Bangkok - Silom Thai Cooking School

Date of Exploration : 21 Feb 2014

Literally adding some spice to a recent trip in Bangkok, I decided on trying my hands at local food preparation and signed up for a half-day class with Silom Thai Cooking School. What better souvenir to bring home than culinary skills for recreating my favourite Thai dishes in the kitchen right?

Chilli, spice, and everything nice... The half-day cooking class imparted preparation methods for 5 most common Thai dishes and we get to eat what we cooked!

A gifted glutton rather than a god of kitchen, I was tempted to wrap myself in handiplast instead of an apron to safety-proof myself around the wok and chopping board but the class turned out to be exceptionally novice friendly. The youngest participant the school had was 6-years-old!

Even if you've never held a spatula or turned on a gas stove, the class would make you an iron chef in no time. And all for an affordable 1,000 baht to learn how to cook Tom Yum Gung, Pad Thai, Lap Gai, Green Curry Chicken, and Mango with Sticky Rice. There's also a tour of a local wet market to begin the class and a comprehensive recipe book to end it off.

Of the dozen of popular cooking schools in Bangkok, Silom Thai Cooking School is the cheapest. The school offers 3 different cooking sessions - morning (9am - 1pm), afternoon (1:40pm - 5:30pm) and evening (6:00pm - 9:00pm). The dishes you learn is dependent on the day of class so you can sign up for multiple days to learn the full menu.

Getting There

As the school's namesake clearly states its location, Silom Thai Cooking School is located at Silom, which is in the same locale as Patpong (Bangkok's famous red light district). The BTS station that serves Patpong is Sala Daeng. From Sala Daeng, walk straight down along Silom Road towards Furama Silom Hotel (you will pass by a huge canal and Silom Plaza). The walk should take about 15 - 20 minutes.

Alternatively, you can alight at Chong Nongsi BTS Station, take Exit 3 and walk along the road until you come to a junction with Silom Road and turn left. Silom Plaza would be on your left. Look up and you should see Furama Silom Hotel. Walk towards the hotel. The meeting place is at Silom 11.

A tour of the local market is included in the morning and afternoon class. The meeting place for the tour is at the entrance of a small street (Silom 11) a few steps from Furama Silom Hotel and opposite Narai Hotel.

Silom 11 is next to Furama Silom Hotel and opposite Narai Hotel.

Silom Thai Cooking School's website provides pretty comprehensive directions so it is pretty hard to get lost. If all else fails, just take a cab.

Local Market Tour

I signed up for the morning class in order to coincide with a tour of a local market. The market is located just diagonally across the street from our meeting place so there's no need to take any transport to get to it.

During the market tour, we collected the ingredients for our dishes later while our guide and chef imparted knowledge about the fresh produce.

Street leading to the wet market. I think the girl with the rainbow tie-dye wished she was still in bed.

The market was well laid out and structured. I was hoping for one of those more chaotic and less sanitised versions though.

Fast becoming an obsolete trade in Singapore, I was delighted to rekindle the memory of freshly grounded coconut in the market.

I thought it was rather comical to to carry a basket full of vegetables in a foreign land but I guess that's the best way to assimilate and appreciate the local way of life. After the marketing, we were led through an alleyway to get to Silom Thai Cooking School. The school was rather obscure and walking into the local neighbourhood opened up another dimension of the metropolis.

Wok on the Khao Side

I was worried that I would wake up late, miss the market tour and can't find my way to the school but the confirmation sent by Siliom Thai Cooking School gave clear directions in locating it. The key is locating the side street it is on and just follow the yellow signs pointing the way.

Silom Thai Cooking School is a narrow 4 storey apartment that's been converted into a house of the woks.

Taking 4 flights of stairs, 7 of us were brought to an air-conditioned dining room. Lockers are available for the storage of belongings and the effort to dress them up with ethnic prints was such a small but nice touch!

Preparation of ingredients was done in another classroom a door away. That's our instructor and chef signalling the start of our culinary experience.

