Going to that charming resto

Bangkok - After boarding a taxi on one end of Central World and, thirty minutes after, just right in front on another end of the same mall, Kawadjan and moi decided to get off our taxi (nice guy because he initially didnt charge us full for the fare but Kawadjan insisted) and took the BTS. I honestly didn't know where we are going except to this special restaurant owned by K's friend.

Fashion Diary commercial first: my fave Maison Margiela AIDS tee, DP pants, Longchamp bag, Giordano Concepts sneakers from Kiks, Wonder Anatomie pin from K and Marc by Marc Jacobs snake bracelet from Liz. See, I really use the stuff my friends gave me.

After going to the last BTS station, we had to ride a taxi for about 30 minutes more before arriving to this little labyrinth street where at the end of waits a tuktuk. By that time I had to check my bag for my passport just in case we had to go through immigration. Medyo, it felt very close to the border na, actually.

We passed by rows of shanty houses and other clusttered buildings, to finally arrive at Baan Rabiang Nam, which roughly translates to River Restaurant (yata?). Anyway, the resto is beside the river. And no, don't ask me what river it was. I do remember K telling me we could have taken the riverboat cruise going there but then again he knows I'd have to change outfit for that, non? Prada Cruise 2009, perhaps?

For my Ilonggo friends, daw Villa Beach or Roxas Beach lang kami. It reminds me of Mang Inasal, actually. Hehehe!

Except there's little cute touches like that banca effect tableu.

Here's K with his good friend Fred who owns the place. Such a charming and generous guy. He totally gave us the best area and lots of freebies. The service was prompt and efficient. Not to mention we had a wonderful chat with Fred. Was that Germany that they're opening a branch with his partners?

The food was typical Thai but not overly spicy. I guess they know we couldn't take too much heat. The thing about the resto and what most gourmands and foodies recommend is to go to places where the locals frequent. It is such a place, fully packed with locals, when we arrived around 10pm. We started with pomelo salad loaded with dried chillies (!) and garlic. Sharap!

For soup we had this coconut seafood medley, winning the best in presentation award.

Now this fried fish coated with garlic was such a revelation for moi. I could have eaten only that. This sealed the deal for moi and I wouldn't mind the epic trek just to taste it again.

And K's fave, Somtam, a papaya shrimp salad. I initially resisted eating the raw string beans because I hated the sulfuric aftertaste but was pleasantly surprised that it's different. More like singkamas or guava, honest!

This is their kitchen area. Looks like a set in some cultural village, non?

Do check out their site and please try it sometime when you are in Bangkok. It's an adventure you shouldn't miss.