6.170
24 (Wed) June 2015
Khao Soi Goong
2.5
at Siripanna Villa Resport & Spa [room service]
-Chiang Mai-
solo
Mission to Thailand + Personal Deviation, Day 1.
In Chiang Mai. Arrived tonight. Here to support a workshop on tobacco and trade, Thursday and Friday. Hanging around for the weekend. Getting back to Manila on Sunday evening.
Getting in late, nothing open within walking distance, too tired to go out, seeing a range of local dishes on the room service menu, I stayed in for dinner.
Khao soi is a Thai noodle dish. Traditionally, the noodles are made by rolling out the egg-based dough into a flat sheet, which is steamed to cook, then cut by knife into wide strips. Nowadays, dried and packaged noodles are commonly used. In any case, the noodles come in a spicyish orange curry-cocunut soup, often with chicken (gai), beef (nuea), pork (moo), or shrimp (goong), topped with crispy noodles. One of the most famous/popular dishes in northern Thailand, as well as Lao and Myanmar — where it may have originated.
The khao soi was okay. My first experience with the dish, it seemed familiar in flavor, similar to tom yum kung, but richer and without the tang of the tamarind. The texture of the noodles, on the other hand, was quite interesting, hefty and chewy, punctuated by the crunch of the garnish. Still, I don’t think that this would ever become a personal favorite, as I tend to prefer noodle soups with clear drinkable broth.