Best of Thai Food Restaurant

Do I think it's actually the best of Thai food? Well, that's debatable because there are a lot of really good Thai places in Hong Kong, and you know how I love me some Pattaya Restaurant.

The first time I came here (about two or three years ago), my Thai-Chinese friend and his dad took me here to eat. They ordered stuff that was heavy on the seafood, and I'll be honest here: my parents used to have a seafood business, so I'm super super picky about seafood. I ate them really fresh when I was kid for several years, so I tend to turn my nose up at seafood served in most restaurants because they're just not up to par. Do I sound bitchy enough? No? How about this: I completely took for granted eating king prawns, crabs and lobsters as a kid, to the point that my siblings and I would groan, "NOT lobster again?? Why can't we have KFC??" (We weren't allowed to eat fast food in my house, which is why when my dad gave me a credit card when I was 12, I immediately went to McDonald's to try to buy a Happy Meal. Yes, they laughed me out of the place.)

Anyway, to get back to my point, the seafood was hit or miss by my standards. I think for people who aren't as picky, this place would be an enjoyable destination. However, since I'm feeling the Force strongly in myself right now, I'm going to make some more bitchy comments about my dinner companions before I talk about the food.

Now, my previously-mentioned friend, E, lives in Shanghai and he was visiting his folks here for CNY. They'd invited me and two other friends (from Korea and visiting, as well) to have dinner with them. E's new girlfriend and a friend from Shanghai, plus a few other relatives were also present. Everyone was pretty cool except for the girlfriend -- let's call her C for cunt -- and the friend -- let's call him D for dick.

Now that we've got our genitalia-based nicknames out of the way, holy fucking hell, dudes. I'd never met C before, and she literally rolled her eyes at me when we were introduced. This is the problem: I'm too much of a gent to be mean back. I mean, I would if she were just some random person, but since my friend and his family were there, and she's his girlfriend, I had to be polite. How do you deal with this situation?

It was kind of sad because what happened was that the friends from Korea and myself ended up having a pretty good time eating and telling funny stories, while E, C and D were kind of just...there. E couldn't join in our conversation because C and D were such losers, and I guess he had to talk to them. I mean, when we were laughing and talking about the apocalypse and cannibalism (two of my absolute favourite topics, you should hear my lecture on it, complete with useful tips), C and D just stared at us blankly. It's okay, dudes, you weren't included in the conversation, anyway. You'll be the first to be eaten after the apocalypse.

And when there was a pause in the conversation, D jumped in and started quizzing us about our jobs. Like, really? That's the best you can do? You should have seen C and D's faces when one of the Korean friends blithely answered, "I'm a jack of all trades" and his girlfriend added on, "He's homeless and does chores for food."

And my God, I got so irritated when he asked me what I did, and I said, "I'm a goldsmith." C rolled her eyes again. Maybe she was possessed and needed a good dicking down (according to the acclaimed film, The Sexorcist).

D (incredulously): So you mean you design jewellery...
Me (firmly): NO. I AM A GOLDSMITH. I MAKE JEWELLERY.
D (condescendingly): So how did you get into that? Were you making jewellery at home and then you thought you'd sell them?
Me (thinking "YOU MOTHERFUCKER" and even more condescendingly): No. I actually apprenticed in Italy.

Then I turned around and ignored him. What a fucking piece of syphillis.

And what's worse, when E left to smoke, C and D started laughing about how weird he is. They only shut up when they realized how appalled me and the friends from Korea were. Tsk on them.

I really hate people like that who think they're so great because they have money when they're actually so...so...BOURGEOIS. I can't think of any worse description for anyone. They're the kind of people who have nothing else to say beyond insipid observations about shopping and how they spent their money that day. Ugh, I hate that petty shallowness, they're the kind of people who would masturbate a horse to buy a new Goyard bag without even knowing about the brand's history.

They couldn't stop staring at my hair because I put it up in a pompadour like Dita Von Teese's below:

Image taken from here

Seriously??? No one else at the table blinked at it. Even E's folks were just like, "Wow, that takes me back to my granny's era" and then concentrated on the food. I don't know how E can stand people like that. Ugh.