Cam whores like me would love the many photo ops during the class. These are my classmates... Wei Qiang from Jakarta, a Slovakian family of 3, and my fellow country folks, Damien and Phoebe from Singapore.

Time to slice, pound and chop!

Indredients for Tom Yum Gung... Thai chilli paste, lime juice, fish sauce, pomelo leaves, blue ginger, lemongrass, Thai basil, spring onions, tomatoes, small green chilli and Thai ginger.

Unlike Chinese soups that simmer for hours, Tom Yam Gung is a quick boil of all the ingredients for a very appetising broth. They say that the quickest way to lover's heart is through the stomach... now I've got that covered. LOL.

All it took was 15 minutes at the wok to serve up a Tom Yan Gung! Must try this at home if only I could find the Thai chilli paste, basil and ginger.

Ingredients for the national dish, Pad Thai... beansprouts, tau kwa, garlic, chives, egg, lime juice, fish sauce, tamarind paste, chai bor, and palm sugar.

According to our instructor, Thais seldom cook Pad Thai at home and prefer to buy it off the streets because the ingredients are such a hassle. I didn't know that such a popular and seemingly simple dish is actually a kitchen feat for the locals!

We chopped the onions and condiments but this Lap Gai (minced chicken salad with spicy sauce) was put together by our chef while we watched. It tasted too salty for my palate.

Next, we prepared the most colossal dish in terms of the number of ingredients needed... Green Curry Chicken. Just the number of ingredients needed was enough to cause amnesia. Green curry gets its colour from the green peppers as well as chillis.

Ta-da! After cutting, mashing and pounding all the various spices and ingredients, we cooked green curry! Cooking was quick but preparing the ingredients was a lot of work. Instead of pounding, the convenience of blenders would shorten the process but take away the brag right of hand-grounding all the spices. Handmade just tastes more "real" if you get what I mean.

Khao Neaw Ma Muang (mango sticky rice)... our 5-course class and meal rounded off with this ever popular dessert and while we didn't 'cook' this, we were shown how sticky rice was to be prepared... soak the grains over night and steamed for 20 minutes in a closed pot. Normally, I would eat just the mango but the coconut cream and texture of the rice was so divine, I devoured everything... not the orchid though. Hahaha...

Totally enjoyed the process of making new friends over hot woks that added more flavours to my favourite Thai dishes!

I believe that different schools probably have slight variations in recipes and ingredients for the dishes but the ones provided by Silom Thai Cooking School were delicious. Except for the Lap Gai, the other dishes were yumilicious and tasted even better because we made it ourselves! And bring along a container to pack any remainder food (though there will be few) so as not to waste the work that has gone into them.

It came as a shock surprise to me when I was told that Thais would discard any unconsumed food and no one would "blame them". I felt that it is such a waste of effort and agriculture when so many are going hungry in the world. If I knew, I would've brought along containers to pack excess food to eat later or share with the less fortunate on the streets. Throwing away clean, delicious and edible dishes was just wasteful.

If you're looking for an authentic Thai experience, consider a cooking class and stir-fry your way to a vacation of salivations!

Address : 68 Silom Soi 13 , Silom Road, Bangrak, Bangkok 10500
Tel : 08-4-726-5669 (local); +668-4-726-5669 (overseas)
Website : http://www.bangkokthaicooking.com/

Jakarta - Shopping & More Savouries

Date of Exploration : 4 Nov 2013

Having stepped into the nostalgia-laden heritage district of Kota Tua and swam in the eco-rich waters of Putri and Sepa Island, my discovery of Jakarta continued with an initiation into the city's shopping scene.

Historical, natural, commercial... my virgin trip to Jakarta is made complete with the 3 distinct faces of this wildly contrasting city. In the final segment of my vacation, we checked into Aston Marina Jakarta hotel and serviced residences before receiving retail therapy at ITC Mangga Dua and Plaza Indonesia, and pampering our palates with fine dine selections at Taste Paradise and indulging in a staggering display of nasi padang 'acrobatics' at Simpang Raya Istana Ayam Pop Restaurant.

