The Thailand Winter Getaway Series 2018: Eat and Drink in Udon Thani

Udon Thani is one of the 4 major cities in the Isaan (Northeastern Thailand), with impressive city development as well as an increasingly-vibrant food scene. Though it's an almost 600km drive from Bangkok (and 55km away from the Laos border), an internal flight will only take an hour from the capital.

In previous years, I've recommended Ayuthaya, Khao Yai, Chiang Rai and LopBuri as viable winter getaway destinations in Thailand, this year's going to be something different, as the foodie in me takes over to recommend Udon Thani as THE place (listen up, Michelin) for food lovers to visit during the cool winter months.

1. Samuay and Sons: MUST-VISIT for foodies!

The bustling kitchen at Samuay and Sons

In recent years, numerous local chefs have taken it upon themselves to demonstrate the depth and diversity of Thai food culture. In the realms of Isaan, Chef Num of Samuay and Sons, I dare say, might be the best in the craft, sparing no detail in his attempt to share the 'knowledge of the earth' to his diners.

View this post on Instagram

[First Impressions] @samuay_n_sons This was a meal that got me thinking. As I went through the tasting menu, I pondered, whether my parents, or even my wife, would truly enjoy the food. Chef Num is a passionate man with a mission to preserve the food wisdom buried deep in the heartlands of Isaan. He forages, works with farmers and local ceramic artists, digs into North-Eastern Thai cultures and presents dishes with deep roots, sprinkled with his modern techniques and creativity. Food-wise, if there is one word I can find to describe it, it's "earthy". Chef Num does not hold back. Any dish could easily be put together using 30 different herbs and spices, and the Larb Nuea was so spicy my Thai companions emptied their glasses in a hurry. Personally, I enjoyed it very much, especially the seafood curry mousse and the Plaa Yawn dish. I do wonder how the dishes can be balanced (authenticity vs mainstream) more to suit a wider audience, but for Thai traditional cooking wisdom to continue (and even possibly thrive), we need chefs like Num, to persevere and not waver. Susu! #strangerinudon #samuayandsons #isaancuisine #thaiwisdom #authentic #thaicuisine #thaifood #strangerfirstimpression

A post shared by Eddie Yii (@strangerinbangkok) on Dec 14, 2018 at 1:22am PST

2. Beyond Cafe: Great vibe, good ambience, decent desserts.

Helmed by Chef Ning, winning challenger on Iron Chef Thailand, we naturally had high hopes for  Beyond Cafe.

Huge place.

One of the many different sections of the cafe.

It proved to be one of the largest cafes we've seen in Thailand, and one with great ambiance. The 2 desserts we ordered were acceptable but unspectacular. Definitely a place worth checking out!


3. Dose Espresso/ Dose Factory: Probably the best coffee in Udon Thani.

Recommended by friends in the food industry, these 2 establishments completely won us over with their excellent coffee.

Look out for this when you are looking for Dose Espresso.

Dose Espresso is a typical small cafe serving mainly drinks with simple snacks and desserts. Dose Factory, on the other hand, is a more substantial project, providing a full food menu that impressed us tremendously. I dare say Dose Factory will be a commercial success even in Bangkok.

Dose Factory's extravagant front door.

Warehouse-style restaurant, reminds me of Jam Factory in Bangkok.

One of the 2 inventive but delicious pastas we ordered, the spicy carbonara, which had a large dose of paprika.

Tacos, which made my companion David very happy indeed!

4. Le Bonheur: Unexpected hidden sanctuary.

It took us a while to find Le Bonheur, which is technically a European-style cottage in a little soi, surrounded by low-cost houses.

The signs are not exactly obvious.

Definitely has the hidden-garden-by-the-Koi-pond feel.

Le Bonheur is a French pastry shop. Swiping through immaculate pictures on an iPad, the chef's mum painstakingly went through the entire menu in detail before leaving us to make our decisions.

The desserts we ordered arrived equally picturesque.

What a beauty.

Green tea soft cookie.

Taste-wise, I can only say I've had better soft cookies and French pastry in Thailand, but considering they are in Udon Thani, the whole Le Bonheur package is extremely commendable. This is probably my pick-of-the-bunch to spend your afternoon-tea hours in the city.

So there you go, my simple eat-and-drink guide in Udon, summarized for you after a deliberate 2D1N food trip during winter 2018. As always, I will continue to update this guide if I find more spots during subsequent visits.

Till next winter!

Bun Meat and Cheese by Homeburg: #thekawayiis Experiment

Update September 2019:

Bun Meat and Cheese's pop-up store at 72 Courtyard has concluded. Taiki and his team are now looking for a new permanent space and will probably spend the next few months appearing sporadically on short individual events. Follow their IG for more updates and I will give you more coverage here once the new permanent location is up!

***********

Everyone has their own favourite burger.

