Khao Tom U-Thong
I’ve been eating in this food joint for more than 2o times at least. I am not keeping count but it is safe to say that I actually did eat here more than 20 times. The reason I never blog about this popular food joint is because I never know how to spell it. I’ve been asking many Thai people and everybody gives me a different version. I just referred it as the “Goong Place”. As you all know Goong in Thai means shrimp. I call it the Goong Place because Zach and I would always order 3 types of shrimp dish.
This restaurant is located at the main road of Ratchada just at the corner of Soi 10. It opens in the evening around 6pm and close at 4am. This place is always pack with customers. The name of the restaurant is “Khao Tom U-Thong”. I hope I got that right. Khao Tom means congee or porridge and U-Thong is a family name. That’s what I’ve been told at least.
This place does not only sell porridge but it’s just famous for it. Is just like any other Thai restaurant where you can order varieties of dishes, but you eat it with porridge instead of rice. They do however serve rice too.
Based on the menu, the restaurant has at least 100 choices of different kind of dishes. I’ve seen some Thai customers ordering some dishes that is not on the menu. If you decide to visit this restaurant, I suggest you go with a Thai friend in order to get a better dinning experience.
I love seeing those Thai people hanging out in this restaurant and they always bring their own Thai whiskey. I am not sure if the restaurant charge them any cockage fee. Maybe you just have to purchase ice and water from the restaurant. They will order a few dishes and so cool to see them chatting with friends, sipping their whiskey and nibble on the food. You can see fulfillment on their faces.
Look at the crowd at 12 am midnight. You will be surprise to see more customers will come at around 2am. The restaurant just equipped itself with basic furniture and no air conditioner. Just some electric fans to keep us cool. Never be fooled with the outlook of restaurants around Thailand. You might miss a gem for doing that.
The Tom Yum is kept hot with this device. There’s charcoal burning below this funky pot.
You can tell this Tom Yum good by just looking at it. The colors and all sorts of ingredients floating in it.
It took 2 years for my Caucasian friend Zach to actually turned into a fan with Tom Yum Goong. Initially he got confused on how to eat this King Soup of Thailand. He found it hard to tell what is edible and what is not. Especially there are so many spices that is used in this dish. The spices used are actually meant to make the soup tasty but not for consuming purposes. Like the lemon grass and the galangal ( blue ginger ). But is not that hard to know what could be consumed after a while, if you eat it often.
I love Khao Tom U-Thong’s version of TomYum Goong very much compared to other places in Bangkok. I’m pretty sure there are places that has better TomYum or at least match their version in Bangkok. So far I’ve never got the privileged to taste it yet. I will keep on hunting in the future but for now, Khao Thong U-Thong is my favorite place for Tom Yum Goong.
Hey.. so this is a blog about food? Alex, you are not a gentleman. Why do you hijack people and bring them to this shitty blog of yours? I have no interest in your pathetic culinary tastes, your travels, your palate or your opinions. I was looking for something that I am interested in and I did want to see, but you, under false pretenses, hijacked my search, and then dumped me on this pathetic excuse for a hobby/job/career.
Do something useful and stop consuming so much food – a large percentage of the people on the planet do not have enough to eat. Does that concern you? No, you are too busy writing rubbish about a Thai restaurant. That isn’t even in Thailand. You can’t even spell the restaurants name. Your blog name is “Spicegasm”? think up a real name next time you idiot.
Get a life – you are an arsehole.