It use to be that whenever I want to find good fresh seafood to eat I would have to make a short pilgrimage to Mahachai which is know as the fresh seafood center of the country.

              People have always asked me if there were no other seafood places closer in town. They did not want to make this long journey, which usually takes about 0ne hour from the center of Bangkok. There are indeed plenty of seafood eateries in town but I have not found one that matches the freshness in Mahachai. Their chefs are experts at handling and cooking seafood. Today, I am happy to announce that Mahachai has come to town and offers us the opportunity to eat the freshest seafood perfectly cooked in Bangkok.

              You see, the owners of Mahachai seafood restaurant by the city pier have decided to open a sister restaurant in Lad Prao, called Mahachai Seafood (Gieng Nguan 9). They have built a restaurant on a small lake infront of the exclusive Lad Proa Housing Development. Now we are able to enjoy the freshest seafood that I always claim that we have to go out of town to eat. I am sure that the seafood here is fresh because they ship all the seafood to this new location live and fresh daily in refrigerated truck. Before they opened the restaurant, they brought over half their chefs from their restaurant in Mahachai to train the new staff and test run the kitchen and fine tune the recipes. I think it is not that difficult to find fresh seafood in Bangkok but it is very difficult to find chefs who really know how to handle fresh seafood in a large restaurant which seats almost 500 people at one time. At Gieng Nguan 3 in Mahachai their chefs are pros at cooking seafood. My palate is reassured that I will be able to sample the same kind of consistency of cooking at Gieng Nguan 9.

              Now about the food, I started with fresh oysters on the half shell from Surat Thani. They were very succulent and very large. They were still very sweet and plump. Thai oysters from Surat Thani are not as salty as those in Europe or Australia and New Zealand. We eat fresh oysters in Thailand with lots of condiments from fresh garlic, chili peppers, chili paste, fresh lime to spicy dipping sauce. But I prefer our regular spicy dipping sauce and sprinkled over with crispy fried shallots.

              Then they brought over stirfry oysters in a starch and egg batter served on a sizzle platter. This is commonly called “”orr suan” in Thai. We Thais usually eat this dish with Sriracha Chili sauce or vinegar and sliced chili peppers. The trick to a good Orr Suan in not to allow the oyster to over cook and the freshest oyster should be used. I know this is a very high cholesterol item but it is worth it once in a while.

              We had Yum Saow Mahachai, which is basically a seafood salad. The seafood is poached and stilled warm, tossed in a spicy lime and chili dressing, cashew nuts are added to the salad to give it that nutty crunchiness. The salad literally means salad made from young Mahachai Ladies! We tried some thing new on their menu, which was salad goong gaew. A batter fried shrimp salad with salad cream, which is slightly sweet, served over lettuce and apple slices.

              Although, the salad dressing was too sweet for me it is quite refreshing in a Chinese style of a salad. Deep-fired pla kapong served with mango salsa was wonderful. It tasted very fresh and before they served this golden piece of fish they add a few spoonfuls of hot oil mixed with fish sauce over the cooked fish, giving it this wonderful aroma. For some Buddhists who do not like to kill animals they are probably squeamish about eating fish that was just swimming in the tank before it came to our table but for me I must admit that I enjoy sinning this way very much.

              The fish is so fresh that I cannot taste or smell the fishiness in the fish. A perfect way to test the freshness of the fish here is to order their Tao Tei Chakrapat. Fresh Pompano fish is sliced and brought to the table with fresh vegetables and they are cooked in a steamboat in a peppery broth. The fish is allowed to cook just done and you spoon out what you want from the steamboat and dip the tender cooked fish pieces in any of the dipping sauces available to you.

              It is just like heaven. The fish is still sweet and firm. It melted in your mouth. What a wonderful experience I had at Mahachai Seafood (Gieng Nguan9). Now you no longer have to make the one-hour or so pilgrimage to Mahachai to find really fresh seafood. I have to thank its owner for bringing fresh seafood to us.

Mahachai Seafood (Gieng Nguan 9)
Address Parallel Road to Ekamai-Ram Indra Expressway
(infront of Moo Baan Ladprao Housing Development)
788 Laprao Soi 87, Bangkok 10240
Telephone number 01 989 3888
Hours 11.00-23.00 Hours. Daily.