It's not wise, I tell you, to go for a (late) lunch at Soi 47 when your last meal was an (early) breakfast of soft boiled eggs, coffee and berry smoothie at the start of the same day.
You'll tend to overorder when you're at Soi 47, and it takes a good deal of determination to ensure you don't order everything you want to have that's on the menu.
There was so much I wanted to have.
Like their salt baked fish, which honestly, I cannot remember now whether or not they grill it, bake it, or fry it, but it's a huge fish they use, it tastes like it's fried, and has these huge crystals of salt all over the fish that I like dabbing at before I place the morsel of soft, tender fish in my mouth.
I wanted their fried spring rolls, their Moo Ping, their pineapple fried rice, fried kuay teow, and their Tom Kha too.
But one cannot eat so much, even at lunch time, so we limited our dishes for the day to just four.
Having to decide between all the appetizers offered on the menu, especially the spring rolls and the Moo Ping, was difficult- I take a great fancy to both- but in the end we decided to go for the latter.
Maybe because we often make this order at their Central outlet and we know that Soi 47 really does make their pieces thick, chonky and sweet.
There's no compromise on the sauce when they place it on the grill- each piece is glistening seductively when they bring the plate out- and in their bright, cheerful place filled with natural light, you can appreciate the smooth, sticky shine at first bite.
Each of us have our own way of eating Moo Ping.
My companion likes tugging it off the stick with his fork.
I, on the other hand, prefer munching it off the stick a la street food style.
There was a bit of discussion when it came to the soup, however.
Me, I wanted Tom Kha- the coconut cream soup ubiquitous to Thai (Chinese) cuisine, and one of my favorites in the genre.
But my friend wanted something spicier for the afternoon.
So we compromised.
He got a pot of Clear Tom Yum soup.
I got a bowl of very green-looking Green Curry Chicken.
As it turns out, I was glad for the soup.
Filled to the brim with a heap load of vegetables and chicken pieces, it was, to my surprise, very refreshing.
I had thought (quite mistakenly) that there would be the overwhelming taste of the tom yum spices but there was just only a slight fiery burn lingering on the palate, which affected nothing my pleasure of enjoying the green curry, or the beef fried kuay teow that I had also desired to try.
It was fun picking out all the ingredients from my bowl using my chopsticks.
There were lettuce leaves, soft lettuce stems, some sort of green leafy vegetables, various kinds of mushrooms, and a couple of tomato wedges bobbing about in the soup.
The Clear Tom Yum Soup helped straighten out my senses, but it was the Green Curry Chicken that really stimulated it.
Yes, seriously.
I'm not joking.
I don't know whether it's the lemongrass or the basil or the spices in the curry itself but I felt more energetic and alive after a couple of spoonfuls.
It didn't even matter that there was (on purpose) no rice to go with the curry.
We simply drank it as if it were a thick, creamy broth, straight from the bowl itself.
Our meal today saw the curry and our order of beef fried kuay teow come to the table around the same time, so happily I alternated between both dishes, enjoying the rounded warmth of the curry together with the delicious chewy texture of the noodles (fried dry style) at the same time.
Special mention has to be made of this plate of beef kuay teow.
It's one of the best I've ever had.
You might say that I like it because I favor the dry type over the wet type.
You might also say that I'm biased because it's served at a non-local, diner-type place.
But it's really nice la.
Okay, so it does look kind of ordinary (some will say it is)- a bit similar to what nearly every hawker center and zichar stall around the country sells, but oy, not every plate served comes in the style I like- not too oily, fried dry with sticky, chewy texture, with lots of noodles, plenty of ingredients, yet full of taste and wok hei feels as well.
What made this dish even more special were the additional pieces of chicken scooped over from the green curry side.
Extra ingredients on the plate, as we often say.
The only thing I wished I had for this meal but didn't get to have (too much carbs!) was the mango sticky rice.
It's something I've been wanting to try for quite a while now but somehow haven't had much of a chance to have.
Perhaps I should make dessert an important point as a post-dinner treat the next time I am there.
Why not, if diet permits, and I can?