EATING OUT
Despite its discreet appearance, Yaowarat eatery beckons visitors from Mainland China
UNG-AANG TALAY
It would take real determination and a lot of exploring to obtain a truly bad meal at Bangkok's Chinatown (Yaowarat). Even the street stalls and pushcarts offer food that Ung-aang Talay would cross town to get hold of in New York, and the overall quality level is so high that Darwinian mechanisms would make short work of any kitchen that was caught serving a suspect noodle or less-than-perfect grilled crab.
Still, there are some places that stand out even in this fertile (if noisy and hectic) culinary environment. One thinks of a certain Nobel Prize calibre ba-mee luuk chin pla (and home-made durian ice cream) shop on Ratchawong Road and an incomparable khao tom pla restaurant on Soi Bamrungrat, both of which shall remain nameless here to encourage interested readers who don't recognise the references to get out and do a little sniffing around.
 |
| Delicious grilled duck. |
 |
| Phat ngo kuay, a stir-fried dish with gingko seeds. |
 |
| Deep-fried minced shrimp mixture. |
 |
| Stir-fried egg noodles with crabmeat. |
Moving up to larger restaurants, a prime contender for the top of the list is the Hua Seng Hong restaurant. Most readers who are familiar with the Yaowarat dining scene will not need U-a T to tell them about this restaurant, and its reputation extends far beyond Thailand's borders. High-level state visitors from China are often taken there, and on any given day many of its customers will be Chinese visitors from nearby countries eating with happy enthusiasm.
By happy chance, U-a T and a friend who were watch-shopping only a block or so away from Hua Seng Hong when galvanising pangs of hunger struck one recent afternoon. A flash decision was made to visit the place for a late lunch.
Anyone conditioned to Sukhumvit-style theme-decorated restaurants would probably walk right past Hua Seng Hong without noticing it, but there is something about its crowded glass cases full of grilled ducks, politically incorrect shark's fins, and much more that hijacks the alert, food-savvy eye. The obvious succulence of the ducks, the bowls of plump, shrimp-stuffed kieo, and the fresh, home-made ba-mee on display are very seductive.
We stepped into the rather dark, low-ceilinged ground floor dining room (there are others upstairs), took seats, and were quickly presented with large, illustrated menus with listings in English, Thai and Chinese. U-a T dispatched the waitress for servings of pet yang (grilled duck), phat ngo kuay (a stir-fry dish with gingko seeds), phak boong fai daeng (morning glory stir-fried with garlic, chillies and seasonings), ba-mee phat puu (noodles stir-fried with crab meat), and hae kuen thawt (fried morsels made from a minced shrimp mixture wrapped in tofu paper and deep-fried).
The grilled duck is one of Hua Seng Hong's signature dishes. Scanning the room, we noticed that there was a serving of it on almost every table. The birds are carefully grilled to remove the excess fat while leaving the meat tender, juicy, and free from the gamey smell that often sabotages this dish. But the things that makes it really distinctive is the sauce used to flavour the duck as it cooks. Sweetness and saltiness are perfectly balanced, and accented with the fragrance of the sliced spring onions cooked into it. Doused with a splash of the soy-based dipping sauce that accompanies it, the duck fully justifies its popularity.
U-a T has often wondered what it is about gingko nuts that makes them so highly prized by Chinese chefs. They seem to probe the far limits of blandness, and their chewy texture is also unremarkable (at least that of the tinned version usually served here in Bangkok). That said, phat ngo kuay, a stir-fry that Hua Seng Hong prepares using them, is so full of diverse ingredients that harmonise interestingly that it is eminently recommendable.
Crunchy cashews, chillies cooked until they are mild and sweet, water chestnuts, segments of crisp spring onion, chicken meat, chewy dried put-saa fruit, shiitake mushrooms, cubes of a pork product that tastes suspiciously like Spam, and the gingko nuts all convene in a salty, mildly sweet sauce. Every mouthful brings a different combination of tastes and textures.
U-a T's ideal version of the dish would be slightly less greasy, but other than that, nothing would change. Chew carefully, though, because some of the put-saa pieces conceal hard seeds. Hua Seng Hong serves the phat ngo kuay in an edible basked made from crisp-fried taro, garnished with flash-fried celery leaves.
 |
| The busy Hua Seng Hong restaurant at lunchtime. — ANUSORN SAKSEREE |
Phak boong fai daeng is a simple standard that all too often goes wrong. A few seconds too long in the wok and the stems lose their texture and the leaves become soggy. If the phak boong in the serving presented to us had stayed on the fire a heartbeat longer, it would probably have met such a fate. Fortunately, it had been rescued in the nick of time and the slightly limp texture of the vegetable was more than offset by the chef's deliciously aggressive way with garlic and chilli. The dish was considerably hotter and more aromatic than usual - all to the good, as far as U-a T is concerned, and the stems retained enough of their crunch to make it a success.
Hua Seng Hong's ba-mee, or wheat noodle dishes are as famous as its grilled duck. The ba-mee with red pork and shrimp wontons are in themselves a valid reason to fight the traffic from midtown to Yaowarat. But on this visit, U-a T opted to have the noodles fried with crabmeat.
The noodles were extremely fresh and tender, with none of the urea odour that sometimes emanates from them even in the classiest restaurants if they have been left standing for too long. They had been fried with pieces of cabbage, wood ear mushrooms, egg, unnecessary shreds of that repugnant vegetable, the carrot, and chunks of fresh crabmeat. This is not a dish that reaches for the heights, but it stands or falls on the quality of the noodles, which were as good as U-a T has been served anywhere.
The fried hae kuen were so fresh and hot from the fryer that U-a T's first bite of one of them came close to putting paid to any ability to taste anything for the next week. Once they had cooled down, it was possible to discern they were luxury versions of this Chinese restaurant standard. They contained small, whole, fresh shrimp, appealingly firm and crunchy, instead of the usual pasty, pounded mixture and were fried to a golden crispness. A spoonful of the accompanying, sweet dipping sauce brought them into full focus.
Although the restaurant was as active and busy as a Hong Kong restaurant at noon time, service was quick, polite and friendly, part of a generally jovial atmosphere that made the meal especially enjoyable. A Chinatown landmark you should visit again if you haven't been there for a while.
Hua Seng Hong Restaurant
371-373 Yaowarat Road
Tel 02-222-0635, 02-222-7053
Open: Daily, 9am-1am
Prices: Mid-range. Two can dine for well under 1,000 baht if they avoid expensive items like shark's fin, abalone or bird's nest dishes.
Parking: Where you can find it
Credit card: Not accepted
Prev
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
Next