Some like the messy, greasy decadence, some like it dripping with melted cheese, some like the presence of vegetables to make the burger feel healthy.

Then comes Taiki, the young man absolutely obsessed with burgers, whose claim to fame was his determination to engineer a burger to his own perfection, to the point he could only make up to 4 a night, resulting in a queue that could drag for months.

Taiki and me.

Just over a week ago, Taiki finally opened his burger stand, simply called Bun Meat and Cheese, aiming to satisfy more burger fans by making 100 burgers accessible 6 days a week (except Monday).

Due to the marketing momentum Homeburg has built over the last year, expectations are high. I have thus brought my family, my 7 and 4 year-old included, down to 72 Courtyard last Saturday (likely the busiest day of the week) to 'test the system'.

Look out for this sign, right outside Beam club, on the 2nd floor of 72 Courtyard.

We arrived on the dot, at 4.59pm (actually a minute before they officially open), to find ourselves with queue numbers 45 to 47 (!!). So, the first step is to get a number (1 for each burger) and be told when to be back to place your order. We were told to return at 6pm.

My daughter enjoying the interesting journey to the burger.

The sun was setting, and the open area on the 2nd floor of 72 Courtyard would inevitably become more comfortable soon, but at a couple of weeks before Songkran, the searing temperature in the late afternoon was just too much for us to wait for an hour. We spent the next hour having some drinks at the nearby Mellow Thong Lor.

Still finding it interesting.

So we grabbed our seats near the burger joint at 6pm sharp, and were summoned to make our orders slightly before 6.10pm.

Patiently waiting.

At 6.28pm (18 minutes after ordering), our 3 burgers were ready. Please note that for ease of consumption, your burgers will be cut into half, and vegetables are on free-flow at the side of the counter, should you require any.

Vegetables, available as a self-service option.

Taiki dissecting our burger.

I shall not go into the specifics of the burger, you can easily find out through many online sources if you are interested. After trying 2 variants at Bun Meat and Cheese, I feel that for the first-timer, a good choice will be to go straight for the Homeburg Prototype #1 (380THB), as the bacon, gherkins and jalapeno will give more taste dimension to every bite.

The Homeburg Prototype #1.

Execution-wise, I feel that it falls slightly short of what I had at Homeburg (maybe 85%).

But wait, making 4 burgers a night (with a possible monthly turnover of 0 baht) through pure passion is a completely different animal to running a burger stand selling 100 burgers (potentially turning over more than a million baht/month) on a nightly basis.

No one said it would be exactly the same. Producing the same quality will be infinitely more challenging.

What I love about Taiki is his single-minded focus to perfectly-engineer 1 product, therefore I have no doubt he will be attempting to improve everyday, or die trying.

Our burger exercise ended at around 7pm (took us 2 hours on a Saturday evening), with my 7-year-old son nearly finishing his entire burger. My wife and I both agree that Bun Meat and Cheese already provides one of the best burger-eating experiences in the city, despite having room to further improve.

If I can do it on a Saturday evening in the middle of the hottest-ever summer in Bangkok, with kids in tow, it's time for you to make the burger trip.

Birthday Letters from Daddy: Noah turns 7!

Dear Noah,

And so, in the blink of an eye, you are 7.

Where did all the time go?

I must admit, I have almost forgotten how look like when you were little, but that doesn't take away the fact that the years have flown past and it seems like yesterday when you were this little bald newborn sleeping on my chest, hardly longer than my forearm.

Handsome little man. Photo credit: Ohtography

A brilliant young man is on the brink of bursting out of your lanky frame, so in this new year, I hope to give you 2 important reminders.

Firstly, be aware of your surroundings. Focusing on the task at hand is good, but neglecting the happenings around you might translate to being inconsiderate, or even become the cause of danger to yourself/others.

This also applies to being sensitive to the others' feelings. Say the right things at the right time, and always strive to encourage positive energy if you can help it. Truth sometimes hurts, and is often so obvious that it doesn't have to be spoken. You are a clever boy, you will understand in time to come.

Precious memories with 88-yr-old great-grandma.

Secondly, you don't always have to win.

Participation is about giving it your best shot. In most cases, there can only be one winner. You can only make sure you play fair and square, putting your best foot forward. That way, regardless of the result, you can hold your head high, as you have not let anyone down.

Happy Birthday Noah.

So my little 7-year-old first-born, the rapidly growing boy who's still gleaming with child-like wonder, happy birthday.

Love,
Daddy

Stranger in Bangkok's Retty food tour: International at Asoke

Hungry people at our first stop, Cali's Grill.

Over the last couple of years, the scary prospect of leading a food tour popped up many times. As much as I have confidence in my own recommendations, taste is subjective, and I will be shattered if things didn't work as planned, leaving restaurants/attendees disappointed.

