I come from a family of great eaters and our family has one particular fixation which every member of the family is afflicted with it. You see, from our father to all his sons, we all love to eat duck! No matter what form of duck or no matter what the preparation is or what country the duck dish comes from we all take to it like ducks to water.

       I remember in my younger days whenever father came to our house to take us out to lunch; mom and father separated when I was only 3 years old, my brother and I would pile into the little VW beetle which father drove in those days. All excited for our weekly culinary adventure which father would drive for hours to get to the restaurant.

       On the days that father had time to drive a long way to eat we would go to places outside the city and really hard to find but the food was always very good and the atmosphere was perfect and soothing. But when father had less time we would go eat in the city. He would invariably ask where we wanted to go and what kind of food we would like to eat, knowing full well that we would give the same answer as a hundred times before.

        We want to eat roast duck over rice (kao na pbed). Father would laugh and said the name of the restaurant and we would set off for our roast duck over rice. Sometimes we would get to the restaurant and they would be out of roast duck and immediately our moods would change to sulky disappointment. This particular look father had given it a name, na muen tood ( your face looks like your butt ).

       I have been rambling on about my families idiosicracies to make one simple point that my family, including myself are duck officionados! One of the basic food that most Thais eat for lunch or dinner is duck. It is quick, easy and delicious. Duck with rice comes in basically two ways of preparations.

       The first is the roast duck with very dark carmelized skin and the other is the braised duck in Chinese spices call duck palo. Today I am going to take you to eat braised duck in palo spices. I have been eating at this small restaurant for quite a few years. It is close to my office and my home.

       If you came out of town on Viphavadee Rangsit road and get off at Chaeng Wattana going towards the river. As you pass AT&T main office on your right and Thai foreign Ministry Consular Department further down the road, about 600 meters from the Foreign Ministry on the same side of the street next to the elevated crosswalk you will find Beer Pochana. It is here that they serve the most wonderful braised duck and goose in Palo spices.

       The standard procedure for ordering food at this restaurant is to either order a plate of braised duck or goose and a small bowl of rice of each person. The duck or goose will come boneless and already sliced for you. There is lots of juice at the bottom of the goosed or duck plate. To eat it, pick a piece of duck from the plate and dip it in a spicy fragrant and sour dipping sauce which always comes with the meat and put it in your mouth. Being careful not to salivate too much before opening your mouth to taste the first morsel of duck.

       The hot and sour dipping sauce will help you digest the fatty parts of the duck and balance out the greasiness in your mouth. Follow with a small amount of rice to soak up all the juices. I like both the goose and duck but I prefer the goose more because there is more meat to it and it seems to be more tender and sweet than the duck but others will disagree. I suggest you just make your own judgement and order both to try.

       The liver and the gizzards are also braised. They are sliced, sauced and served the same way as the duck or goose meat. I particularly like the blanched duck intestin. This is definitely a delicacy and very hard to find a place where they know how clean and prepare it. When it is done well, the texture and feel of the intestin is crunchy and crispy, like eating a soften cartilege that is full of flavor and crunch. For those people who do not want to venture into the food twilight zone you can still stick to the basic braised duck or goose. You can order a few other dishes, which they do very well here. Stirfry Chinese broccoli (kah nah) with crispy pork and oyster sauce. The vegetable stem is crispy and almost nutty. There is also the stirfry Morning Glory, (pak boong) with fermented salty soy bean sauce. There are many kinds of the standard chinese soup in the steamer cooking slowly in a crock in front of the restaurant. The soups may be standard fare but certainly not ordinary. The broth is clear and very rich. Some have braised bitter mellon and chunks of tender pork spareribs in it, while others have more exotic ingredients such as lilly bud flowers and Chinese mushrooms. I usually go for an early lunch on Sundays if I happen to be in Bangkok and have time off. The restaurant is opened around 9.00 am and closes fairly early, around 4.00 pm. It is not a fancy place and has no air conditioning but you will feel quite at home if you are a real duck or goose lover. Their address and telephone number is: Beer Pochana, 123/4-5, Chaeng Wattana Road. Telephone: 573-3449, 573-6866, 573-9555.