wine is expensive in Thailand. The bottle was under 2000 Bath, not bad for a restaurant offer. I know that this wine retails for about US$ 10-12 in other parts of the world. The wine has a pale straw colour. It is elegant and fresh. The wine has a good structure and a very pleasant palate of tropical fruit.

As typical for Orvieto Classico, the wine is a Trebbiano blend. Varieties include Procanico, Grechetto, Verdelho, Drupeggio, Malvasia and – surprise surprise – Chardonnay (15 %!). Antinori went up to the maximum allowed as regards Grechetto (27%). With the exception of Verdelho and Chardonnay, I have never tasted any of the individual varieties included in this blend as single wines.

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Cheers

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Happy children

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After lunch the children entertained themselves in the garden.

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These are the ingredients for Irish coffee. It’s worth to order it. It’s freshly made at the table, a spectacular show, truly amazing.

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The finished product: Irish coffee

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Before we got on the tuck-tuck again, we were served refreshing towels. What a wonderful celebration this family meal was, a delight for the palate, a pleasure for the eyes. The staff at Patara is incredibly professional, very friendly and extremely helpful.

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Happy diners

If you want to experience something special and you have the chance to drop in a Patara Restaurant, please do so. I highly recommend it. And if you are in Bangkok, the choice is clear: visit Patara, its’ worth it.

Address:
Patara Fine Thai Cuisine
375 Soi Thonglor 19 Sukhumvit 55, Klongtonnua Vadhana,
Bangkok 10110.
Tel. 0-2185 2960-1 Fax. 0-2185 2962

PS: Patara restaurants can also be found in Singapore, Taipei, London and Geneva.

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Finally a wine fridge

February 27, 2009

After so many years living in the tropics we finally decided to buy a wine fridge. Storing fine wine in a tropical climate is just no fun. In Jakarta we had a larder which was permanently air-conditioned. Wine would keep for some time but it was stored their with all the other food items a family of four needs.

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Isn’t it a nice piece of furniture?

We bought only a small wine fridge here in Bangkok. Our kitchen is small and we did not want it to be too big. Anyway, strangely enough wine does not keep in our family. The fridge holds about 30 bottles which is usually sufficient. No cellaring folks.

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Treasures, somehow

You might want to know what wine I store in this fridge. Well, some bottles of our house wine (Bushman’s Gully), some bottles of Thai wine (Gran Monte), some “rarities” given to me by friends (wines from China, Myanmar) and one lonely bottle of Saar Riesling (Van Volxem) for a Sunday treat.

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The Poet’s Birthday – Burn’s Supper in Bangkok

January 26, 2009

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Robert Burns, the portrait at the entrance of the hall

About 100 diners, mostly Scots and their friends, had gathered in the Amari Watergate Hotel in Bangkok to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns, Scotlands national bard and its most famous poet. Every year thousands of Scots people worldwide celebrate the life of this great man. This year’s 250th celebration was of course very special.

That was also true in Thailand. The Bangkok St. Andrew’s Society and its chieftain, John McTaggert, had invited to an evening of celebration, and a celebration it was. Our friend Rab Thomas had gathered a group of friends and we were the lucky ones to join in.

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“250 years in ice”

The members of the Bangkok St. Andrew’s Society had ample opportunity to show their talents. At past Burn’s Suppers in Jakarta, a Robert Burns impersonator was invited. Though his presentation of the poems and hymns was very professional, it somehow deterred the members of the local society to take the recitations on to themselves.

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Mike Brooks did the piping

There is obviously no shortage of talent in Bangkok. The Selkirk Grace was spoken by Willie Christie. When the haggis was presented and stirred, Mike Brooks spoke the address to the haggis. Duncan Niven gave ‘the Immortal Memory’, John McTaggert the ‘toast to the Lassies’, and Louise Blackwood ‘the Lassies Response’. All the speeches were presented in a very witty, pithy, funny, sardonic and enthusiastic way. It was such a pleasure to listen to them.