This was the case until the possibility to curate a food tour for Retty Thailand popped up. Retty is the most popular foodie app in Japan, with the sole purpose of creating an active foodie community and a platform to facilitate it. It plans to do the same in Thailand, albeit in small baby steps, as it has only set foot here for slightly more than a year.

Knowing I will be leading a small group of pure foodies who have an open mind to accept all kinds of food, and a bunch of trustworthy restaurant owners/groups to back me up, I summoned enough courage to lead my first ever food tour: "International in Asoke", focusing on a comfortable walking tour around Asoke BTS Station/Sukhumvit MRT Station to enjoy a variety of cuisines.

Stop 1: Cali's Grill, representing Ecuadorian and Mexican cuisine

As the tour started pretty late at 1pm, Cali's Grill, with the immense hospitality of chef/owner Mauricio Zurita, was the perfect place to start. We totally enjoyed the South-American cuisine, especially the lapingachos, which are Ecuadorian potato patties. They were a joy to eat, especially when paired with Mauricio's signature salsa. 

Lapingachos, still thinking of it today

Mauricio's signature salsa, which I think goes well with everything

Assorted Quesadillas

Stop 2: Paris Mikki, representing authentic French pastry

Without being overly-naggy on the excellence of Paris Mikki's products on my blog, I will let pictures do the talking.

Copa Cabana

My recent favourite, the St. Lucia, which is a refreshing tangy mango and passionfruit-based dessert

Stop 3: La Dotta La Grassa, representing Italian cuisine (permanently-closed)

After a brief sweet respite at Paris Mikki, we only had to cross the road to reach our next stop, the whopping new little sister of Thong Lor fresh pasta institution La Dotta. The classy yet casual pink vibe La Dotta La Grassa represented was apt in the mid-afternoon laze. 

Linguine Vongole, a favourite among the ladies

I personally preferred this manly Wagyu Mac n Cheese more

The Bomboloni bar is one of LDLG's signatures, we of course couldn't miss trying them out

Final stop: Ping's Asoke, representing Singaporean and Thai-Teochew cuisine

How can an Asoke food tour led by me not include a visit to one of my absolute favourites in the city?

This time, however, aside of my beloved fish maw soup, I specially ordered a Singapore Popiah (fresh spring roll) party platter and Singapore curry puffs (both only available through special order or catering, not in Ping's everyday menu), to fit into the theme of international cuisine.

Mouth-watering fish maw soup, my kids are growing up with this as their favourite dish in the city

Singapore Popiah platter, a foodie do-it-yourself activity

Singapore curry puff, in my opinion, the best version of it in Bangkok

Caught engrossed in foodie conversation with food writer Nianne-Lynne Hendricks

Phew, that was an epic food journey for an afternoon's work wasn't it. 

I was glad to see happy faces and full tummies at the end of the tour. I could ask for nothing more.

Photo credits: Retty Thailand

Cookie R&D: Stranger in Bangkok x David's Soft Cookies

Last weekend, I traveled 800km, deep into Isaan, to the border city of Nakhon Phanom, to spend 8 hours spread over 2 days, in the kitchen of David Okamoto, founder of David's Soft Cookies.

This is a journey not many people will be interested to take, but for me, it was one of the most exciting trips ever, because not only was I able to share precious time with a good friend, I could also be personally involved in coming up with an all-new cookie flavour in collaboration with the cookie master himself.

More importantly, I got to see for myself how passionate and dedicated David is over his craft, and understood that my faith in him over the years is well-placed.

Stranger in Bangkok doing his part.

I was very excited when David pitched the idea of working on a cookie flavour together. I love conceptualizing new dishes and flavours, even at home while cooking for my family. We eventually settled on coming up with a lemon white chocolate cookie, so here goes....

We need some green lime and yellow lemons of course.

Unfortunately, the local green lime zest tasted too unforgiving, so we could only use the yellow lemon zest.

Blanch multiple times to get rid of the bitterness.

No time to confit multiple times, so once will do for this trial batch.

The way David manipulated the dough, I think he can shape the cookies blindfolded with hands behind his back.

Into the oven!

Voila!

3 versions of the same flavour, all excelling in its own way.

I have always known that baking is a science, but this exercise convinced me that in baking, aside of talent, discipline and precision is everything. A slight tweak in the recipe (even 1 additional egg yolk for a batch of 12 cookies) will give a completely different result.

I was also shocked to note that a traditional chewy soft cookie has almost twice the amount of sugar a normal David's cookie has, though it does not taste doubly sweet at all.

In conclusion, our lemon white chocolate cookie was a major success. Everyone who tried it (albeit a small sample size) had good things to say. Then again, some fine-tuning is required, to further enhance the flavour profile as well as the outlook of the cookie.

Release the lemon cookie please?

I do not know whether David will eventually release the cookie. I only know that when he does (if he does), I will be a really really proud man, and do make sure you readers support me by ordering and telling me how you like it!