Friday October 14, 2005

A taste of true Thai cuisine

By AJA NG

IF you have an intense craving for Phad Thai especially after being captivated by this dish during a visit to our neighbouring country, then fret no more for it is finally available in Penang.

While Siam Express in Gurney Plaza isn’t a rustic beach hut boasting a sizzling hot wok on Patong Beach, one taste of the Phad Thai noodles will take you back to heady evenings after the sun ‘n’ surf and late night suppers in Phuket.

For those who haven’t tried it, Phad Thai is to the Thais what char koay teow is to Penangites.

The noodles are smooth and springy, slightly thicker than our local koay teow. It is stirfried in peanut oil with a dash of fish sauce, tamarind, chilli paste, sliced tofu and succulent shrimp all wrapped in a thin omelette. Fresh bean sprouts, spring onions, crushed roasted peanuts and chilli flakes garnish the top, accompanied by a wedge of lime.

Siam Express offers a true taste of Thailand.

Some diners more used to Malay-sianised Thai cuisine will find the food here slightly different while others will appreciate the unadulterated dishes.

Phad Thai is a noodle dish popular among the Thais.

Penangite Patt Khor and his wife Wisakha, who own Siam Express, previously operated an upmarket restaurant, The Matahari, in Phuket.

“With Siam Express, I want to serve the sort of food from back home that my sisters and I craved most while we are abroad,” says Wisakha.

And that’s exactly the sort of food they serve. The tom yam noodles taste the way they do on a Bangkok sidewalk, brimming with seafood, served in a light, lemongrass scented broth; the only thing missing is the sound of the traffic and the smog. You will find that the tom yam isn’t the clear version that we are used to, as this one has a dash of milk but is nevertheless, delicious.

Our appetizer is a combo platter of spring rolls, seafood cakes and pandan chicken. The spring rolls are crisp, non-oily and filled with a toothsome stack of julienne vegetables, while the seafood cakes feature a fresh prawn and fish paste, plus a pinch of kerisik, deepfried to perfection. Once you are done freeing the chicken of its pandan wrapper, you will find it succulent and aromatic.

For a light but authentic starter, the mango salad with fresh shrimp is simply a stunner. This dish displays how adept the Thais are at marrying such simple flavours to create a mouth-watering balance, a skill demonstrated throughout Thai cuisine. Shreds of fresh, unripe mango are dressed with lime juice, fish sauce, bird’s eye chillies and ground peanuts and then tossed with shrimp to offer an invigorating jumpstart to the meal.

Another specialty, which Wisakha says is the ‘chicken rice’ of Thailand, is the fried chicken with hot basil leaves. Served with steamed rice, it is topped with the most perfect looking sunnyside up egg.

Meals here are not only a treat for the tastebuds but are aesthetically pleasing as well. Great care is put into the garnishing and decoration of each platter.

Dessert arrives in the form of mango and sticky rice pudding and tub tim krob, probably two of the most famous Thai desserts. The latter contains tiny ‘rubies’ of crunchy water chestnuts and slivers of jackfruit swimming in a chilled, sweetened broth of coconut milk. The mango and sticky rice was an ambrosial play on the palate, sweet ripeness of the mango countered with rich creamy rice.

Three words describe the couple and their restaurant: Dedication to quality.

They personally import their noodles and other ingredients from Thailand, even the basil is sourced from there.

Customers would be well entertained by the amusing and enlightening blurbs on the posters at the restaurant entrance and on their fliers illustrating the ‘me-dical properties of Thai cuisine’ and ‘be-neficial herbs of tom yam’.

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