Self-study and classroom lessons based on newspaper feature stories

This column is for self-study or classroom use and gives guided help with reading the wide variety of writing styles and topics that appear as feature articles in the Bangkok Post. The lessons include background information, skill-building practice and vocabulary explanations.

April 15, 2003

Eating out — maybe next week

INTRODUCTION

This tasty combination of cashew nuts and green pea curry is just one of the delectable dishes at a new Sri Lankan restaurant in Bangkok.
If you are brave enough to get out of your house during this Songkran holiday, today’s restaurant review might give you an idea of a place to go. However, if, like many of us, you will simply stay home during this wettest of weeks, this is a place you might like to try next week.

The opportunity to experience the food and culture of another country is just one reason for exploring a new eatery, and that’s why our reviewer went. Notice that like all good writers, Pla Muk Yak has linked the opening and closing of his article. He used his curiosity about Sri Lanka to do that.

By the way, do you know where Sri Lanka is? If not, find it in an atlas or use the Internet to find a map and you’ll understand why our reviewer calls it a teardrop of the subcontinent. Do you know that the former name of Sri Lanka is Ceylon?
Making your own choices

There are several other reasons for reading restaurant reviews – as well as the obvious one of finding a new place to eat.

In addition, you can find out what kind of atmosphere there is, so you would know if you wanted to go with your whole family, your football or volleyball team, or for a romantic evening with someone special. A good review can help you decide what is appropriate dress for a visit.

You can also find out the cost – if it is within your weekly budget, or whether you’d have to save up for a month.

Suppose you decide to go this week or next. Who would you like to go with and what kind of occasion would it be? Plan the details of your lunch or dinner here.

Diners:
Time of day:
What you’d probably wear:
How you would get there:
Who would pay (individually, or would you treat)
Explaining the choices

If your dining companions are not familiar with Sri Lankan food, you might have to explain a few dishes to them. Try that here, using the English from the text then explain in Thai — or your first language — as well.

Sri Lankan food in general:
pol sambol:
string hoppers:
pittu:
kalu kukul maluwa
elu mus boreta
maalu ambolthiyal:
Love those food words

Below are some wonderfully descriptive ways used by Pla Muk Yak to describe food. Read the definitions here and find the words in the story to see how they are used there. Then think of other foods you could describe in these ways. Write your chosen foods on the line following each description.

aromatic (having a noticeable and pleasant smell): ……………………………….

indispensable (essential; too important to be without): ……………………………….

fiery (causing a part of your body to feel as if it is burning): …………………………….

devilishly sour (extremely bitter-tasting like a lime or lemon): ………………………….

crispy (easily broken): ……………………………….

exotic (seeming to be exciting because it is connected with a foreign country): ……………………………….

succulent (juicy and good tasting):

jazzy concoction (colourful, attractive and unusual mixture): …………………………….

One final question

Pla Muk Yak is the pseudonym or pen name of one of our Bangkok Post writers. He called his review "The more, the merrier". That is a common expression and often refers to a fun gathering of as many friends as possible. What does it refer to in this review?

OUR REVIEW FROM THE BANGKOK POST

The more, the merrier
Bangkok’s first ever Sri Lankan restaurant serves up pleasant surprises
Pla Muk Yak

Ayubowan's stylish setting is underlined by Ceylonese motifs.

Ayubowan
Sukhumvit Soi 8
Tel 02-253-2757
Open 11am to 3pm and 6pm to midnight

Sri Lanka is a place so close and yet so strangely remote. There’s a long history of how Buddhism has linked Siam and the island nation, bonding the peoples across the Indian Ocean with the same faith. Then, over the years, there have been sporadic reports on the long-running civil war in the northern tip of the island. Apart from that, we know virtually nothing about it. Sri Lanka, a teardrop of the subcontinent, remains a place of uncertainty and elusive charm.

No doubt our knowledge of Sri Lankan cuisine is even more limited. And that prompted us to rush down to Sukhumvit Soi 8 last week when we heard of a new, arguably the first, Sri Lankan restaurant in the capital, which was freshly opened in mid-March. Sampling unknown food is like entering an unknown land — that feeling alone is tempting enough.

Tucked neatly in the soi, Ayubowan is a place of fine dining, an establishment of taste and inspiration. It promises a "Sri Lankan experience" rather than simply Sri Lankan food; set in a spacious house, the restaurant opts for a contemporary decor of beige colour smartly underlined by Ceylon motifs like tribal masks, colourful banners and mural paintings of tea plantations and ancient goddesses. A trio of musicians serenade Singhalese music along with a clear-voiced sitar — they even have a theme song called Welcome to Ayubowan. Huge tapestries of elephants, signifying a major Sri Lankan Buddhist procession, sprawl across one side of the room, displaying an ethnic leitmotif amid the boutique glass partitions.