Our third hotel during my 4D3N Jakarta trip was Aston Marina hotel cum serviced residences. As the name suggests, the lodge is not too far from the coastal district of North Jakarta and a short ride from Ancol, a tourism hub with several themed parks.

Stylishly pleasing and modern, Aston Marina is a good accommodation choice although it has no nearby lifestyle developments such as shopping complexes, eateries or shops.

The apartment units come with an adjourning kitchen, cozy lounge area and dream space. A 2-bedroom unit costs around Rp1,158,000 (est. S$120 per night).

Aerial view of the sprawling Jakarta cityscape from my unit's balcony.

Breakfast at Aston Marina was a rather elaborate affair of western as well as local spreads.

The donut towers were tempting but I preferred the saccharine smiles and services at the serviced residence.

Shopping - ITC Mangga Dua & Plaza Indonesia

After dropping off our travelling bags, we were ready to pick up shopping bags at ITC Mangga Tua and Plaza Indonesia, 2 of the city's many retail landmarks. Both malls are huge but that's where the similarity between the 2 megaplexes ends. ITC Mangga Dua is fertile ground for bargain hunting while Plaza Indonesia tips the luxury scale to create a shopping scene that caters to every fancy and budget.

Resembling a factory building more than a mall, ITC Mangga Dua is insanely packed with stalls selling everything that you can wear and decorate yourself with as well as food and snacks.

ITC Mangga Dua forms only one part of the colossal Mangga Dua shopping district which consists of 6 main shopping centres - Mangga Dua Mall, Harco Mas Mangga Dua, Mangga Dua WTC, ITC Mangga Dua, Dusit Mangga Dua and Pasar Pagi Mangga Dua. Each mall specialises in different products such as electronics, furnishings, foodstuff, etc with ITC Mangga Dua being the hub for fashion and accessories.

Hundreds of shops crammed onto 6 levels leaves narrow walking aisles between retailers and makes for a dizzying shopping experience to visually sieve through the myriad of merchandise. The human traffic can reach epic proportions during weekends so go on a weekday if you can help it. And as anywhere with a crowd, beware of pickpockets.

Always bargain when shopping at ITC Mangga Dua. Something that costs Rp300,000 may be bargained down to Rp200,000 or less. We bought 4 souvenir t-shirts for Rp100,000 but a street peddler at a restaurant later sold the same t-shirts at 5 for Rp100,000. So things may not always be cheaper here and be daring to slash prices.

If you see something that you like, buy it straightaway instead of trying to locate the shop in the retail maze later. The wholesale centre operates from 10am to at 6pm so do go early.

Located at the financial ring circling the famous Selamat Datang (Welcome) Statue about a 20-minute car ride (without traffic jam) from ITC Mangga Dua is the upscale Plaza Indonesia mall.

Doing a conjoin act with the Grand Hyatt, Plaza Indonesia is opened in the mid 80s with more shop space and offices added during a 2007 extension that turned Plaza Indonesia into one of the country's top-of-the-line mixed-use development.

Call me maybe? Plaza Indonesia is also home to the first Starbucks (opened in May 2002) in the country. This lady was nonchalant about us taking photos with the sign so I decided to 'pose' with her in the shot after giving up on waiting for her to move away. The outcome is rather hilarious!

Bvlgari, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Celine... the big brands in luxe are gathered at Plaza Indonesia that sees tai-tais arriving in chauffeured posh cars.

There's also an in-mall amusement deck for kids... and those who refuses to grow up. LOL.

Brand shopping is not the only thing to do at Plaza Indonesia with funky boutique cafes and art-decor restaurants deserving eyeball time.

Even the mall's food court is an interior design spectacle that melted ethnic elements from various cultures into a feast for the eyes and stomach.

Love this industrial-meets-wharf ceiling installation and other artistic detailing that turned Plaza Indonesia's Urban Kitchen into a must-see attraction at the mall.

