Food in Thailand

In our recent visit to Thailand I again realized how much fresh un-processed food is available to the rest of the world and isn't available to us at reasonable prices. A visit to the market in Thailand makes one drool, the variety of fruit, vegetables and even meats is awesome. 
And beyond the raw materials restaurants are very reasonable - one can eat a feast in $10US. 

Here's a link to a slideshow: Flickr link to slide show

With that said what were my favourites?
1) The barracuda with curry paste @ Jai's restaurant in Khao Lak
2) The massaman curry @ Jai's restaurant in Khao Lak
3) Mango and sticky rice - everywhere!
4) Fried fish cakes - at the Khao lak / Bang Nga market
5) Fried chicken at Chatuchak market in BKK

Many things I didn't get to try as it was a family vacation, and some things I did try were a let down.
The biggest letdown?  'Roti Mataba' recommended in Lonely Planet! Ripoff and not that tasty compared to all the other things available.

Review in a few words: would love to go to Thailand again.  Thank you Sister & B-in-Law for having us over.

Shaker Lemon Pie at "Scratch"

This week, we discovered "Scratch" - the famous bakery in Durham which seems to make everything from Scratch. They close at 6, thats what kept us from going there earlier. We made it finally!! And every bite was worth it. Salil took an afternoon off on Thursday, the day before I start my 4 year long Pathology residency program in UNC Hospitals.

We tried to pies at Scratch. The "Shaker Lemon Pie" had thin slices of lemons stacked in the pie and had that absolutely lemony punch packed in a sweet-tarty pie. The crust was the best I have ever eaten - flakey and light and worth a fight with Salil. The next pie we tried was "Buttermilk Sugar Pie" - not the prettiest of the pies but true to its name. Again not very sweet and had a good balance of sweet, tart and salty! They had several other pies on the menu and I am sure they are all worth every single penny.

Unfortunately, they were not serving lunch by the time we reached, will surely visit on a Saturday for that soon.

Highly recommended!!

Link to Scratch Bakery Website

Batts grill

Batt's Grill is our favorite sea food place anywhere in the world...may be anywhere in the world other than British Columbia!  Located in Surf City, NC; this is the highlight of our summer beach trips.  We found this place in the summer of 2007 when we were at the beach for our friends Matt and Crystal's wedding and had a strong recommendation from the locals. 

Batt's is a no non-sense fried seafood place.  You can have a plate of fried shrimp, oysters, fish, clam strip - alone or in various combinations.  They also make chowders and baked stuffed crabs and such but honestly, nothing beats a plate of seafood.  Their hush puppies are great and come with the seafood plate along with two other sides.  There is a wide variety to choose from - green beans, corn, mashed potatoes, fries, peas, black eyed peas, cole slaw, rice and more.  What Salil loves is the fact that you can get desserts as sides and they make some good banana pudding!! An endless cup of sweet tea on a hot summer day is a bonus.

All in all, a highly recommended place.  Though the prices have gone up in the last couple of years, they are nowhere close to the other touristy places.  For $6-8, expect a good comforting meal without too many frills.  Fortunately, they dont smoke in the restaurant anymore!! Surf City/ Topsail Island area is very accessible from the triangle and is much less crowded than Wilmington or Myrtle Beach.   

In addition to our summer trip, we went to the beach this year for thankgiving.  Batt's had an amazing thanksgiving spread for $6.  Salil had his best birthday meal that day.

Iggy's at Providence

Had a quehog....baked stuffed clam for the non Rhode Islanders.  We are big fans of "family guy" and must try anything with that name! 

Have been busy lately and the lack of our experiments in the kitchen is obvious, but we are trying to log the restaurant adventures.  Iggy's is highly recommended if you are in the area.  Notice the address in the picture!

Gourmet kingdom - a pleasant surprise

Gourmet Kingdom in Carrboro. Awesome fish in Schezuan bean sauce!


Gourmet Kingdom in Carrboro - a not particularly attractive looking chinese buffet.  Many locals go past it without giving it a second look.  I went there a long time ago, when it newly opened and was actually pretty good.  The fact that I was new to USA and the novel concept of a bountiful buffet must have also played its part to attract me here.  But as the days went by, the quality of the buffet went downhill and I explored and found many other deserving places in the Chapel Hill/Carrboro area.

But now the locals are in for a hot surprise.  Gourmet Kingdom has a new management and they have ditched the buffet.  The place now serves a schezuan cuisine and they seem to be really very good at that.  We went there on a sunday evening and the place was packed.  Many asians, always a good sign if the locals are eating there!

We had the fish in schezuan bean sauce which is one of their signature dish.  Hot is an understatement!!!  I am wary of hot dishes because I always feel that the heat kills all the other flavors.  But this one was good.  The fish was perfectly cooked on a bed of chinese cabbage and topped with this spicy hot chilli-garlic schezuan secret paste.  We got some bok-choy and black mushrooms, turned out a great choice to cool the tongue down which was literally on fire after the fish.  The two plates were served with a generous portion of white rice. 

Great food but the service was slow.  Next time - Ba Shu Chicken!