Also the haggis with tatties and neeps was very good. I enjoyed again the wonderful Scottish cheeses. The wine came from Australia and was quite decent. It belonged to the, what I call, “industrial wine” category. There is no harm in drinking it, just the brand name never sticks.

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After dinner we went all outside to bid farewell to the British Ambassador, made a circle, held hands and sang together “Auld Lang Syne” („old long since“). I recognized the song immediately, because its German version (“Nehmt Abschied Brueder”/ farewell brothers) is very well known in my native lands.

I vividly remember when as a boy I first heard the song from our kitchen window. A group of pilgrims had gathered in front of our house in a circle and sang “farewell brothers”, before boarding their buses to take them home.

When we held hands in Bangkok and sang Burn’s song, the magic also worked on us. It is a powerful song, even in German, though the German text is quite different from the English or the Scottish version. What I did not know is that the song was written by Robert Burns. In life learning never ends.

When Robert Burns died at the tender age of 37 in 1796 he left behind 13 children from 5 women. That’s quite an achievement. Obviously Burns loved women and ‘love’ was one of his favourite themes. This is why I present to you Eddie Reader and her version of “My love is like a red red rose”.

Cheers to Robert Burns. See you next year at the Burn’s Supper.

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Scottish Delight: St. Andrews Ball 2008, Bangkok

December 13, 2008

Our first social function here in Bangkok was the attendance of the St. Andrews ball in the Amari Watergate Hotel on Saturday 22th November. Wherever we live in Asia, we join the Scottish St. Andrews and the Irish St. Patrick’s Society. The Bangkok St. Andrews Society was established in 1890 by a small group of expatriate Scots to celebrate among others Scottish culture.

A special reunion awaited us in Bangkok, a reunion we were ardently looking forward to. Our good old friend Rab Thomas whom we met many years ago in Jakarta has settled down in Thailand. It was a tremendous pleasure to meet him again. The ball was the right occasion for this reunion.

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Rab Thomas and his partner Basha

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One of the Pipe bands

It was a lovely evening. About 280 people sat around large tables with delicious food. Entertained by pipe bands, dance performances and so on, we made new friends. At our table there were quite a few Thailand veterans. To listen to their stories was very informative and entertaining, especially for newcomers to Bangkok like us.

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A traditional Haggis dish entree

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The main course

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Also Scotsmen have a sweet tooth

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The surprise of the evening: Scottish cheeses

Have you ever heard about Scottish cheeses? Do the names ‘Loch Arthur’, ‘Howgate’, ‘Dunlope’ or ‘Strathkinnes’ ring a bell? Well, then you should rush to get to know them; there is not only whisky in Scotland (by the way “Famous Grouse” was served in lavish quantities). Scottish cheeses are the world’s best kept secret, I would say. Each of them was wonderful and deserved a special mention.

On www.taste-of-scotland.com the above cheeses are describes as follows:

Loch Arthur: traditional farmhouse organic cheddar from Loch Arthur near Dumfries.

Howgate: Established artisan farmhouse cheesemaker, originally from Howgate near Edinburgh, now in Dundee, pioneered the making in Scotland of continental cheeses including Howgate Brie, Camembert and Pentland. Other cheeses include St Andrews, Bishop Kennedy, Strathkinness and Howgate Highland Cream Cheese.

Dunlop: resembles Scottish cheddar with soft texture. Mostly creamery-made in blocks on Arran and Islay but also traditionally in Ayrshire (Burns), near Dumfries and at Perth (Gowrie).

Strathkinness: award winning Scottish version of Gruyere, nearly 50 gallons of milk goes into a cheese! Matured 6-12 months. Limited availability.

These four cheeses are only a select few; there are many more to explore. Please visit the above webpage for more information including sources where you can oder them.

PS 1: Needless to say that the evening ended in wonderful harmony. We went home utterly satisfied. We will definetely come back next year.

PS 2: Wines were also served of course but it was a mass produced wine not worth mentioning.

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A secret revealed: So sorry!

December 2, 2008

I am so sorry, honestly. But the day we moved into our new apartment in Thonglor, Bangkok, our local supermarket promoted German food items and other German products (what an auspicious day!).

