FOOD EXPLORATION AT PRATUNAM

Hubby made an excellent choice by booking ourselves for a 2-night stay at the newly renovated Baiyoke Boutique Hotel located in Pratunam, a shopping paradise. Extremely convenient as it is surrounded by retail and wholesale garment centres and within walking distance to major shopping complexes such as World Plaza, Big C, Siam Square, Siam Paragon and MBK Center. What delighted me the most was when I learnt that the weekend Pratunam Market which is somewhat similar to our Petaling Street is located just a street away! Turning off the main street of the Pratunam Market are those smaller streets and lanes and this is where you can find really good stuffs! What else? Food of course!

Can't really go wrong when you see that the locals are the one patronizing the hawker stalls. But I still have reservation on eating pre-cooked food (mixed rice dishes) as you never know when it was cooked. Instead, I usually only go for hot food or those cooked in front of your eyes. And this is what caught my attention from faraway. Freshwater Prawns grilled over charcoal! Such a beautiful sight and not forgetting the wonderful aroma that greeted us from afar. I was brimming with joy as this is the first time I ever come across such stall in Bangkok so I guess prawns are in season (Hubby advised me not to question on its origin).


So dirt cheap! This is what I have been mumbling to myself throughout the trip. RM10 for 8 pieces!!! Who cares about cholesterol when such good deal is placed in front of you right? . Without a single doubt, these prawns were really fresh as the meat was so springy and sweet. A sourish spicy dip was given as extra kick but I enjoyed it without the dipping sauce as I prefer to enjoy the natural flavour of the prawns. For the next two nights in a row, the grilled prawns became my dinner! Ooohhh....Syiok!!



Hiss.... hiss..... hiss.....! Nope, not snakes but that was the sound followed by a wonderful smoky aroma that welcomed us over to this stall. A man was busy grilling skewers of pork and chicken liver over hot charcoal! At the side of his stall, I spotted my all-time favourite too; Grilled Chicken Wings!



A wonderful tray of marinated pork skewers being grilled. Oooo...the pork juices dripping onto the hot burning charcoal was the source of the 'hiss hiss' sound which now sounded like music to my ears. Guess how much per skewer?


20 sen per skewer!!! Yes, 20 sen!! We each tried a skewer and was hooked to it and we ended up standing in front of the stall for 15 minutes savouring the pork and chicken wings. The experience was similar to eating lok-lok in front of a lok-lok van! Just pick whatever you want and eat it straight away. After a while, I lost count on the number of skewers I had!


The Grilled Chicken Wings were good too and priced at RM1.50 per skewer of 3 pieces. I ended up having 2 skewers of the wings!


For those who are more adventurous, there are plenty of such stall selling grilled pork tail, intestines and unidentified cut of animal parts. Interesting but ahem, I just don't have the courage to give it a try.



I just love the aroma of freshly steamed sweet corns priced at RM1. Such a pleasant aroma. Sweet, plump and juicy and so we had one to share since we figured out that we desperately need some fiber in our body.



To quench our thirst, I usually opt for freshly squeezed Mandarin Orange juice but I didn't had any this time due to past experience, I suspect those pre-packed are laden with sugar.


Since we were having so much of heaty stuff, best option would be Roasted Coconut Water. It was cool and refreshing and priced at only RM1. I have lost count on how many I had throughout my trip there. Ahhhhh...


A must for me when I visit Thailand is to make a stop at any noodle shop as I am a big fan of their broth. Clear yet aromatic from the fish sauce. If you notice, I use a lot of fish sauce in my cooking as I am a big big fan of it and I get my supply from Thailand. Speaking of that, am so sad that my bottle of fish sauce was confiscated at the airport! Grrr! Will talk about that in my later post. I was very satisfied with my bowl of pork beehoon. Broth was good, just the way I like it, but for extra kick, I added a few more dashes of fish sauce which is made available at every table. It would be even better if they provide bird's eye chili (cili padi) instead of chili powder.



Hubby also have his fair share of 'must have' food too and his favourite has got to be raw mangoes.



While Hubby enjoys eating it just like that, I prefer to put in some seasoning such as chili powder with sugar to give it an extra kick!


There are a lot more food available around Pratunam area but it's impossible for me to post up all the photos here. It's a nice place to stay as you can find food anywhere, anytime.

On my next post: Chatuchak Market!