Mae-Phong-Sri - for the ultimate noodle?

by Miss Terry Diner

This week’s review is of a restaurant that was opened five months ago because the owner was bored doing nothing! I should add that she did have some 35 years of experience in the restaurant business before her “retiring” two years ago.
The restaurant is on Sukhumvit Road and is called Mae-Phong-Sri (Mrs Phong-Sri), but the signage is all in Thai; however, here is how to find it: Go along Sukhumvit Road coming from South Pattaya Road (Pattaya Tai) and head towards Pattaya Central Road (Pattaya Klang). After the Spanish Condominium development and about 100 meters before Central Road, look for a huge wooden dining room chair on the left (the family owns a furniture business). This is in front of the restaurant.
The restaurant itself has all the hallmarks of a typical Chinese style eatery. Dark marble floors, heavy wood tables and chairs, service personnel scuttling everywhere (complete with palm pilots!), and packed with diners. Packed! On the tables are containers for chopsticks and spoons, a bottle of fish sauce, bottles of water and the four containers with sugar, vinegar, chilli and ‘nam pla prik’.
Along one wall is a glassed off private party area and on the opposite wall is the cooking/steaming area, while at the back is Mrs Phong-Sri and right at the very front is a woman cooking Thai dessert items.
We went for lunch and almost every table was filled, with the vast majority being Thais (naturally), though there was one other table with a farang contingent.
The menu is on the wall for the Thais, but there is a laminated version in English. The main choices are simple, down to spicy salad, dry noodle, soup and rice or noodle soup. From there, you select the type of noodle you want, and there are six choices (sen yai, sen lek, sen mee, woon sen, ba mee and kwai chap). After that you decide what you want to go with your noodles, with choices including ground pork, pork entrails and pork cartilage (I did say this was a Thai restaurant), pork plus soft tofu, crispy pork or fish balls. The variations do not stop there. You have the choice of ‘original style’, spicy tom yum style, or with an egg poached in the soup. These variations on a theme are generally between B. 30-35. There is also a separate multi-choice dim sum menu which has around three serves per plate and cost B. 22.
Madame chose a spicy salad and a noodle soup with pork and tofu and rice, while I decided on the noodle soup, ba mee (egg noodles) and ground pork. Being the middle of the day, we both decided that we would just have water with our meal. Having imparted our order, two stainless steel cups arrived with ice cubes, so we could add our own water from the bottles on the table, and literally moments later the large bowls of soup and a plate of spicy salad arrived.
I did not need to add anything to my soup, it was perfect as it was. And I mean really perfect! Madame found to her surprise that the spicy salad was as the name suggests, “spicy”! (By the way, the menu does say that if you do not want the food too spicy, you can order it with less fire.) We called for the bill and the grand total was B. 120 for three dishes and a bottle of water.
What should you say about a restaurant that knows its strengths and capitalizes on them? ‘Well done’ and I hope you keep doing it. Mae-Phong-Sri provides an excellent range of noodle dishes which come hot to the table and cost around B. 30-35. The prices are just so cheap, and even large bottles of Singha beer are only B. 65. For breakfast, lunch or afternoon snack, this restaurant has to be experienced. We have not come across better in this style of eatery. Do try it. Your wallet will thank you!
Mae-Phong-Sri, 42/99 M9, Sukhumvit Road (100 meters before Central Pattaya Road), telephone 038 488 478, (mobile) 083 008 7213, open seven days 7 a.m. until 4.30 p.m. Roadside parking only.

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Gai Pa Lo - Thai Five-Spice Chicken Soup

Five Spice is not really Thai, but is Chinese and can be found at most Chinese supermarkets. This is basically a chicken and tofu soup, with the addition of the Five Spice in the chicken marinade. It appears to have a number of ingredients, but it is simple to make.

Cooking Method:
In a bowl, combine chicken, coriander root, garlic, pepper, five-spice powder and soy sauce. Mix well and let marinate for 15 minutes.
Cut the tofu tube in half lengthways and then cut into one inch pieces.
Now heat the oil and sauté the marinated chicken until cooked and fragrant.
Bring the water to a boil in a pot. Stir in chicken, tofu, bamboo shoots, fish sauce and sugar. Cover and cook over low heat for 10 minutes or until the eggs absorb some of the liquid (the eggs will turn brown). Remove from heat and serve hot with cooked rice.

Ingredients                           Serves 6
Chicken (minced)                              2 cups
Coriander root minced (Rak Pug Chee) 1 tspn
Garlic (minced)                                 1 tbspn
Five-spice powder                              1 tspn
Ground white pepper                          1 tspn
Dark soy sauce                               1 tbspn
Yellow tofu                                        1 tube
Cooking oil                                     2 tbspns
Water                                               2 cups
Hard-boiled eggs, shelled                           3
Bamboo shoots (sliced)                       1 cup
Fish sauce                                    5 tbspns
Sugar                                               ½ cup