I meant to write this post about two years ago but the lockdown and plandemics broke out in Thailand. Life was suddenly disrupted and changed beyond my imagination so things and mental balance were thrown into the whirlwind of stressful confusion for a few months. Attention and energy were then diverted to trying to living one day at a time. Fortunately, I happened to find online sources of investigative news and more truthful information on the Agenda of the NWO and Great Reset. This had enabled me to help several friends who got negatively affected by the inoculations.
Normal lifestyle, enjoying street food about one wee before the first lockdown over two years ago. Traffic was still lively during the night.
Looking back at those few wonderful days of going around famous eateries with an old friend made me very nostalgic. The good old jolly time made me think about going back to that famous restaurant once again just to check out how the nice manager was faring. In a way I dreaded the prospect of being told that my favourite manager and his pretty assistant had to retire as the result of the jabs. Several well known food vendors had collapsed while cooking for their customers. I had to banish the thought and began to pray for their protection and wishing them all the best.
We glanced at the famous restaurant and the display inside the glass panel. Then we braved for the most expensive PadThai I would ever order, this was an investigative mission for me, hoping I wouldn’t be disappointed!
That evening we decided to splash out on good food at famous restaurants around the old part of Bangkok called Pratoopee (Gate of Ghosts or spirits) So, this restaurant was known as ‘PadThai Pratoopee as the restaurant situated near the Pratoopee intersection. There used to be a city gate where people had to transported dead bodies of people killed by the cholera pandemic about a hundred years ago. Days and nights, people could see carts full of dead bodies going through this gate towards the nearby temple’s ground for cremation. So, it was quite a coincidence that we decided to have our dinner just two days before the lockdown and announcement of the plandemics.
There were almost ten famous eateries along that narrow road. We had a brief survey of all the restaurants and we originally would like to try the expensive seafood which got a Michelin Star but the restaurant was full of expats and Westerners. There were two other PadThai places which cost much less than the original PadThai restaurant. I was very curious why a PadThai could be so very expensive and so many awards were bestowed on the restaurant’s owners. So, we decided to enter the posh and very nice looking restaurant, now known as Thipsamai.
PadThai was created during the Second World War by a lady called Samai who used to accompany her mother to the local market everyday; so she had seen the Chinese food culture called ‘kuay tiew pad’ or fried noodles. During that time most Thai people only consume steamed rice and sticky rice. Noodles could only be found in Chinese markets as these noodles were freshly made in the morning; it’s a bit like village bakeries with freshly made bread in the morning. The war had destroyed so many people’s livelihood and businesses. Samai’ s husband went bankrupt so she and her husband set up a food stall selling ‘kuay tiew pad’ or fried noodles just opposite the temple.
Samai had to reinvent her fried noodles to suit Thai people’s taste for spicy food. Her fried noodles became very successful with long queue of customers everyday. People living far away has to make a trip to taste her fried noodles in Thai style. Her reputation spread far and wide. One day, the Prime Minister (Plack Phibundingkram) dropped by to taste her PadThai. The PM was very impressed that he promoted this dish as one of the national Thai recipe. This PM was very nationalistic and wanted to promote some symbols of Thai culture. So, Samai’s PadThai had started a new food fashion among Thai people. This led to various adaptations and varieties of fried noodles in Thai style.
We were very impressed by the design of this three levels restaurant. All the staff wore uniforms and very well trained. There was a souvenir shop and a small museum to record the history and evolution of this first PadThai restaurant in Thailand. The place was quite full and we did manage to get a corner table. Looking at the menu I was surprised to see that prices were three times more expensive than ordinary PadThai.
The manager dropped by at our table to greet us and tell us a bit about the history of the restaurant. He told us about the latest renovations and a new dining hall for group tours on the second floor. Special tour groups of rich Chinese guests would make a visit to this restaurant to taste the authentic PadThai. It seemed these rich class of Chinese tourists stayed only at luxurious hotels and tasted all the foods from famous restaurants and those with Michelin stars. These were the VIP tourists who helped to fuel our tourism.
I did ask why the prices were so much higher than other regular PadThai. He told me that all the ingredients were premium quality and organic. The owners had their own noodle factory and organic rice fields. The owners wanted to support local farmers to do organic farming and to improve their livelihoods. This restaurant employed many villagers in the countryside. All the spices and vegetables were produced by local villagers who had to maintain high standard and quality of their produce. So, the noodle factory produced very nice organic rice flour noodles at premium quality. The ingredients for making the sauce were also organic and made at the factory. A lot of investment and commitment has been put into the process of trying to produce the best PadThai noodles and consistency of the tastes of various cooking sauces.
My friend decided to have a regular PadThai while I had to taste the higher price PadThai in crab sauce with deep sea prawns. I was very impressed by the quality of the rice noodles which had very nice texture and I could smell the jasmine rice flour. The prawns were very fresh and chunky. But the sauce was too mild for me; it seemed this sauce had been designed to suit tourists’ taste. I preferred to have the typical sharp taste of tamarind and stronger taste of the ‘kapi’ paste (spicy seafood paste made from shrimps, shallots, garlics, chili and some spices). The coconut sugar taste was also a bit too mild for me. The typical taste should made the taster pick out the contrast among the outstanding ingredients. All the contrasting tastes should be exploding inside your taste buds! The owners had also invented sauces for vegans and vegetarians which would probably be too mild for me.
Models of the surrounding area and the restaurant.
The restaurant also had home-made coconut ice cream produced in their factory outside Bangkok. I thought the ice cream was very rich in coconut cream with delicious taste and scent of the famous perfume coconuts. I would have liked to take away some ice cream; though I did buy a packet of PadThai noodles to try out at home. The price of the noodles was rather high but comparable to a packet of imported pasta. After having the chance to cook these organic rice noodles at home, I would like to get a few more packets next time I visited this restaurant. The taste was much nicer than my regular pasta; somehow organic rice noodles were more chewy and springy (much easier for digestion) without the heavy feeling after the meal. But I didn’t use ready made PadThai sauce; I made a fusion of pasta and Chinese sauce for frying the rice noodles.
I took some photos of the small museum with the old exhibition of models of the restaurant and old souvenirs. This was the first Thai restaurant that was very well organised and managed with clear mission; it reminded of an English football club! The design of the kitchen was very interesting; visitors could observe how PadThai noodles were cooked. These cooks showed great skills and precision in cooking each pan full of noodles.
The manager was very polite and accommodating; he answered all my questions and showed me the ready to cook PadThai with various ready made sauces. This restaurant had raised ordinary PadThai to a much higher standard of expectation. It used very little oil in cooking while the noodles were not easily broken into bits like ordinary PadThai noodles. This was the first time I tasted the premium PadThai with top quality ingredients. This made it very cumbersome when I had my regular PadThai at various street food plaza. My brain would make a comparison between what was and what should have been! This prevented me from enjoying each unique experience of eating PadThai.
I ought to be able to make the best of all living experience in the present without making any intellectual judgement. To be one with PadThai and the moment in time would be truly awakened for the mind and direct perception of reality. So, PadThai could enable me to be one with the world whine seeing the beauty of living life in the moment without jumping back to past experience. Why pining over what had past and no more! So, I ate my regular PadThai with appreciation and gratitude for having the chance to be alive in the present moment.
Wishing you peace, good health and prosperity.
Stay strong and cheerful.
@dswigle