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The Nation 140 |
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Katesiri Seafood, Hua Hin
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I guess when my column
comes out on Sunday some of you will be visiting Hua Hin for
the long weekend to celebrate His Majestys The Kings
Birthday. All Thais are indebted to His Majesty for guiding
our development and progress with kindness and great fore
sight. He represents the sole uniting force for all Thais and
it is He that defines all the best qualities of the Thai
people. May I take this opportunity to join the rest of my
countrymen to wish His Majesty a very Happy Birthday. Long
Live The King !
Not far away from Klai Kang Won Palace in the
town of Hua Hin sits a restaurant along the water from. In
fact these are many restaurant along the waterfront in town
near Hilton Hotel. If you walked out to the street from the
Hilton and turn left towards the many restaurant row, you will
find many taste temping eateries.
Not one hundred meters from the Hilton on the
corner of a Soi there is a Mango and sticky rice shop that
have been selling mango and sticky rice for ages and they are
definitely know for this famous Thai dessert.
You will see lines of people waiting to
buy the delicacies as well as others seated outside the store
eating Mango and sticky rice with relish. The elderly lady
that sells it has been there ever since I can remember, and
thats over 50 years! The place is known as Raan Pa Juea. |
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AS
you walk down the street further, there are many restaurants
that have built decks out on to water. The entryways of these
restaurants may be small from the street but as you climb the
steps up to the long decks that just out to the sea, you are
surrounded by the open sky and the ocean.
The
atmosphere makes for an ideal dining under the stars. There
has been talk of demolishing this whole row of restaurants but
the case is still in court. If you are a tourist or an expat,
who wants to have a Thai seafood meal under the stars you
might want to try Ketsirin Seafood Restaurant,
which happens to be one of the many
seafood restaurants on this street by the seashore. The food
is Thai and well cooked and not too spicy. If you want them to
cook food for Thai taste buds you will have to tell them to
make it as they would want to eat it themselves. |
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Their
very large fresh oysters from Surat Thani province are
both plump and very fresh. You can choose to eat it like
we Thais do by adding fried shallots, chili paste, sliced
garlic, lime juice and Kratin leaves.
I prefer it with just limejuice and
Tabasco sauce but be sure to cut the oyster in half
because they are so big! When I went to eat the last time
I had steamed squid with chili, garlic and limejuice. A
very popular dish, quite spicy but the squid is so fresh
and not al all rubbery.
Stir-fry
seafood with chili and garlic is wonderful. The seafood
consisted of squid, fish, shrimp and mussels. Cooked just
done and seasoned not too strong for Western taste without
losing any of the Thai character.
I would prefer for them
to make it really hot and spicy but that happens to be my
personal preference. Freshly steamed cockles with a spicy
sour and salty dipping sauce is a great dish to have with
beer or wine. |
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Fish cakes were not too spicy but the cucumber relish
served with it was really well done, not too sweet and the
cucumber was crispy with just enough heat from the chili
peppers. Stir-fry shellfish with chili paste was too sweet
for me but they told me that they used store-bought chili
paste and did not make it themselves.
This is the reason
why it was sweet but others may prefer it as is. My
friends who joined me for dinner told me that I was too
picky! There were steamed crawfish with garlic and when
you order Thai crawfish there are two kinds, always order
the ones with the hard shells which Thais call Ghang
Gradarn.
The meat is sweeter and
tastes perfect when steamed with garlic chopped or sliced.
There are two kinds of crabs at most of these restaurants,
the fresh blue crabs called Pu Ma (Horse Crab) which
should be eaten steamed only. |
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The other is the red shell crabs called Pu Nua or Pu Talay
(meaty crab or sea crab) This crab can be cooked in many
ways, some people like myself like it just steamed and
eaten with spicy dipping sauce, while others like it stir-fried
with a rich curry sauce.
The crab was fresh and
was still swimming when we ordered it! We had grilled
lobster, which I personally like it done the Chinese way
stir-fried with noodles in scallions and ginger.
Personally Thai fresh water prawns are tastier.
But the star of the
meal ended up to be a whole fried fish with fish sauce, It
was perfectly cooked, not over done. The meat was moist
and sweet and the aroma of the fish sauce added to the
flavor and taste of the fish. It was done so simply that
it won everyones heart and stomach at our table.
Like the great chef
Escoffier use to say, above all make it simple. So if
you happen to be in Hua Hin this weekend try out this
restaurant and definitely order the fried fish and make
sure that it is fresh. |
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Katesiri Seafood
Restaurant
7/1 Naraid Dumri, Hua Hin,
Prachuabkirikan,
Telephone 032 511 339 |
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Taste
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