LIFESTYLE Authenticity from a lifetime of memories
Conrad features the best of Thailand fare
Conrad features the best of Thailand fare
Thailand was a vital part of the essential travel plan of every serious hippie in the 60s. It was the last airline hub before the more serious destinations Kathmandu and New Delhi, considered the universal centers for beads and genuine embroidered cotton saris for resale in Manila, San Francisco, London, and other centers of the hippie movement.
BOOM FROM WAR
Bangkok eventually became a major tourist destination, thanks to hundreds of thousands of American servicemen on R&R (rest and recreation) from the Vietnam War front next door. International traders from India and Nepal moved their shops to Bangkok, making it a bargain hunter’s paradise.
With the tourism boom, development spread to the Thai countryside, beach fronts, and islands. Millions of tourists discovered healthy, herb-y Thai food; Thai restaurants were soon sprouting around the world. Tom
yum (spicy sour soup) became an international menu item and phad
thai (Thai spicy-sweet noodles) surpassed chow mien’s (Cantonese fried noodles) popularity.
CHASING INGREDIENTS
Demand for green mango rose worldwide. Gourmets and gourmands discovered the addictive green mango salad with crispy catfish. Supermarkets felt a strong demand for green papaya, which is grated and pounded with fish sauce, dried shrimp, lime juice, and palm sugar for another popular raw Thai salad.
In Manila, Thai food started to be available in various settings: Greenbelt, the Pen, mom-and-pop eateries. Suddenly, everyone was searching for the ginger-like galangal flown in by jet setter friends. Lemongrass and wansoy (coriander) roots had new uses. Someone discovered that hairy basil, local name sulasi, was being sold cheap by Quiapo vendors of amulets and abortifacient herbs. Galangal, local name langkawas, was also on sale every Friday as a natural herbal cure for calluses and corns.
Today, these herbs are no longer rare. They are sold openly in most supermarkets. Many can even be bought as seedlings from weekend open markets.
AUTHENTIC TASTE
But using the right ingredients does not guarantee authentic Thai– tasting dishes. Cooking is not an exact science, and even the best cooks go by feel and memory, memories of scents and taste.
That is where a native Thai chef can beat any chef from other countries when it comes to Thai food. A Thai chef has many years of experience under his toque with the food of his childhood, of his entire life. And that is probably why many chefs, Filipino and foreign, trooped to the Conrad Manila’s “Flavors of Thailand” at the Brasserie on 3, with guest chefs Apichat Sea-Jiang and Chanyut Kaewkra from Hilton Phuket Arcadia Resort and Spa.
We went on opening day and filled up on our favorites: tom yum (hot and sour soup) and khao neeo mamuang (sweet sticky rice with mango), yam talay (spicy seafood salad with crunchy vegetables), tom kha
gai (chicken coconut milk soup with galangal, lemongrass, and kaffi lime leaves), and poo phad ponh karee (stir-fried curried crab with celery and spring onions).
No less than Thai ambassador Thanatip Upatising praised the entire Conrad staff for paying attention to the most meticulous details such as the carved fruits and vegetables and manually ground sauces.
Cooking is not an exact science, and even the best cooks go by feel and memory, memories of scents and taste. That is where a native Thai chef can beat any chef from other countries when it comes to Thai food.