Every time I travel to a new place, I always try to visit a public market and a supermarket to spot and sample the local produce. It is usually a hotel for food and accommodations but if given the chance, it is street food for me. In Singapore and Malaysia, the pièce de résistance was the Hawker Center; incredible variety of food, affordable prices and rigorous hygiene standards.
In Cebu, street foods are usually the STK versions: sugba (grill), tuwa (boil) and kilaw (raw). Some are deep fried using recycled vegetable oils from fast food joints that the fried fish, squid balls and ukoy (shrimp fritters) all smell like fried chicken!
It is always a welcome development for something new on the street food scene and your favourite food columnist and wife were invited to a restaurant called Little Saigon Big Bangkok (Andres Abellana Extension, near the Guadalupe Barangay Hall, email: littlesaigonbig bangkok.com., phones 415-0288 and 09173119859). I have visited only Vietnam while my wife has been to both countries and it is always an advantage to have sampled foods in its original form. The proprietor and chef, Carmel Therese Almadrones was very busy cooking and it was the husband, Mark, who acted as our personal guide in this culinary tour of both countries.
Appetizer was Mieng Kam with origins from Thailand and Laos. It means "eating many things in one bite" and it starts with the leaf like that of the sesame plant (Sesamum indicum). It may contain coconut shavings and peanuts with spices like shallot, garlic, chilies, lime, etc. Very complex flavours with sweet, salty, sour, chili hotness and a slight bitter taste and I paired it with a red wine with so many notes, the Carabas Rouge Baron Philippe de Rothschild, 2007, Languedoc, France. And the two matched perfectly. Wow!
Second item was Goong Cha Nam Pla (Raw Prawn Salad). The flavours were again complex, definitely hot with the use of chilies, strong garlic taste (whole bulbs), slightly bitter from the ampalaya, sour (lime), salty (fish sauce) and the sweetness of the fresh prawn.
The Somtum (Green Papaya Salad) was served and the taste was easier to dissect with flavours coming from sugar, lime, fish sauce and Thai basil. Remember the movie "The Scent of Green Papaya"?
Soup was the Pho Bo (Beef and Noodle Soup) and immediately Mark warned that their version needed improvements. They had to use smoked pork because they could not get the right cuts of beef.
In Vietnam, I tasted the Pho Bo and the key to its success is in its broth which takes hours to prepare. I did ask an extra bowl, poured boiling water to blanch the garnishes (green onion, basil, bean sprouts & coriander) and reduce chances of viral infection.
The Massaman Curry was served and you can immediately discern the authentic curry taste which takes so much patience to make. It was in Singapore that I saw the preparation of curry mix: you add the coconut milk, palm sugar, tamarind sauce, etc. For ordinary households, open na lang a jar of that Indian curry.
The Thai satay (with two types of dips) is similar to our local barbecue varieties and the peanut sauce is entirely different but easy to assimilate. The bottle of the Carabas Rouge was nearly empty and it was time to try the Homemade Peanut Butter Cake, a fitting end to this brave new world of exciting flavours.
I observed the intense dedication of Chef Carmel Therese Almadrones in preparing the dishes and it can be resolved that the street food landscape in Cebu will definitely be raised to a whole new level.