Anyway, you're here for the food and not for this, but I'm glad you were patient enough to let me get it off my chest. Now, let's get to the food!

Best of Thai Food was packed, so we were ushered into the 2nd floor. You'll notice that most places will have plastic sheets covering the table so that the staff can just gather it up and throw it out. This means that you can just spit your bones on the table itself.

For God's sake, don't put the bones back on the serving plate! Someone did this once, and I told him to quit it, at which point he got mad at me. Ugh, so many jackasses in the world.

Free shrimp chips! Really tasty, and you can buy bags to take home.

Pad Thai. It was quite good, perhaps a tiny bit dry.

I don't know what kind of fish this is, but easily one of the best dishes in the place. Tender, sweet and fresh.

Hm...wasn't keen on the beans in this dish. This is kangkong or tung choi or watercress. One of my favourite vegetables.

Tom Yum Gai. The soup is a bit on the sweet side here, but it's really marvelous otherwise. Looks a lot spicier than it actually is.

I only managed to eat the spring rolls. They were okay, a bit low in meat content.

Minced pork that you wrap inside the leaves. Really excellent, although might be spicy for some as they include chili seeds in the pork.

Tom Yum Gai.

Oyster and scrambled eggs. It was alright, can't compete with a well-done Singaporean fried oyster omelette, though.

Roast chicken: just divine. I think I ate most of this.

Curry crab. It was acceptable, Pattaya's is still better.

Pork neck with tamarind sauce. You can't fuck up pork neck. Pretty good. Dipping sauce might be a bit spicy for some.

These were truly excellent. Came off the shell really easily, had a delicious garlicky flavour.

I would have chosen the coconut pudding over this, but I think it was free, so no complaints. Just plain Jell-O with dragonfruit and mango bits.

Best of Thai Food is at 37 Fook Lo Tsuen Road (I think that's how it's spelled) and for those who can read Chinese, it's 福佬村道 in Kowloon City.

ps. On my way home, I ran into this little fella. What kind of insect is this? It's too big to be an aphid, it was at least 3 or so inches. Dude is some kind of OG, man...check out his missing hind leg and chewed-up butt!

Kowloon Walled City Park

Before I moved to Hong Kong, I visited quite frequently with my family. My parents' close friends live in Kowloon City -- which is why, thanks to their generosity, I found a place there to live -- and so I had a first-hand experience as a visitor to the old Kowloon Walled City.

Some of you might be familiar with the place from games (sorry, I wouldn't know which ones since I don't play games because I get motion sickness. I'm such a delicate flower.), some of you might not realize that Stephen Chow grew up there and based Pig Sty Alley in Kung Fu Hustle on Kowloon Walled City.

Here's a brief excerpt from the Wikipedia entry:

Kowloon Walled City was a densely populated, largely ungoverned settlement in Kowloon, Hong Kong. Originally a Chinese military fort, the Walled City became an enclave after the New Territories were leased to Britain in 1898. Its population increased dramatically following the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong during World War II. From the 1950s to the 1970s, it was controlled by Triads and had high rates of prostitution, gambling, and drug use. In 1987, the Walled City contained 33,000 residents within its 6.5-acre (0.03 km2; 0.01 sq mi) borders.

By the time I moved to Hong Kong, the Walled City had been razed to the ground and a park built in its stead with the original bits of the old fort. Honestly, I love the park. I think it's beautiful and a lovely place to visit. I've consoled heartbroken friends there, I've watched old people doing tai chi, I've petted stray cats, and I've even fallen asleep undisturbed in the park. It's the ideal park for me because there's nature but it's in a restrained form. I can still wear high heels and walk around without worrying about stepping on monkey poo (sooo smelly and nasty) like in Kam Shan Country Park. 

However, I can understand why some former residents of the Walled City feel nostalgic about the old projects. It was often dangerous (although very exciting to me as a child, bless my parents for letting me have the independence to explore) but it was a very organic and very Chinese way of community growth. I'm obsessed with the process of community-building, by the way.

So, the park. At the entrance, which I forgot to photograph, you'll see a small model of the old projects. 

The guards were really nice to us. We arrived about ten minutes before closing (11 at  night), and they still let us wander around.

