EATING OUT : Menagerie manor

EATING OUT : Menagerie manor.

Enjoy great value food at a beautiful restaurant in an idyllic setting

VANNIYA SRIANGURA

Baan Puengchom, Soi Juajit, off Phahon Yothin Soi 7 (Soi Aree), Tel 02-279-4204, Open daily noon-10pm : Baan Puengchom certainly needs no extra advertising or even media exposure. When I called to reserve a table for two for lunch one Friday, the answer was: "We are fully booked, but if you don't mind we can find a space for you outside." Of course we didn't mind, and eventually found ourselves cherishing a pleasant atmosphere on the terrace of Baan Puengchom.

It was my first time to the restaurant, which I had been previously informed that, partly because of the food being so good, was always packed. Despite the seemingly complicated directions I had been given, the restaurant was a lot easier to reach than I had feared. In fact, you can even come by skytrain: get off at Aree station, and enjoy a five-minute stroll to the restaurant.

The restaurant takes over the corner space of a residential property in a 100-metre alley off Soi Aree. As we pulled into its car park (probably the family's old front lawn) we were astounded by the fact that the amazingly spacious premises - packed with various kinds of mature trees, plants and ferns - was just a stone's throw away from the city centre. With skyscrapers in the background, a man-made canal glides round the back of the frayed 60-year-old house, which appeared to belong to a well-off family.

Officially the restaurant operates in a newly-built, one-storey cottage, appealingly enveloped by tropical plants and trees. The interior is nicely decked out with fine wooden furniture, warm lighting and framed paintings. Whenever the 70-seat air-conditioned dining room is fully occupied, folding tables and plastic chairs are easily set up on the terrace outside, under the exotic sea grape and gigantic sa-ke (breadfruit) trees.

Baan Puengchom is also an enjoyable dining venue for pet-lovers. Sitting outdoors means you'll possibly be entertained by four or five of the family's sociable dachshund dogs, some furry pet bunnies as well as few beautiful roosters that are also allowed to freely roam the two-rai grounds.

Foodwise, Baan Puengchom offers a mix of regional Thai dishes and home-style Western fare. Most of them are simple but hardly available anywhere else in the city. The restaurant owner and lady of the house, Khun Oy, has inherited great cooking skills from her culinary master - Granny. After her self-retirement from a national corporation several years ago, Khun Oy decided to open a restaurant under her grandmother's name.

The menu is extensive, with more than 100 items. Because the prices on the menu are very inexpensive, from 50 baht to 120 baht for most dishes and 200-250 baht for a whole fish dish, we weren't at all reluctant to sample almost all of its best-sellers.

We started off with two popular appetisers, chopstick chicken (60 baht) and tord mun hua plee (60 baht). The first was deep-fried, lightly battered marinated chicken wings accompanied by Sri Racha chilli sauce. Though the taste wasn't particularly thrilling, the crisp and dry chicken, was enjoyably addictive.

The tord mun hua plee featured deep-fried, battered banana blossom. Served with typical sweet and sour tord mun dipping, the munchy treat laid claim to an interesting taste and texture.

No food writer could pass on woon sen pad saam men (100 baht), if only because of the dish's bewildering name. Literally meaning "stir-fried clear noodles with three bad stinks", this extremely popular dish presents perfectly cooked mung bean noodles with shrimps and three odorous vegetables, namely pickled garlic, sataw (stinky bean) and cha-om (acacia pennata). Two thumbs up to this simple yet smartly-created dish.

Another dish worth sampling is khai jeaw bai lieng, or fried omelette with tournefortia ovata leaves (60 baht). The tournefortia ovata leaves, widely known as bai lieng, are a common vegetable in southern Thailand and are hardly found anywhere else. With no idea whether it was because of this distinctive vegetable, or simply the way the egg was fried, we found the dish delicious.

For a more serious, heftier entree, I recommend deep-fried snakehead fish with Laotian salad (200 baht). The fish meat, fresh and cottony white, was satisfying but the salad was the real highlight. Prepared with various kinds of local Isan vegetables and the restaurant's signature homemade dressing, which offered a delightful, perfectly balanced tang, the salad is guaranteed to excite your tastebuds. The salad by itself is also available at 50 baht.

Being extreme beef-lovers, we couldn't possibly miss nua nueng jaew mangda (180 baht), or steamed beef with spicy jaew dipping. What arrived was a generous portion of beef shank slices, marbled and tender, and a bowl of dark spicy sauce - so fiery that even a Thai like me could barely endure it.

For soup, tom saeb kra dook on, or clear spicy soup with young pork ribs (100 baht), seemed to be a good choice. Made with clear stock, local herbs and roasted chilli, the soup in which the succulent young pork ribs bathed, was great with or without rice.

Simply because we were full, we didn't sample any of the Western dishes, which Khun Oy insisted were favourites of her family. Sadly, we passed on the likes of ox tongue stew (150 baht), roast chicken with mashed potato (120 baht) and pork chops (120 baht).

Indulged with good food, we hoped for equally good desserts to end the meal. Baan Puengchom usually has a decent variety of homemade seasonal desserts on offer. They range from custard apple ice cream to santol fruit in chilled syrup. Unfortunately, on the day of our visit, the restaurant was running out of strawberry in chilled syrup (40 baht) and the only choice available was commercially produced watergrass jelly (20 baht). So we decided to waive the sweet treat.

Servicewise, the staff are friendly and very efficient at suggesting food and fulfilling requests. However, a similarly gracious manner should be extended to them during the restaurant's busy hours, when they may unintentionally be hard to catch.

With a little bit over 800 baht spent over the seven-dish meal, stuffed stomachs and lots of leftovers to take home, we left Baan Puengchom with great gratification and, of course, a plan to come back.

With Children's Day just around the corner, Baan Puengchom may be a good choice for you and your little ones. Though not be a specialist kids' eatery with fully-equipped playground and kids menu, its homey setting, extensive green garden, clean air and pet animals running around definitely make it one of the places to take your kids.

If coming from the main Phahon Yothin Road, Baan Puengchom is located in a small sub-soi on your right, approximately 100 metres down Soi Aree. Parking is plentiful. Reservations are highly recommended.

Bangkok Post
Friday January 12, 2007