In all, it’s an urbane Sukhumvit-style dining, a fairly good job done by three Sri Lankan businessmen and their Thai partner. "We’ve been looking for a business venture in Bangkok," says Manju Ariyaratne, "and we believe this is a good opportunity to introduce a genuine Sri Lankan restaurant here." Soon when word spreads, we’ll see if he’s really picked the right time.

My first assumption about Sri Lankan cuisine is that it should bear a resemblance to South Indian food. But I was wrong. Only 22 kilometres of sea separate Ceylon from India, but the difference in eating culture is much further than that. Sri Lankan dishes are generally lighter, more beginner-friendly than India’s, and feature extensive use of coconut and seafood. Aromatic spices are still indispensable, though they’re applied not too aggressively. Roti and nan bread make frequent appearance; rice, too, but it’s cooked and served in quite an unusual way.

We began with chicken salad in mayonnaise and cashew nuts, served in an exquisitely carved pineapple (150 baht), followed by a bowl of cream sweet potato with saffron (80 baht). Light, warm and well-blended, the two appetisers started us up nicely, before the next avalanche of traditional dishes filled us completely in Ceylon delight.

It’s complicated to categorise the various items that came piling in rainbow colours on our table. So basically, we had an array of small side dishes, a few more serving of curries, and an interesting combination of rice, nan bread and traditional Sri Lankan vermicelli called "string hoppers". Feel free to mix and match any of these, that’s the best way to enjoy a meal.

The side dishes (40 to 50 baht each) are made up of chutney and pickles. I particularly like the pol sambol, or grated coconut mixed with chillies, whose fiery taste suits the Thai tongue perfectly. Meanwhile, the all-time favourite like mango chutney is devilishly sour, thick, and superb with a chunk of pol roti, which is made from flour and coconut, and a crispy sheet of papadam. Other tempting names on the menu include lime pickle and fried dried fish — it’s truly a case of the more the merrier.

A bowl of yellow dal (100 baht), a typical South Indian curry, rendered a new sensation as we had it with string hoppers (50 baht) — to get a picture, it’s a Sri Lankan version of khanom jeen, with finer threads to boot. Another variation of hoppers is a breakfast favourite called egg hoppers, with batter fried in a pan to get a bowl-like shape and egg yolk in the middle.

But a real exotic feeling came with pittu (50 baht), a mixed scoop of rice flour and grated coconut served with a separate cup of coconut milk. To eat it you have to pour the milk onto the brownish scoop, then have it with the pol sambol, dal, or other curries. We recommend the kalu kukul maluwa, spicy chicken with black curry (180 baht) and elu mus boreta, mutton curry cooked with yogurt (250 baht). While the former was a jazzy concoction of aromatic spices, the latter had its whole merit on the succulent, smell-free mutton.

For an island touch, we tried two fish dishes, the maalu ambolthiyal, or fish baked with spices (195 baht) and maalu kirata, fish with red hot curry (195 baht). What I actually liked better was the simple, hearty dish of fried beef with onions and chillies (180 baht), which went well with the coconut rice.

Of course, we proceeded to wash it all down with a cup of Ceylon tea, together with an assortment of sweet meats in bright candy colours.

The trio of Ayubowan were still crooning out crystal melodies, and although one delightful meal wouldn’t really help us understand everything about Sri Lanka, we now knew that there’s another good reason to think of the richness of that so-close-yet-so-remote island.

SOME VOCABULARY HELP

bonding
the process of forming a special relationship with someone

sporadic
happening only occasionally or irregularly

virtually
almost

elusive
difficult to find, define, or achieve

prompt
to make or cause something to happen

arguably
probably

taste
the ability to recognise quality

opt for
choose

contemporary
belonging to the present time

motif
a design or a pattern used as a decoration

sitar
an musical instrument like a guitar, with a long neck and two sets of metal strings

tapestry
a heavy fabric with a picture or pattern woven into it

leitmotif
a repeating pattern

urbane
relaxed but sophisticated

assumption
a belief or feeling that something is true without knowing for sure

aggressively
strongly; boldly

roti, nan and papadam
flat fried breads that are dry, soft, and crispy, respectively

avalanche
a large amount of something arriving all at once

vermicelli
thin noodles

chutney
a thick spicy sauce made from fruit and sugar

dal
a curry made with lentils (small, dried seeds)

rendered
caused

to boot
an added plus

sweet meats
any foods preserved in sugar

croon
to sing quietly and gently

•This lesson was prepared by Maureen Paetkau, a professional teacher of English as a second and foreign language and Assistant Manager and Webmaster for Learning Post at the Bangkok Post.

Read our other feature focus columns here.

Return to our home page.

| Comments to Maureen at