Mae La Restaurant, for those who enjoy “real” Thai food

A culinary expedition with Moo Yong

Thai food has gained a world-wide reputation. It is so famous that characters on television programs, such as LA Law, order Thai food. Listening to American actors bungle pronunciations is quite entertaining.
I enjoy Baywatch, always engrossed by the deep psychological questions which it poses. During one scene, a lifeguard, whom I mistook for a meatloaf until he spoke, phoned a Thai restaurant and ordered ‘fanned knees’ and ‘covered bears’. He was trying to say Khao Phat and Mee Krob. As Baywatch has the most redeeming social value of any television program (wink), I forgave him.
The food he ordered was not ‘real Thai’ food.
Thailand, on the Indo-Chinese peninsula and an entrepôt for seafaring peoples, has a cuisine influenced by the cultures which visited the country. Many Thai sweets are of Portuguese origin. Noodles come from China, curries from India, Ceylon and Indonesia.

These foods are Thai now, but one may wonder what foods are ‘prototypically’ Thai.
In Thai schools, children are taught that the only ‘true’ Thai cooking methods are boiling, grilling, firing and pan-frying.
If one wants to try the best of these forms of Thai cooking, the Mae La Restaurant is worth a visit.
In a garden setting, on the night we visited the restaurant was filled to capacity.
The menu at Mae La is extensive, but much to the ‘genuine’ cuisine hunter’s delight, there are no noodles or curries on the menu.
Our group began with a variety of dishes; Nua Yang (Grilled beef with piquant sauce), Pla Phao Kark Maphrao, (Fish wrapped in coconut husks and cooked on coals) and wild boar fried with black pepper. Non-vegetarian conservationists need not worry, as the wild boars are bred on farms, but are allowed to run free over a large area to give an ‘authentic’ flavour. One dish we ordered is eaten in many Asian nations which are not landlocked; jellyfish salad. The jellyfish is in thin vermicelli-like strands and is mixed with fragrant herbs. Those of you who may be thinking ‘Yuck, jellyfish!’ will be pleasantly surprised as this marine creature has no ‘fishy’ taste and al-dente texture.
The fish, a Pla-Chorn, disappeared quickly, and the pork was a delicious surprise to the doubters among us.
We noticed that the Thai customers at the restaurant were watching us rather quizzically.
Overheard: ‘How did they ever hear about the place?’ ‘I thought Farangs only ate Khao Phat and Phat Si-iew.’
We also ordered ‘Hor-Mok’, minced fish mixed with coconut cream and fragrant spices, cooked soufflé style in a coconut shell.
The chef is a true artist in this style and the other tables all had at least six different dishes, the fish with coconut husks being the centrepiece.
This restaurant is not for the ‘Burger and Fries’ or the ‘Royal Spoons Smøgerama’ crowd.
This is a place for those who want to experience ‘real’ Thai food.
The Mae La is located on Siam Country Club Road, on the right coming from Sukhumvit Highway, just before the railroad tracks.

Recipe: Goong Pad Prik Met Setoh

Prawns fried with chilli sauce and setoh beans.
Large shrimps are more suitable for this dish as smaller ones. De-vein them but do not peel. Buy about one kilo, clean and fry them in deep fat until a golden brown. Set aside.
Pound in a mortar:
ten (or more) large red chillies without seeds, sliced thinly;
three cloves of garlic;
four slices of Kah (Galangar) root;
two thinly sliced stalks of lemon grass;
half a teaspoon of “Kapi” or shrimp paste:
a little bit of brown sugar;
ten small red onions sliced thinly.
When all this is properly pounded, heat one tablespoon of vegetable oil in a wok and fry the mixture until it changes in colour. Add a saucer of peeled and sliced “Setoh” beans, sauté for a few minutes and add the shrimps. Mix well, add a little bit of sour tamarind juice (Nam Makram Peeak) and serve. Specially recommended for those with weak kidneys.