prompted this visit with her not soon after...
Menus were now laminated...fresh still on every table, a nice touch.
Fried wings and those Thai sausages were our appetizers that day...The wings were pretty meaty and had a light and crisp batter. Of course, we had to try those sausages...
mmm
Just look at those glistening porky links of goodness. OMG.
C chose the beef salad, spice level 2 (or was it 3)...it wasn't too hot but still had a kick to it. All of the flavors were so fresh...tender beef marinated in lime juice and sprinkled with rice powder. The cucumber slices helped cool things down.
The spread...
Something new for the both of us was the Khao Kluk Kapi (pronounced "COW Klook Kah-PEE). I saw it on the "Chef's Specials" section for our first visit and knew that I wanted to try it. There is a scoop of fried rice mixed with fermented shrimp paste. Surrounding the rice are two types of meats, caramelized pork plus candied Chinese sausage (these were delicious). The vegetables include finely shredded carrot, green apple (recipes that I saw online included green mango), omelette, chopped green beans, sliced red onion and cucumber slices. Mixed in were a few pieces of chewy dried shrimp. The dish was also served with a small bowl of soup (it was a mild broth but had lots of black pepper and cilantro pieces). It is not commonly served in restaurants but more for take out at food stalls.
Our server told us that this was her favorite dish. She also informed us that the dish is meant to be mixed. (Khao means 'rice'; kluk means 'mix' and kapi means 'shrimp paste'). So mix it we did.
This dish had it all, sweet, sour, salty and savory. We loved all of the textures from the various vegetables. The green apple added tartness. For those uninitiated to shrimp paste (similar to the Filipino bagoong), the flavors might be too overwhelming. We loved this dish but did joke that we would need breath mints afterwards.
On a more recent visit with MN (my neighbor) and her eldest daughter (she is 19 now and a college student and has been mentioned in some of my previous posts, "Shakespeare Corner Shoppe Tea" (2010) "IB Beach Club Grille and Oasis" (2010) plus "SD Fair 2011"). It was nice to have her join us, having known her since she was a baby. They were game for trying a new Thai place, plus it was near State which she attend.
We placed our orders; there were four. Two were repeats: the Thai sausages once again and that amazing Khao Kluk Kapi. The other two dishes were the Catfish salad (which our server from our previous visit had recommended) and the lunch special Pad See Ew with chicken.
We were all served a soup containing tofu and cilantro. Nothing really special. I only had a few sips and ate the tofu.
I asked if they had purple rice again rather than the white sticky rice. Our server checked and ya, they did have it! It was served in that cute heart shaped woven basket. The sausages haven't disappointed so far. In fact, it was MN's favorite dish of the four. The only omission on the plate were the tiny chilies, which is just as well since I wouldn't have eaten them anyways.
The most "tame" dish was the pad see ew. This was the lunch special portion which came with two fried won tons (one was cream cheese filled; not sure about the other since I didn't partake). The noodles had a little bit of wok hei going on. Nicely made with vegetables that still retained their crunch. The sauce wasn't overly thick; it probably could have used more.
The big surprise for all of us was the Catfish salad. As mentioned earlier, I ordered it based on our server's recommendation (she was there for this visit as well). The catfish is minced and fried and served over a bed of shredded cabbage and topped with sliced red onion, finely sliced carrot, gree apple and topped with cilantro and whole peanuts and served with a side of sweet and sour sauce (chilis, sugar, lime juice and fish sauce).
At first glance, it looked like fried panko crumbs only, but there was indeed catfish in there. Some of the larger chunks were discernable as minced fish. The fried fish pieces added a lovely crunch with the cool, crisp and freshly cut vegetables. We could tell that the chef took great take to make the dish appealing looking and beautiful. We also loved that they used paper plates here, but with a lovely pattern. We asked our server if that was by design and she said that the chef chose the plates and takes care to make the food look nice on the plate.
Does this look familiar?
It's the return of the Khaw Kluk Kapi!
MN did the honors of the mixing. This dish was also a hit with her and her daughter. She vowed to return with her husband to try these dishes again, especially the sausage.
Previous visit:
December 2017 (this post also links Cathy from mmm-yoso's post)
Articles + recipes for Khaw Kluk Kapi (also spelled as Khao Klook Kapi):
"Khao Kluk Kapi - A little known but massively flavorful Thai dish" Eating Thai Food (no date given but comments to this post date back as far as four years)
Khao Kluk Kapi recipe Thai Cooking School, May 15, 2014
"Khao kluk kap - fried rice with shrimp paste" Will Fly For Food, Feb 19, 2013
"Thai dish! Khao kluk kap" BkkJunk (no date given)
I noticed some versions used green mango instead of the green apple and shallots instead of red onions. Another recipe added dried chilis as well; EaThai's version did not. In any case, the flavors and textures of this dish are quite exciting to eat and I don't mind ordering it again for the next time and oh, there will be many next times.
Here's a video from Mark Wiens of Eating Thai Food. Makes me want to go to Thailand!
He says that the dish isn't supposed to be mixed up, but our server, who is Thai, said it is meant to be mixed.
I'm glad that MN and her daughter enjoyed the three dishes that I chose. As in previous visits, our server was friendly, efficient and also helpful with her recommendations. Next time, we may just try that Khao Soi.
2 comments:
Oh, all of this looks so very good! We will be going back soon- The Mister goes through cravings related to his medication changes and, combined with the wet weather, Thai flavors (with heat) has been mentioned in the past few days.
Thanks for the rec Cathy. Hopefully you can visit EaThai once again! :)
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