Comfort foods from Thailand

Comfort food is defined as “easily prepared unsophisticated food” and “associated with a sense of home or contentment”. There are many reasons why a certain dish become a comfort food but often include “pleasant memories of childhood”. And people turn to comfort foods for “familiarity, emotional security or a special reward”. Traditionally, there has been emphasis on authenticity and low cost. 

This is the underlying concept of a SIAM Thai Cuisine located at The Terraces, Ayala Center, Cebu Business Park, owned and managed by a young couple, Anthony and Cheryl Ballreich. And your favourite food columnist joined fellow media practitioners in Thai food tasting last Nov. 25, 2008.

Admittedly, I have very limited experience with Thai food and culture and my encounters with its cuisine is through Thai Food festivals in hotels, dinners in various restaurants and invitations from Thai friends in the past. Adding to this situation is my failure to visit Thailand: there had been opportunities but for one reason or another, na cancel gyud. To be intimate with a country’s cuisine, there is no substitute with visits to public markets and supermarkets, and eating in city streets to five-star restaurants.

Back to the Dinner with the Press, we had an appetizer called the Mini Crispy Chicken Wings. Armed with a glass of red wine, I began to savour the idiosyncrasies of this dish. Very crispy and clean taste! Cebuano food is food mildly spiced and only a hint of chilli hotness can be tolerated. Very acceptable to the palate of a typical Cebuano and this dish is a winner, for this restaurant.

We then had the Creamy Pumpkin soup and the main dishes were served in rapid succession: Grilled fish in Thai gravy sauce,

Massaman beef curry, Chatuchak spareribs and Eggplant with ground pork omelette. Choice of rice was either Siamese fried rice or Thai jasmine rice.

Let us analyze one dish, the Massaman curry. Thai people divide their cuisine into four major regions and this dish originates from the south and is actually Muslim in origin. The curry paste is commonly prepared with beef but poultry can be used. The dish usually contains “coconut milk, roasted peanuts, potatoes, bay leaves, cardamom pods, cinnamon, palm sugar, fish sauce and tamarind sauce”. SIAM’s version of the Massaman beef curry has a very delicious taste but I did miss something, its chilli hotness!

Anthony Ballreich is very accommodating in introducing to the media personnel gentle versions of Thai cuisine but your favorite food columnist, excuse me, want more and such desire was granted.

Two dishes were added, the Spicy Beef Salad and the Spicy Chicken Red Curry. Plus small plates of fresh bird’s-eye chilli and some hot chilli sauce.

To make the beef salad, you grill the beef (marinated with soy sauce, pepper and vegetable oil) until cooked and slice into strips; toss the veggies with the beef and dressing (bird’s-eye chilli, fresh lime juice, garlic, sugar and fish sauce). Those are the basics and SIAM’s version incorporate the Ballreich family secret spices and dressing. These ingredients are imported from Thailand for authenticity and that dish is now incorporated into my list of comfort foods.

To close such a fine dinner, many of my colleagues went for the Mango Crepes while I opted for a drink, this time a shot of vodka tempered with tamarind juice. That drink was very refreshing and the tamarind juice functioned like a sorbet, cleansing the palate. The service personnel were very quick to refill my glass and if my beloved readers would be dining in SIAM, Thai Cuisine, they would be most willing to serve you this drink. 

Finally, I glanced at the Mango crepe sitting very lonely in my plate; I yielded na lang to this sweet temptation!