TheKua Does Food

On the very first night I got to Bangkok, I knew that I had to stay up as late as possible to beat the jetlag you get from travelling eastward. Fortunately Bangkok has plenty of things to do at night time, including their famous Suan Lum Night Market. I was staying very close to the Asoke BTS and it was ridiculously easy to get the night markets, catching an underground metro where you get off at Lumphini where the markets sit pretty much right outside.

Unlike many other outdoor markets, these ones tend to centre around a number of buildings that don’t move, instead roller doors opening to reveal most of the contents of each of the market stalls. On one side of the market (I discovered much later) they have an open seating food court-like dining plaza where you “buy” food currency and exchange them for the food items with the ability of refunding any food currency you don’t use. It’s a practical way of ensuring the money is collected centrally and you still get some variety.

Ending up much hungrier, I ended up at a food stall that was on the other side of the market – the cafe was also open air and noticed a mix of tourists and locals eating here. I don’t actually remember catching the name of the place but it’s directly opposite the restaurant hosting the puppet theatre show. They did have menus in English although I already knew what I wanted – the famous Pad Kee Mao (Drunken Noodle). The waiter asked me if it’s okay hot, and I instantly replied – of course.

I also ordered a large Chang beer because it seemed to be the local beer of choice and it was ridiculously hot and steamy I thought would make a good accompaniment for the noodle dish. I also got to choose the type of noodle (flat rice noodle vs egg noodle) and the type of meat. It wasn’t long before the dish arrived. As you can see above it was full of fresh Thai basil, loads of chilli and fresh peppercorns. It also definitely packed a lot of heat with the first mouthful turning on an instant fire. Deliciously spicy but not uncomfortably so.

The best part about it was that I spent about THB140 for the entire meal – not even GBP3.

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Hao Zhan has been on the list for some time, although has been on the “special occasion” list since prices are much higher than your ordinary Chinese restaurant. Fortunately, I found out this restaurant is bookable using the Taste London card, where you can order 2-4-1 on dishes, making it a much more reasonably priced meal after all. Hao Zhan distinguishes itself from other places in Chinatown, taking a more modern and upscale theme on Chinese food. They offer a huge mixture of various cuisines even with dish like Marmite Prawns (didn’t oblige them on them on this one).

Tables for two are packed tightly next to each other, obvious that they are better suited for four people at a time if you want a bit more privacy. However the restaurant is brightly lit, and its black lacquered tables and almost-neon jade green sign (not as cheesy as you would think) definitely makes it stand out from its neighbours.

Here are all the dishes that we tried:

Jasmine Ribs – Amazingly tender with plenty of flavour, these ribs were a perfect way to kick start the meal. Its meat, slightly sweet and lusciously smoked, more importantly pretty much fall of the rib style. Accompanied by a bowl with a lemon wedge and wet towels for additional cleaning power.

Chilli Quail – We shared this as part of our appetiser, including small fried quails legs and wings covered in a chilli salt mix with fried onions. Flavoursome without being overtly salty. The spice was enough to give it gentle heat and add to the flavour without being overwhelming.

Assam Prawns – A strong, flavourful curry concentrated into a rendang-like paste covering prawns and served in a crusty bread bowl. The prawns were massive – much bigger than any king prawn that I’d seen and still flavoursome to boot. The curry paste was a touch salty, concentrated down and then absorbed into the crusty loaf but when eaten with the loaf was a lot more balanced.

Seafood fried rice – This seafood fried rice packed lots of flavour and would have been perfect as a dish on its own. This fried rice also had a decent amount of meats mixed into it. As you can, it was also presented nicely in a little container.

Honey black cod – As you can see from this picture, this piece of black cod was a generous proportion, even for the £18 it cost. The honey was subtlety flavoured yet was still present throughout the entire dish. Even the strength of the Assam prawns couldn’t take away from its flavour. Served with fresh asparagus and a sweet sauce (it tasted like pomegranate mayonnaise) we both weren’t too thrilled about.

Fried ice cream – This is a dish very popular in Australian-Chinese restaurants and I know of only one other Chinese restaurant in London that serves this. Everything about this one was almost perfect, from the crisp outer shell to the perfectly right ice cream consistency – neither too firm or too soft. The only weird thing about this dish was how they put tomato sauce on top (when I’m used to some sort of chocolate or strawberry syrup).

Although pricey, the quality and service of Hao Zhan is definitely better than your average Chinese restaurant. With the Taste London card, it’s made even more affordable and reasonably priced.

Our meal for two (including two lychee juices) cost just over £50 for the two of us.

Name: Hao Zhan
Found at: 8 Gerrard Street, London, W1D 5PJ, London
Website: http://www.haozhan.co.uk/

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