mango tree meal

airports are not exactly known for their gourmet meals and since i am quite a frequent traveller, i have yet to say let's fly down to this or that airport for a fantastic dish, not that i am any kind of globe-trotting gourmand or epicure.
but i have been zipping and zapping around some airports in the region over the past few years and have yet to find a restaurant that serves pretty decent food as one is waiting for a flight or is in transit elsewhere.
and this includes airports like klia, suvarbhumi, changi, sukarno-hatta and funnily enough, the kabul airport - nope, no restaurant there the last and only time i was there in 2003.
but i must say, drinkdrankeat's recommendation of the mango tree at the suvarnabhumi airport in bangkok was spot-on.
the amazing thing is they actually have branches in london, tokyo, busan and good old kuching. kuching? go figure that.
i guess their owners, the coca group - you know that chain of steamboat restaurants with the special sauce - have big plans to conquer the world with their version of thai cuisine.
but as you know, and i know, any good thai restaurant must be able to make good pad thai.
suffice to say, and it is my test of any decent or good thai restaurant, the mango tree pad thai was just great with its juicy prawns, crunchy beansprouts, the al-dente flat rice noodles and the filligree of an egg omelette spread like a net over the entire dish.
it is as good as any pad thai in thailand as pad thai is the thai nasi lemak as far as i am concerned.
i mean, anyone from street hawkers to hole-in-the-walls to mom-and-pop restaurants and fancy dining places have their own recipe for this dish and it is pretty hard to spoil it.
but mango tree did not disappoint me. fact is, it was pretty good though i had to put lashings of chilli flakes and fish sauce to make it a spicy and tangy experience.
that's just me, i guess!
of course, the name brought back memories of another the mango tree restaurant that closed down in bangsar some time last year.
the mango tree in kuala lumpur was owned by ricky parlanti, a ninth-generation chef whom i first met over a pint of guinness in a bangsar pub after he had finished his shift at the carcosa seri negara.
guess i have to fly down to kuching for my fix of mango tree. and i will!