Fresh Asian street food
THE BEST way to savor the true flavors of food in most Asian countries like Bangkok and Vietnam is on hawker stalls along the streets where the freshest of ingredients are cooked right before your eyes. My last trip to Bangkok gave me a culinary insight of a vibrant and exciting Thai cuisine that is simply prepared by the locals in the streets.
This is the very concept that husband and wife tandem, Mark and Carmel Almadrones are recreating in their Little Saigon Big Bangkok, (LSBB) a snug restaurant reminiscent of street food set-up. An old house with a big yard along Abellana Extension behind the Guadalupe Barangay Hall in Cebu City has been spruced up and the predominant use of bamboo gives it a nice local touch. A simple dome tent covers the main dining area illuminated by hanging paper lamps. The unpretentious open kitchen is teeming with activity with Chef Carmel and her cooks behind the pots and pans.
Mark Almadrones is a New Yorker whose Filipino roots (his father hails from Quezon Province) have lured him to come home. His wanderlust has brought him to so many interesting American states and Asian cities, especially Vietnam and Thailand. He is by profession an IT Executive and a gourmet most of the time. Mark found the perfect match in Talamban lass Carmel Dahuya who enjoys cooking for him and his colleagues at work. They both love Vietnamese and Thai cuisine. The couple found themselves traveling to South East Asian countries and eating to their hearts’ delight. With a love for cooking and determination to improve her skills, Carmel took a nine-month Professional Thai Cuisine Program in Le Cordon Bleu in Bangkok. She has been cooking up refreshingly delightful dishes in LSBB.
Dinner at LSBB with Mark was spiced up with interesting details of every dish that Chef Carmel prepared for us to enjoy. Chef Carmel prepares her sauces everyday from fresh ingredients. Her Tom Yam Goong has the juice of pounded fresh shrimp heads mixed with the condiments for a great tasting Thai soup I enjoyed fired up with chili. Thai Chicken Salad with strips of chicken tossed in calamansi, lemon grass, shallots, garlic, cilantro, chili and fish sauce was refreshing after the spicy Tom Yum.
Just like the Tagalog cookery, patis or fish sauce is essential in the preparation of many Thai and Vietnamese dishes and is usually served as a dipping sauce (nuroc cham pha) mixed with vinegar or lemon juice, crushed chili and sweetened with sugar. A big plate of Vietnamese Crispy Crepe or Banh Xeo made of coconut milk is Chef Carmel’s version without using eggs. The crepe was filled with fresh bean sprouts, shrimps, tofu and served with two kinds dipping sauces—ar-jard (cucumber, shallots, kaffir lime leaves in vinegar and sweetened with sugar and nuroc cham pha with crisp lettuce, mint leaves and cilantro on the side A classic Vietnamese baguette sandwich—the Banh Mi was filled with Mark’s own specialty, the 10-hour smoked pulled pork shoulder with pickled vegetables and fresh herbs. Mark has an ingenious smoking device that was custom built under his strict supervision. He proudly told us that smoking-American style is a technique he picked up in one of his Texas trips.
Smoking is widely used in Tagalog cooking, like the popular tinapa or smoked fish. Our last dish was a Hanoi favorite, Bun Cha. The platter has an assortment of grilled pork and meatballs, cha gio or crispy Vietnamese spring roll, rice noodles, fresh greens and dipped in a bowl of nuroc cham. For a sweet ending, Chef Carmel served her Rice Cooker Chocolate Cake with peanut butter flavored with kaffir lime juice and house-make Mango Ice Cream with peppermint and kaffir lime juice.