Taste Paradise
Address : Plaza Indonesia South Gate, 4th Floor #01 JL. M.H. Thamrin kav 28 – 30, Jakarta 10350
Tel : +6221 2992 3838

It is ironic that it took being out of Singapore for me to learn about a home-grown restauranteur made good. Being a Singaporean and somewhat foodie, I was almost embarrassed to admit that I've not heard of Taste Paradise which originated as a humble zi-char stall in a Defu Lane coffeeshop within one of Singapore's industrial park.

Known as Seafood Paradise when it started in 2002, the small business had since grown into the Paradise Group of restaurants with a bevy of signature dining outlets in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, China and Japan. To make it so big from such humble beginnings, the food must be really something.

And it was.

Taste Paradise Jakarta celebrates the Grandeur of Chinese Dining both in taste and ambience.

One amazing feature in the restaurant design of Taste Paradise is the creation of various dining settings - from the casual tea seating at the entrance to wooded nests with plush cushions to oriental boxes where curtains provide a screen for privacy to the resplendent open banquet hall hued in chrome and gold to 2 ornate VIP chambers, the restaurant is a library of eastern decorative styles.

The VIP seating reflected in the mirror door that cleverly serves as a wall to conceal the exquisite chamber behind it.

We were hosted to lunch where we sampled items mainly from its dim sum menu. Our opening dish was the restaurant's popular Snow Mountain Bun (雪山包) with a sandy crust that crumbles to reveal the char siew filling within. Having tried that Hong Kong brand dim sum restaurant that have Singaporeans queuing for hours for its char siew bao, I prefer this version at Taste Paradise. It is not oily and the bao skin's texture flakes like savoury snow. Loved it!

Honey glazed char siew that was fragrantly smoked and charred to perfection paired with crispy skin roast pork with a gelatinous layer of fat that melts in the mouth.

Soup of the day (left) and rice skin rolls wrapped with meat and seafood (cheong fun).

Top Left : Fluffy egg tarts. Top Right : Flavourful chicken feet. Bottom Left : Siew mai with fish roe. Bottom Right : Pumpkin and yam cake.

The showstopper on the table was the flaming claypot kurobuta pork rice (left) while the creamed cod medallions (right) was a fine example of the culinary innovations that are unique to Taste Paradise.

Dessert was a trio of Avocado Ice-Cream, Coonde Oonde Durian Ice-Cream and Aloe Vera Jelly that were almost too cute to eat. Taste ranged from mild to sweet to sour-tangy which brought the sumptuous luncheon to a crescendo. Taste Paradise is Eden on a plate!

Simpang Raya Istana Ayam Pop
Address : Jalan Kramat Raya No. 71, Central Jakarta City, Jakarta 10450, Indonesia
Tel : +6221 392 0161

When the dinner bell rang, we found ourselves at this restaurant with a zesty name, Simpang Raya Istana Ayam Pop. I was really tickled and imagined chicken (ayam) dressed in hip hop clucking the latest Billboard hits. But my expectation of it as the local equivalent of KFC quickly ran afowl when the restaurant's reputation as one of the best places to sample authentic padang food was revealed.

Padang food refers to the cuisine of the Minangkabau people of West Sumatra who favours curry, heavy spices and coconut milk in their recipes.

Dinnertime acrobatics. We were floored by the number of plates the waiters can balance on their arms! Can you count how many plates they are holding?

A train of food is laid out on every dinner table and customers are charged according to what they consume. Uneaten dishes are inherited by the next diners. As the food had been laid out for quite some time, they were cold and the fried chicken was rather dry and tough.

Of all the dishes, my favourites were the tiny fried fish and this... cow brain curry. The nutty flavour of the curd-like brain went really well with the aroma of thick coconut milk.

Perhaps because the dishes lacked warmth and most of the meats were rather overcooked, I didn't quite enjoy the meal although I found the interesting dining experience a fitting wrap for my first tastes of Jakarta. The city has a wide offering of tourist attractions all laid out for a memorable vacation, but most of them needed some reheating to keep delicious and fresh!


This post has been made possible by Jakarta Tourism Office (represented by Russell Cheong, Winsemius Consulting). For more vacation insights on Jakarta, visit http://jakartasavvy.com/