Monday, March 28, 2016

Cavalock and The Royal Iced Rice

We had more than a couple pleasant surprises while in Bangkok. One that really blew us away was khao chae or rice soaked in ice water. I had never heard of it until my Thai aunt insisted we try it as it's now the hot season and some restaurants are serving the dish.


According to Wiki, it's a dish introduced sometime back in the 19th century and is considered "Royal Thai cuisine" by some. I'm no expert on it so I'm gonna repeat what's already in the Wiki entry. A firmer variety of rice is used instead of the regular Jasmine rice you find in Thailand. The flower-scented water is carefully prepared before the rice is soaked in it. There's quite a spread of specially prepared side dishes to go with the iced rice. Mango, cucumber, fresh spring onions go into the rice which is what I did or I suppose you can also just have them without tossing them in.


When we had it for the first time for lunch in a little neighbourhood restaurant Klang Soi, it was the tempting side dishes that stole the limelight here. I specially like the little shrimp paste balls very much. The shredded beef floss and Chinese radish or chai poh were also excellent. One of the most memorable overseas meals I ever had. Here's another article about it. So the next big question is, can you find this dish anywhere in Singapore?


2 comments:

imp said...

wow! I've forgotten about this till you mention it. Dunno where in SG it can be found. it's getting rarer in BKK too right? like fewer restaurants bother to offer it during the hot months even. gotta google around a little to find it. gotta note this Klang Soi!

Cavalock said...

It's very near the Racquet Club. I believe the restaurant has been around for some time as my Thai aunt used to dine there. Let me know what you think of it if you are there.