Remnants of the old 衙門 -- sorry, no English for this, it's simply called a yamen -- at the entrance. I love sitting there and pretending that I'm some old magistrate taking his tea and scowling at delinquents. When I get my men's cheongsam made, I'm going to have a lot of pictures taken there.

There are a lot of pavilions in the park, this is one of them. Again, sorry for the shitty quality of the photograph.

Erm...this is a stream that leads to a waterfall (which I didn't photograph).

One of the courtyards where oldies take their exercise.

A rock formation thing.

You know what, just take my word for it and visit the park. My photographs simply don't do it justice. I'm not sure what I was thinking, I think I was addled by overeating.

Chai Run Thai Food

I'm such an idiot. I totally forgot to take a picture of this restaurant and focussed mostly on the food.

Actually, I was a dumbass this whole evening. I went to Kowloon City and then wandered around a bit in Yau Ma Tei with some friends from out of town, and I completely forgot to photograph Yau Ma Tei. We even went into a Taiwanese dessert-type place that was open till about three in the morning or something. Ah, my bad, my bad.

Anyway, let's talk about Kowloon City and Thai food. Kowloon City is where Little Thailand (and also, many of my fellow Hokkien) is located. I lived in Kowloon City when I first moved to Hong Kong, so I have quite fond memories of it, even though it's now being gentrified quite rapidly.

People who like those Initial D-type cars for drifting and stuff will also like this area because there are still many of the garages that fix up these cars here, although most seem to be more concentrated just outside Kowloon City in Ma Tau Wai. The old Kai Tak airport is in Kowloon City, and since it's been converted into an entertainment zone with go karting and a bowling alley among other things, it seems like a lot more youths have been hanging around, as well.

There are a lot of really excellent Thai restaurants in the area, but I'll go through them one by one. As a rule of thumb, though, I would suggest avoiding the flashier-looking restaurants with the huge neon signs like Cambo. Their food is acceptable but not nearly as authentic or delectable as the smaller, family-run businesses.

I took my friends to Chai Run Thai Food on 33 Nam Kok Road, intersection Nga Tsin Wai Road. I've been going there for years, so we got seated quite quickly on the sidewalk, which I quite like at night during cold weather. There aren't too many cars passing by to choke you with engine fumes, the air is fresh, and you can smugly tuck into your food while people pass by, drooling in envy. Incidentally, it's quite fun to people watch in Kowloon City, lots of really fascinating-looking folks, from the grizzled uncles and aunties to the young teens hanging out with their friends to little kids and pets wearing hilarious animal outfits.

The staff at Chai Run are super cool. They are mostly Thai aunties, and when I first started frequenting this restaurant, I still messed around with the...how shall we say...less law-abiding young men of Hong Kong, and they used to tsk me whenever I showed up with one of those delectable young bucks. They're also convinced that I have a hearty appetite (which actually is kind of true, I guess) and always act shocked when I order less than ten entrees.

Anyway, reminiscing aside, this is what we had.

Raw shrimp with fried shrimp heads. I wouldn't eat raw seafood in many restaurants, but the ones at Chai Run are so amazingly fresh. The shrimp is so tender, with such a delicate flavour. It's not at all slimy or greasy, just simply lovely, like eating raw oysters.

The sauce might be a bit spicy for some, but if you're a regular Thai food eater, it's no big deal.

Pineapple fried rice with chicken.

Fried chicken wings. Unlike other restaurants, they don't fry their chicken wings in batter.

I had...what do you call 三色冰 in English? Tricolour iced coconut milk drink? Anyway, it's made from coconut milk and with a mixture of jellies and beans (hence the three colours).

Shrimp patties.

A specialty of Chai Run's, roast chicken. So succulent!

Crab curry, another specialty. The sauce is divine.

Butter roti. I really suggest ordering this if you get a curry dish. Use the roti to dip into the curry sauce, and my God! I would give up any one of those young delinquents who used to squire me around (except perhaps for one or two who have certain special talents), to eat this roti every day.

You most likely won't spend too much money eating in Kowloon City. For all of the above food, plus drinks and extra rice -- we also got a free dessert because the staff thought I hadn't ordered enough -- we spent about HKD500.

It's a good thing we took a long walk after.