Authentic Regional Chinese Restaurant In Naklua -- Fancy Some Duck Bowels Or Frog In A Pot?

[Jingthing]

OK, this place has been around for 10 years but I just "discovered" it.

It ain't for everyone (that's probably putting it mildly).

What it is is a large Chinese Thai style restaurant the features some very authentic regional Chinese food. Perhaps most of the Chinese menu is too authentic for most westerners but that doesn't mean that there isn't plenty that is more accessible.

They also serve Thai food, Thai seafood, etc. but since so many places also do, I think the obvious special thing about it is their Chinese offerings.

I was told their focus is Yunnan and Cantonese food but I see some other influences as well. I am familiar with Yunnan food from eating in Chiang Mai; I certainly like it but it isn't exactly my most favored Chinese food region.

In any case, it's probably a place worth knowing for fans of authentic Chinese food in town.

Note the menu is fully translated into English but that doesn't mean the names of the items are very descriptive.

Some of the dishes they have:

Beef stir fried with bitter melon

Squid or beef stir fried with SHASHA sauce, a sauce new to me, origin is Taiwan, and it is supposed to be similar to XO sauce, which I love

Hot pots (flame below) including:

Crab with bean thread

Eggplant salted fish

Eggplant sweet and sour

Frog, two style choices

Moving on:

Frog done in different ways

Eel done in different ways

Some Yunnanese gourmet items (special sour bamboo shoots, fruits, etc.)

Hainanese vegetables (whatever that is)

Standard stir fried vegetable dishes like spinach

Innards dishes like duck bowels

Goat meat in red sauce (red sauce a Chinese classic)

Duck in red sauce

Accessible things like fried noodles with seafood, stewed beef soup with noodles, etc.

I think they do a classic Yunnannese suki like soup dish (adding ingredients on the side) but it is not labeled as such on the menu.

I had an eggplant salted fish hot pot. Authentically very oily (many westerners will not like that) and the salted fish was a very strong taste as well. Overall however the dish impressed but I probably won't order it again.

MUCH of the menu is priced by weight, but there is plenty that is fixed price.

My impression of their prices is that the prices are fair, not cheap, not excessive, decent portions, ingredients, and cooking skill. I realize many people will find these prices high, but relative to what they are presenting, I don't think so.

For example squid with SHASHA sauce -- 250

Eggplant hot pot -- 180

Beef with bitter melon -- 180

Soup with clams -- 180

Goat with red sauce -- 400

Seafood stir fried with egg noodles -- 100

Really a lot of FROG dishes. Reminded me of Singapore that way. Myself, I'm not really into eating frog or innards meals, but maybe you are.

Obviously best suited to a good sized group.

Now, you may be asking, where is this place?

OK, this is a little bit tricky:

Naklua Soi 18.

Go down that Soi from Naklua road.

On the right you will see a hotel called: New SeaView resort.

Near that resort you will see a sign for a Chinese restaurant describing Bird's Nest and Shark Fin.

That is NOT the restaurant!

Continue towards to sea (just a little bit) and the NEXT Chinese restaurant on the right is the one you want.

They have a LARGE sign shaped I think like an upside down oval with does not give the name of the restaurant in English.

Instead it says stuff like: Chinese food, Thai food, Seafood

It appears to be a rather LARGE restaurant and indeed it is. It is open air type place but covered. The staff I talked to were very welcoming, friendly, and English speaking. The clientele appeared to be large groups of ethnic Chinese people, not sure if Chinese Thai or Chinese Chinese.

The place is hardly the stuff of my Chinese food dreams but I think it is most certainly worth checking out for the Chinese food adventurous.

Oh, BTW, I don't care but you might. The decor is funky. No need to dress up! It ain't no fancy hotel place.

Don't go for lunch time but late night for sure! Hours 3 P.M. til 2 A.M.

Cheers.

Edited December 27, 2012 by Jingthing

[OMGImInPattaya]

Think I'll give all this wonderful food a pass...thou the duck bowels sounds like a winner

[Jingthing]

Think I'll give all this wonderful food a pass...thou the duck bowels sounds like a winner

I do wonder if they really meant duck anuses but I was too shy to inquire!

OK, I said it wasn't for everyone, but more seriously I really think there are some things on the menu that would be accessible to most all Westerners.

