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!

glen bangkok

as this is written, another group of guys are flying to bangkok for another stag holiday. unfortunately, i am not one of them.
damn! work and life gets in the way of the stag. not that it is much of a stag these days with more of drinking and eating and bit of this and that, here and there.
the last stag in november 2007 was quite a revelation as far as the single malts that we imbibed to while away the day as we await the night's outing and entertainment.
almost everyone - we called ourselves the dirty dozen - brought along a single malt. some brought white spirits but those were not even consumed. a pity. but that's how it is these days. everyone is a single malt snob.
and lo! and behold, most of the single malts had the word glen on the label.
the first glen was the glenlivet 15 years old which everyone agreed was the definitive single malt of the stag.
as written earlier, it is a rather summery creamy whisky that leaves one refreshed and most of us swigged on it as we made our way through the warren of streets in bangkok for our night out.
suffice to say the glenlivet 15 year old whetted our appetite for the night.
we had another 15 year old, not that we were paedophiles but this was the glenfiddich 15 year old single malt. it used to be called the solera but the new bottlings do not have that on the label.
despite that, the whisky is still vatted in the solera vat which is never emptied but is always kept at least half full tp create a single malt with character and intense complexity.
and that is why the sweet speyside 15 year old made good company for us in bangkok.
it had a spicy side that went well with all things thai - the land of the birds eye chilli and other hot happening things that make life truly wonderful.
the last glen that made it to our lips and onwards was the glenmorangie port wood finish which is one of the better glenmorangie bottlings ever. it combines my two favourites - single malts and port.
with a certain fruity nose, the 43 percent alcohol by volume single malt is smooth and sweet with a tinge of brine to eventually lull you into a wonderful state of relaxation.
the straw-coloured single malt has a lingering finish with hints of spice to make it a wonderful dram and a great ending to a fantastic night. which some of us had in bangkok.
unfortunately, this 12-year-old single malt has been discontinued in autumn 2007 and is now known as the quinta ruban, after the quintas or wines estates which provide the port pipes to mature the single malt.
fact of the matter, glenmorangie now has new bottlings with new names that could also mean new expressions that might not satisfy the palates. well, if you can get your hands on the port wood, keep and compare it to the new expressions.

londoner in bangkok

i know, it has been some time. well it has been some time this past weeks. been drinking, travelling and working - not necessarily in that order.
maybe. but more of working and travelling.
was in bangkok a few weeks ago, and am supposed to be there next week, for stag holidays as some friends have/are walking down the aisle and what better way to celebrate that than drinking and partying in the city of angels.
in between the single malts sacrificed for the stag, a few of us managed to go to the londoner brew pub for some grub, grog and girls. well the last bit was not available.
the londoner has a microbrewery inside the pub with the fragrance of the hops wafting through the premises, enticing one to try both the pub-brewed beers - the london pilsner 33 or the londoner pride cream bitter.
didn't ask them the alcohol volume of both the beers but the pilsner is light, fresh and tasty and went along famously with the crowd i was in.
i thought the bitter was better but no one bit or bought that. the fresh bitter brew slaked my thirst and whetted my appetite further for food despite it being just hours after lunch.
we had some food with the beers - nothing thai but all things western. it was more than decent and kept the hunger pangs at bay.
the londoner brew pub is similar to the couple of microbreweries in singapore but i dare say, has a better ambience with the real feel of a london pub. which is a good reason to visit london, and now of course, bangkok.
for those making their way to bangkok, the pub is located at soi 33 along sukhumvit road.