After the first day of arriving Bangkok, my dad gave me options of where I wanted to go eat. We agreed on going to Nai Ngok, a noodle place that is very close by our place. For a low price point restaurant, Nai Ngok is situated in a large plot of land with spacious parking space, 2 snack and beverage shacks, and 5 different dining sections. I was excited we were heading to Nai Ngok because of its variety of tasty Thai dishes I was deprived from back in Canada.
We walked into the open air restaurant that was covered by a giant tarp in the middle and aluminum tiles on the sides. Extra umbrellas are set up here and there to give more shades. A whole bunch of fans, large and small, were turned on all over the place. It gets boiling hot without air conditioner most especially in the afternoon. There are plants and fountains set up to give a cool, garden-like, serene atmosphere. You wouldn't want to be sweating from the heat and sweating some more eating spicy food.
Despite being very spacious, Nai Ngok is always busy and filled with office workers during the lunch hours. The owner/server warned us that there was a reservation of 60 coming soon and we should order asap to avoid the delays from the kitchen.
The menu are found written and hanging all around the restaurant. Unfortunately, they are all written in Thai so if you are a foreigner going there you're going to need a Thai translator.
 |
| Bags of chicharonnes for noodle soup |
The portions are small and extremely cheap so we had to order quite a bit. I guess they are along the line of tapas and we pretty much filled up on a bunch of appetizers. We each ordered their signature noodle soup with a rich and spicy broth called "
kuoytiew rua nam tok". It contains water spinach, fish ball and rice noodles. The portion is enough to last a couple bites only. For only 17 bath or around 55 cents, you'll have room to get more than one or try more things on the menu.
 |
| Crunch. Munch. |
Just starting off with a small bowl of noodles and the heat was already getting to me. I forgot how spicy real Thai food is. Luckily, the refreshing blended limeade for 35 bath or $1, saved my palette.
 |
| Cooling off with freshly blended limeade |
My mom ordered grilled pork balls (40 bath or $1.30) for me and if only P was here, she would go nuts over them. This was our staple food after elementary school back in the day. Pork ball skewers were charcoal grilled and topped with sweet chili sauce and cilantro. I haven't had them in so long and they were thoroughly satisfying.
 |
| Grilled pork balls |
I craved these fish cakes all the time in Canada and decided that I will eat them every single chance I get while in Thailand. Now these particular ones fell below average in terms of texture, but they maintained the other elements that made them what they are and with crispy basil, so I still polished them off.
 |
| Curried fish cakes |
Grilled pork satay skewers served with cucumbers and peanut sauce (60 bath or $2). The satay skewers are really small compared to street vendors but they were still good and hit the spot. Oh, and they're still bigger than the skewers at Zakkushi in Vancouver.
 |
| Mini pork satay skewers |
The last dish arrived was a tempura style water spinach salad. It is served with a chili lime vinaigrette with diced shallots and ground peanuts. I really felt like a cold pint of beer to go with this dish. Afterwards, I looked around wondering if we ordered any fried chicken wings. We didn't. I thought about ordering it, but I settled on dessert instead.
 |
| Deep fried water spinach, or ong choy |
 |
| More crunching and munching |
 |
| Devoured |
I ended off lunch with a sweet note with coconut ice cream made with 100% coconut milk for 15 bath or 50 cents.
 |
| Coconut ice cream |
Several cups of coconut jelly made with rich coconut cream (5 bath or 17 cents each) are also left aside the tables waiting to be enjoyed.
 |
| Coconut jelly |
The overall meal costed 400 bath which is less than $15 for four people. How I miss Thailand! Nai Ngok is clean, quick, cheap AND good tasting, which are all great combination to have for a restaurant. After a quick bite, we were off to explore and walk off the lunch we just ate at an exhibition featuring food and drinks from all over Thailand later that afternoon.
$
No comments:
Post a Comment