Bourdain Moment in Bangkok
 

IN Bangkok on business last week, we tired of hotel food and, finding ourselves in Chinatown - somewhere near the tyre-fitting quarter - spied a food market down a narrow alleyway and ventured in. About halfway down we saw what can only be described as a toothless crone setting about a pork belly with a cleaver. Judging by speed she was going at, she'd been doing this for some time. Meanwhile, her glum-looking assistant was bagging up what looked like takeaway at a ferocious rate for a hungry-looking queue of customers.

MIndful of the great Anthony Bourdain's mantra - 'the best food in the world is that made by a person who has been cooking just one dish for as long as they can remember' - we settled down at a table and ordered up two portions of whatever she was making. Pretty soon her cheery chum deposited two bowls in front of us and, in sign language, warned us not to even think of adding any condiments.

What we got was a spicy, yet not too hot, broth featuring pork belly, pigs liver, what seemed to be oversized noodles (though may not have been!) and some other part of the pig we thought it best not to guess at. It was delicious! The seasoning was spot on and the meat had been cooked to perfection. What's more, after a few spoonfuls, the lingering effect of last-night's Singhas soon disappeared.

With a bottle of mineral water each, it cost the equivalent of £1. At that price we felt we could offer a decent tip and - after pantomiming how much we'd enjoyed our lunch - were rewarded, finally, with smiles all round.

Next time we're in Bangkok, the hotel restaurants will be that little bit emptier. I'd like to think Tony Bourdain would be proud.

Congrats. We've had some great street food in BKK as well. I always think that those who avoid street food are missing out on a treat. In fact, the best papaya salad I ever had was near the Grand Palace. The woman who made it with a mortar and pestle kept joking about how many chiles she was going to add. Delicious.

Great story, Graham. I went with my Thai friend, Maeng, to the weekend market. We were getting hungry and were wanting a place to sit and rest a bit, so we headed to what Maeng told me was a good noodle shop. We had a pork noodle soup bowl each. It was really delicious! I think we both ate (and drank bottled water) for about $1.50. The only thing in my soup that I would not eat was pork intestines. At least Maeng could tell me what they were!!

Anthony Bourdain is an amateur, much like his brain-stunted, monosyllabic-responding fat-boy bizarre foods friend.

ooooh, mango... harsh words! DS has met the bizarre foods guy, says he's really nice.

Are YOU a chef?

[Feeling flipant:] Oooo... you "discovered" kwit teeo, the most common dish in Thailand, found on every street corner in the kingdom, how exotic.

Graham-Sounds like you had a great "food moment". I love eating on the street in Bangkok.

Mango- Ouch! And you are such a heavy proponent of street food too!
While I'm not a fan of Andrew Zimmer (the Bizarre Foods guy) I do love Anthony Bourdain. Have you read any of his books? While he can sometimes be a snarky jerk, he's an entertaining writer and he knows what he's talking about when it comes to food. He's no amateur. I used to be a professional chef myself, so I'm not just taken in by flash. I thought his last show on Vietnam (this past week) was great.

I love street food, but the both of these guys aren't articulate enough to convey what they really want to say or what they're feeling...I find myself literally struggling to watch them with their absolute lack of expressivity after sampling something.

Mango, that's the beauty of life-there's someone for everyone. ;-) Personally, I like watching Bourdain, but Zimmer is not to my taste.

And MichaelBKK- I'm sure it <i>was</i> exotic to the OP and really, that's the only thing that matters, isn't it?

Kristina- Bourdain is the better of the two, by far, but still I find him a bit of a burn-out...definitely done his share of drugs.