isan cuisine

Post by **gerry** » August 24, 2005, 10:36 am

Hi a nice open resturant with excellent Isan cuisine and fresh sea food ?

Any suggestion for the 26th dinner ?

will be there with my kid and wife, we both speak either isan or thai....

thanks

ciao

gerry

Post by **businessman** » September 9, 2005, 1:02 pm

I think you will be hard pushed to find anyone who is a big fan of pure Isaan food.Too much fermented and frequently raw pork and fish in the dishes.

laphanphon · Post by **laphanphon** » September 9, 2005, 2:28 pm

i've eaten a few times over at J-11 on the new map, across from lotus, behind the beer/wiskey garden on the ring road, turn and go behind that and there is a restaurant on the lake back there. pleasant setting w/low key music in the evening. no disappointments after a few meal, haven't been there in a while. fresh fish, as it is taken from the lake. enjoyed all the offerings that i had, although haven't sampled a wide variety. that would be 'open'. at the Mae Ya restaurant, with one gf, i tried a few things she ordered, yam i think one was called, raw shrimp and seafood in spicy sauce, something i try to steer away from, any uncooked food. but was tasty and safe, smell very fresh, or shall i say, had no smell at all, as fresh seafood shouldn't have an odor. but that would not be on 'open' restaurant, but definitely one of the better in udon, consistantly good for at fair prices. and great ice cream choice and excellent prices.

there is also a bunch of restaurants around nong lek on the ring road, quite a few, one friend enjoyed a lovely afternoon there, but didn't know the name or which one it was, sorry (V 10-11).

have to disagree with marcos, with few exceptions, i find locals overcook most meats and fishes as a safety precaution. have had raw beef, fresh kill that morning, eaten that morning, interesting but no thanks (and yes it did, and no, i don't want to discuss it). i will agree with marcus on that fermented fish sauce, i stay well clear of that, the only som tam i eat is from mae ya, one vender at big c, and buffet at hotels that don't use whatever it is that been sitting in the sun for half the year and has more flies around it that a nice buffalow chip, lol. yikes. if it doesn't come out of a jar, it's not fish sauce, it's fish something. oh yea, and not 'pu', raw crab in my som tam, but everything else.

so many places have opened so quickly, that we need more reviews and obviously better details than i can remember. so let's get out there people, eat, drink and be merry, but take some notes, lol.

Post by **businessman** » September 10, 2005, 1:12 pm

LA,i do the same with the somtum.Go to the same lady eveytime and she knows exactly what to do.Nothing like a dodgy plate of somtum to lay you out in the hong narm.It's those tiny,tiny shrimps they throw in.

Post by **JimboPSM** » September 10, 2005, 4:18 pm

Agree with LA on place opposite Tesco (sorry I don

Post by **Dakoda** » September 10, 2005, 4:47 pm

don't think I have found "SEA" food here in Udon, yet! (Hmm, maybe that sea bass is the exception, fresh?) I do agree with LA on the place across from lotus and there are two places on ringroad past big c going toward ( maybe 3k) road to nong khai on left next to each other, one is Chinese.

Another is that outside place, 14k from ring road heading to nong khai also on the left! Sorry I do not know or can remember the names of anything!

Post by **admin** » September 10, 2005, 5:05 pm

i think one was called, raw shrimp and seafood in spicy sauce, something i try to steer away from, any uncooked food

That dish is called Gung Cher Nam Plaa, it is actually one of my favourites however like LA says you have to be very careful of uncooked food.

The restaurant on the road opposite Tescos is called Rim Nam, it has been there for quite a few years now and is very popular with locals.

There are actually quite a few new restaurants along Udon's Ring-road. There is a new restaurant as you leave Tesco's take your first left and it's on your left (evening's only) however if you carry on driving on the ring-road your will notice many more.

You could also try a couple of our sponsors, Junpha Beer garden map c13 (now has a menu in English) and Bung Mai Hom map v10 which has a nice seating area looking over nong lek lake.

Good Issan food can be found at map ref I 14, I'm sorry but I don't have the name.

Post by **businessman** » September 11, 2005, 11:29 am

Another is that outside place, 14k from ring road heading to nong khai also on the left! Sorry I do not know or can remember the names of anything!

If it's the place were they specialise in prawns,the food is great and you sit on mats in small bamboo huts around large ponds.Gets very,very busy and does the best "narm jim" i have had with prawns.

Post by **Dakoda** » September 11, 2005, 1:24 pm

yes same place. What struck me was that the fish (prawn) seemed to be the freshest I have had here, and it is way outside the city

Great place for an afternoon meal, but Sundays are very full

Post by **businessman** » September 11, 2005, 2:23 pm

The wife says the ponds are saline and the prawn are kept in them and then hauled out for the table.Not so sure myself.I would guess they are so busy that fresh prawns arrive everyday on those pickups with the water tanks encased in wire mesh and attached to oxygen cylinders.

Post by **BobHelm** » September 11, 2005, 2:55 pm

BM, when I was there last we went to eat at a place just outside Bandung that was by a lake and the prawns were kept alive in a 'small swiming pool' (for lack of a better description) as the manageress showed me. Another time we bought prawns from a place where they just netted them out of a pond out the back. My Thai is non existant (something I am working on tho...

) so I just assumed (

) that they were fresh water prawns even though they were BIG. Your idea of adding salt to the water makes far more sense.

Post by **businessman** » September 11, 2005, 3:05 pm

Bob,the ponds are a bright green in colour which i believe is indicative of salt content.Anyway i would recommend the place to anyone nervous of seafood so far inland.

Post by **AussieBoy** » September 11, 2005, 10:01 pm

I belive the restaurant on the left hand side about 10K out, going to Nong Khai, with the huts set out around the ponds is called, "Kang Pawka Kasien" I have a photo of it on my Album page. It was a first class lunch we had there.

Post by **businessman** » September 12, 2005, 10:40 am

Finally,a name for the place.Well done AB.Wife wants to try it of an evening,anyone been ?

Post by **AussieBoy** » September 15, 2005, 4:20 pm

My next adventure is to eat at 20 restaurants minimum in one month and make my 2 bahts worth of comment.

Kally

Post by **businessman** » September 16, 2005, 11:30 am

Kally,be interesting to see what you think of the Isaan restaurants.

Marcus

Post by **AussieBoy** » September 16, 2005, 2:32 pm

I got a list of restaurants and eat outs I want to try next, I try to go out every night during my 6 week visit, usually with the local teachers from the schools I visit. You get a better idea of what the local eat.

Any Issan eatery that I should try.

Its great to get a phone line on and get on the net here in the Outback, only problem it only works every 3 or 4 days so I getting my worth of say in while the phone lines are working. And they want to sell Telstra.AU

Kally

Post by **businessman** » September 17, 2005, 12:52 pm

only problem it only works every 3 or 4 days

Sounds like the service i get from TOT.I may have to give Mr Thaksin a few of my Baht at this rate.

Post by **BangkokButcher** » September 17, 2005, 2:57 pm

Anybody tried those little baby chicks that are boiled while still in the shell, frightened the life out of me the 1st time I saw them, thought it was just a regular egg till it was cracked open

Post by **businessman** » September 18, 2005, 10:06 am

One of the girls that works for us eats them raw and also has a passion for catfish brains and spinal cord.When we go to a restaurant i have to look away.

isan cuisine

isan cuisine

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