So I had to disappoint my friend Thomas (also a man from the Mosel) who suggested a very fine sparkling wine for the “move-in event”. I am not so sure what exactly he suggested in terms of sparkling that I should have gotten.

But instead, we only had something “ordinary”, I guess that’s what you would call it, a ‘Fuerst von Metternich’, a German Sekt, as sparkling is called in my native land.

Needless to say, we were very enthusiastic when we finally moved into our new apartment which is destined to become our new home for some years to come.

Thomas rest assured we had a great time.

Hurrah we have a new home and we feel very comfortable there.

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PS: Given the current political turmoil in Bangkok, I am not so sure how long we will enjoy our new home. Fingers crossed.

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Out into the cold into another kind of warmth

December 1, 2008

I safely made it. I took the bus from “occupied” Bangkok to Phuket, a ten hours drive south, and got on to the plane which would carry me out of Thailand to my native land: Germany. It was not for pleasure, business dragged me back to Berlin where an important meeting waited for me which I had to attend to.

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The flight to freedom from Phuket Airport

There was only one seat left on the LTU-Air Berlin flight to Munich. I did not feel too comfortable among the lucky tourists who got out of Thailand without being stuck like the other 100,000 fellow tourists. My main question was: Will my family be safe? Will I get back? The future will tell.

Twelve hours later, we landed in Munich. From the air, the southern German landscape looked like a magic land, covered in beautiful white snow, it promised cold but also the warmth of fire places with a good glass of wine in hands. Unfortunately, I did not have my camera at hand to take a picture of the land under the snow cover. The scent of Christmas was in the air. The scent of family reunions and joyous celebrations.

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Since I had about 5 hours until my connecting flight to Berlin would leave, I went straight into an airport restaurant and ordered a knuckle of pork and a Bavarian “wheat” beer (Weizenbier). The Christmas decoration reminded me of the coming festive season.

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I was ready for adventure, bought the latest issue of “Weinwelt”, a German wine magazine, and dreamt about the many wines I would taste in the days to come.

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No light at the moment, only tunnel

November 12, 2008

Most of my recent posts I had already prepared in July-August during my holidays. They just needed ‘the finishing touch’, so to speak. I have reached the bottom of the well, it seems.

My new job is so demanding that very little time is left for my passion: wine and blogging. Also the move from Jakarta to Bangkok, the search for a place to live, the arrival of our goods, and the endless tedious bureaucratic tasks from getting a phone line, an internet connection to opening a bank account, etc. have all taken its toll.

My travel schedule and the places I am going to visit in the next few weeks are also not conducive to writing about wine. Alas, there is the Christmas break, as almost always on the vineyard in Glenburn.

Bear with me. I will become more active again. Somehow, sometime.
Because there must be light.
It’s the nature of tunnels to end in light, isn’t it?

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Life in the City – Bangkok

October 5, 2008

Well, it’s a month now that the family has been living in Bangkok. From a spacious house with a grand garden (I had one rose apple, two mango and five rambutan trees) in suburban Jakarta into a serviced apartment on the 11th floor in Bangkok, that’s quite a change.

The view from Centre Point Thong Lo in the evening

Both cities are mega cities in Asia with millions of inhabitants, and in fact we lived most of our 20 years in Asia in these kinds of cities (Beijing, New Delhi were the others, the only exception was maybe Singapore which was small in comparison, with only 3.5 million inhabitants). But in Jakarta we lived as if we were in one of the millions of villages on Java island, with roosters crowing in the mornings, goats bleating, a motorcycle passing, the call of the chatib from the local mosque, these were the sounds we were used to. The garden was green, which had a calming down effect on me. My tropical garden was where I could forget where I was.

Much less traffic in the morning

Without the double glazing here on the 11th floor, we would be engulfed in motorcar noise. Thong Lo is the name of the neighbourhood and it’s a lovely place with many small shops and restaurants. Most of the people living here seem to be Thai, interspersed with the odd foreigner here and there. There a quite a few wine shops and wine bars in the vicinity. I will have to explore them and report to you. Soon you will hear more about fine wines in Bangkok.

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