Thailand: Muslim Restaurant

Hello everyone!  I'm currently in Penang, Malaysia with CK (AG went back to the states a few days ago) and it's been glorious to finally take things slow and eat whatever we want at our own pace.

You'll see what I mean now that I'm starting my Thailand posts.  While we were in Bangkok, we stayed with AG's uncle's family, who were extremely warm and generous.  They kept trying (and succeeding) to feed us.  At the end of every day, we would literally be in pain from eating too much.  We joked that they were trying to kill us with food.

They really might have been.

Anyway, prepare yourself for a series of posts that don't have actual restaurant names or addresses.  AG's family took us all over the place and I have absolutely no idea what each restaurant was called, as all the signs were in Thai.  (I did take a year of Thai back in undergrad...but little good that did me.  I barely remember anything beyond "little spicy" and "very tasty."  I can't even spell my own name anymore, much less read.)

We arrived in Bangkok from Taipei Thursday evening.  After dropping off our luggage at AG's uncle's house, the first thing we did was go out for dinner.  AG's uncle's family brought us to a bustling open-air Muslim restaurant:


There was a bit of a wait, but CK and I killed time by wandering around and staring at all the food being prepared at different stations on the periphery of the restaurant.  The grilled fish station was particularly mesmerizing.

AG's uncle and aunt ordered up a storm.  While AG sat forward with an excited gleam in his eye, CK and I could only gawk as the dishes kept on coming.

We started with some som tam (papaya salad):   


Then the beautiful grilled fish we'd been ogling earlier:


You eat the fish wrapped in veggies with Thai sauces.  Sticky rice optional:


Grilled beef:


Some kind of oyster omelet:


Spicy beef salad:


Beef satay:


And AG's favorite tom yum soup:


The soup didn't come with any bowls, so CK and I watched AG to follow his example.  We should've known better.  He dipped his spoon directly into the soup, which we copied, only to be horrified when we observed his family ladling soup into their own spoons.  Damn you, AG. 

This is the meal where AG's family realized how weak I am against spicy food.  The ribbing started there, but they were always considerate of my spiciness tolerance level in future meals.  I kinda feel bad because I ruined AG and CK's true Thai experience.  Heh.  Only kinda.

Thai food is just better in Thailand.  I can't really explain it.  Everything is more sour, more salty, more fishy, more sweet, more spicy, more INTENSE in Thailand.

Yum.

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