Motormouth From Ipoh – Asian Food & Travel Blog

UPDATED  January 2011 !!! – More Dishes from Nakhon Pathom Special ……

A bowl of less spicy white Tom Yum Seafood Soup; to cater to the tamer palates ….

Kerabu Mango Salad – Minus the punchy ‘cili padi’ (bird’s eye chillies) but still an appetizing and tangy creation that begs to be devoured. Crispy pieces of pungent cuttlefish in abundance; with roasted cashew nuts.

The Thai Style Pork Knuckle braised until a tender finish; served with chopped ‘Ham Choy’ (salted vegetables)

The Thai Style Fried Chicken with an unbelievably juicy centre; almost like baked chicken with a crispy skin.

Read on for the ORIGINAL post with more signature dishes (including a special Seafood Souffle, the perennial favourite Tom Yum Seafood in its most fiery self, and Pandan Chicken) ……

Remember that recent Return of Thai Wong – Nakhon Pathom Special post? Yup, surprise, surprise. After merely weeks, he and his Thai wife had to relocate to Restoran Soon Hoong once again (this was where they moved to from KK way back in 2008), about half a kilometre’s away from Restoran Sun Hui Seng where they relaunched the Nakhon Pathom Thai cuisine brand on 10.10.10.

Thai-style Otak-Otak (RM16/USD5.20 for a small portion) – A creamy/eggy souffle loaded with seafood ingredients. Prawns, squids, clams and even flower crabs.

Officially, that brief stint in Sun Hui Seng ended after a somewhat bitter event (not going into details here). And thankfully (graciously?) the management of Soon Hoong Restaurant welcomed Ah Wong and wife with open arms. Smart choice, I’d reckon. Given the fact that her cooking draws the crowd like no other, and the place is definitely more spacious than Sun Hui Seng Restaurant.

Look for that banner. If you’re coming from Laluan Perajurit 1, after passing by the flats on your right, go straight and you’ll reach a T-intersection. You won’t miss this restaurant facing the field.

And aside from our usual orders of Seafood Tom Yum and Thai fried chicken, they do serve a myriad of  authentic and a handful of modernized Thai dishes.

Rojak Tauhu (RM5/USD1.60 for small portion) – A surprisingly good deal, with lots of velvety smooth beancurd deep-fried to a crispy finish, then topped with lots of chopped peanuts and a sweetish gravy.

This time around, we let Ah Wong himself threw recommendations. Instead of going for the same old favourites of ours, his wife whipped up a fantastic feast comprising of new dishes on the menu. The dishes were not overwhelmingly spicy (maybe because Grandma tagged along?), yet retaining that piquant charm and robust kick we have grown to love since their KK days, roughly half a decade ago.

Thai Fish Cakes (RM5/USD1.60 for small portion) – Also known as ‘Tod Man Pla’, the patties of fish with chopped crunchy French beans and coriander was a crowd-pleaser.

Green Curry Chicken (RM8/USD2.60 for a small portion) – A bowl of creamy concoction laden with flavours from the basil leaves and various herbs, crunchy long beans and strips of deboned chicken fillets. We ended up getting small bowls and slurped on the gravy.

Spicy Stir-fried Fish Fillets with Basil Leaves (RM8/USD2.60 for small portion) – They use fresh Thai basil leaves for the cooking, that you either love them or hate them, due to the distinctive taste of basil. The sweet-spicy gravy coating the fillets of fish was the perfect foil to the pungent and sharp flavour of the fresh herbs though.

The most un-Thai dish of the night? Mixed Vegetables with Prawns (RM7/USD2.30 for a small portion) completed the ensemble, supplementing the meal with some fibres.

Succulent pieces of Pandan Chicken (RM1.30/USD0.40 per piece) deserve an order, unless you’re a die hard fan of their Thai fried chicken. But even then, just go for a piece or two of this. No condiments necessary, the juicy pieces of deboned chicken tasted wonderfully fragrant.

And the piece de resistance of the evening; Thai-style Otak Otak (also known as Spicy Seafood Souffle in some menu). Only available on weekends though.

The ‘Otak-otak’ looked mighty harmless and passable, BUT a forkful or two of the creamy mash of coconut cream, fish paste and lots of herbs revealed embedded treasure trove of seafood within. Prawns, squids, clams, and even flower crabs provided the bites, while the addition of basil leaves perfumed the whole glob of delectable creation baked in an aluminium foil. Don’t miss this if you’re there on a weekend.

The other dishes were all crowd-pleasers, and understandably so since Ah Wong himself set the combination of dishes for us. Notice that we skipped the Tom Yum this time around? Not sorely missed, since the green curry provided much oomph on itself. Tasted somewhat like a creamier and palatable version of Hakka Lui Cha soup.

The restaurant was already attracting a sizeable crowd that evening, since news travel extremely fast especially in a food-loving community like Ipoh. We had to endure a 30 minutes wait for the food, but we were not complaining since we knew that the wife still does all the cooking by herself. No hiring of sous chef or assistants to take over the wok, though Ah Wong does help with the serving, garnishing, cutting and such.

Nakhon Pathom Special @ Restoran Soon Hoong
60, Lebuh Bercham Selatan,
Desa Bercham,
31400 Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia.
Telephone : 017-507 3009 (Thai Wong)
Business hours : About 6.00pm onwards.
GPS Coordinates : E101 7? 26.1? N4 37? 25.7?
Updated Google Map to Nakhon Pathom Special

** Don’t miss the FIRST part of the review, with even MORE dishes @  Thai Wong Back in Action!