Friday, November 11, 2011

Banrie Bai Ka Prao Bork, Bangkok Thailand (where the locals dine)

On our last night in Bangkok, we met up with my friend from Singapore, who was also in town visiting a buddy who lives in Bangkok. Not only was I looking forward to seeing my friend, but I was also excited to dine out with her friend that lives in Bangkok. After a couple days of amazing street food eating, I was curious as to what the locals eat for dinner. We met up at Banrie Bai Ka Prao Bork (what a mouth full!) located near the Ekamai BTS station. The Ekamai district has a lot of bars and restaurants but is apparently where the locals and expats hang out. This place is so non-touristy that the waiters speak minimal English, and you can barely find anything about the restaurant online in English.

The restaurant has a sizable courtyard but we opted to sit inside because it was raining.

The Tom Yum soup was a great rainy day dish. The soup was filled with mushrooms, plump shrimp and chicken. I enjoyed the aromatic lemongrass flavor and the tang of the soup.

Fried kang kong (water spinach) with spicy sauce was sort of like tempura vegetables. I have only had stir fried kang kong before, not deep fried. I actually couldn't stop eating these. They were crunchy with an airy breading, but were not greasy.

The green curry chicken was fiery even though the sauce seemed deceptively watery. This spice level was what we were hoping for.

The grilled Pork was my favorite dish of the night and one of Banrie's specialties. It looked simple but the meat was cooked perfectly. The pork was so buttery and melted in your mouth. It was also adequately seasoned so you didn't need a sauce and could eat it on its own, so as to savor the porkiness.

Papaya salad with and dried shrimp. I loved the addition of the salted egg.

The Pad Thai was very tasty. This version was similar to the ones served back home, unlike the one that we got from the street vendor a few days ago. Both versions were good. Unliked the geasy Thai takeout that I get at home, everything here tasted fresh and not oily.

The Otak was not what I had expected. It looked and tasted different from the Singaporean version that is wrapped in a banana leaf. Here the fish paste and egg mixture is loaded with lots of seafood, and wrapped in foil and steamed. It was fun to dig into the dome of spicy otak to find whole mussels, crab and prawns.

The whole fish was nice and crispy on the outside. The fish was served with a spicy sauce.

To top of the night, we ended with their coffee which apparently is very popular.

Apart from the otak, the types of dishes offered didn't seem any different from you can find back in the States. However, I do have to say that everything was delicious and cooked fresh, with lots of spice and flavor.

Banrie Bai Ka Prao Bork
Sukhumvit Soi 63,
Bangkok, 10110, Thailand

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