Not from the restaurant, but this pic is described as "Duck Butt":

Edited December 27, 2012 by Jingthing

[OMGImInPattaya]

I've seen Anthony Borndain eat some wierd sh#t, like beef anus, so why not duck too.

[thenervoussurgeon]

My ex mother in law used to love the parsons nose ,(chicken bums)

[Jingthing]

I've seen Anthony Borndain eat some wierd sh#t, like beef anus, so why not duck too.

Yeah I know. But he gets PAID for it!

I think in some cultures if serving up a big animal the most special guest gets the ... you guessed it.

I'm not a real foodie that way. I am super adventurous on flavors and cooking styles. On innards, exotic meats like snake, dog, plates of live ants, and such, I pass.

I realize a lot of this is cultural/psychological. I grew up not knowing squid and didn't try until well into adulthood. At that point I would only eat the rings and didn't even try the tentacles. Now I'm pretty much a squid freak and as any squid freak knows, the tentacles are the best part!

Edited December 27, 2012 by Jingthing

[OMGImInPattaya]

I've seen Anthony Borndain eat some wierd sh#t, like beef anus, so why not duck too.

Yeah I know. But he gets PAID for it!

I think in some cultures if serving up a big animal the most special guest gets the ... you guessed it.

I'm not a real foodie that way. I am super adventurous on flavors and cooking styles. On innards, exotic meats like snake, dog, plates of live ants, and such, I pass.

On the cow's ass, I think it was just about the only time ive heard Anthony say it wasn't really his thing...amazing, some wierd animal part he doesn't like to eat! As you're not into the live ants, I guess that rules out the local Kung Tenh "dancing shrimp" delicacy as well

Edited December 27, 2012 by OMGImInPattaya

[Jingthing]

Maybe it was mistakenly overly sensational to lead with the duck bowels, as this restaurant isn't only about bird organs, but really anyone going there and reading the menu is going to read about duck bowels and other "oddities" so might as well get it out in the open.

In reading about Chinese food culture I have learned that of course Chinese eat pretty much EVERYTHING and also:

-- eating certain foods for health reasons is common

-- variety of textures (for example, chewy, rubbery, crunchy) are prized MUCH more so than in western culture, such as gristle in meat and I'm assuming duck bowels

I also like some "odd" textures of the Chinese kind. For example I used to love a dish I used to get in Oakland California Chinatown, DRIED squid (so rubbery) stir fried in simple curry and veg. Never saw that dish anywhere else.

I still think people can love Chinese food and not embrace ALL of it in the same way as a native just as I think you can enjoy Indian food eating with utensils ...

Speaking of live ants. It was kind of sneaky of me to mention that before. People are paying BIG MONEY to eat live ants at the "best restaurant in the world!" People. Not me!

It’s disconcerting to watch the main ingredient making its way across a cabbage leaf as you prepare to pop it into your mouth.

http://www.bloomberg...ers-review.html

Edited December 27, 2012 by Jingthing

[fredob43]

Maybe it was mistakenly overly sensational to lead with the duck bowels, as this restaurant isn't only about bird organs, but really anyone going there and reading the menu is going to read about duck bowels and other "oddities" so might as well get it out in the open.

In reading about Chinese food culture I have learned that of course Chinese eat pretty much EVERYTHING and also:

-- eating certain foods for health reasons is common

-- variety of textures (for example, chewy, rubbery, crunchy) are prized MUCH more so than in western culture, such as gristle in meat and I'm assuming duck bowels

I also like some "odd" textures of the Chinese kind. For example I used to love a dish I used to get in Oakland California Chinatown, DRIED squid (so rubbery) stir fried in simple curry and veg. Never saw that dish anywhere else.

I still think people can love Chinese food and not embrace ALL of it in the same way as a native just as I think you can enjoy Indian food eating with utensils ...

Speaking of live ants. It was kind of sneaky of me to mention that before. People are paying BIG MONEY to eat live ants at the "best restaurant in the world!" People. Not me!

It’s disconcerting to watch the main ingredient making its way across a cabbage leaf as you prepare to pop it into your mouth.

http://www.bloomberg...ers-review.html

Thanks for the tip both my wife and myself are into innards and the like's (feet etc) I shall give it a go next time I'm that way.

[Jingthing]

I didn't actually notice any chicken or goose feet on the menu, or duck tongue either!