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Gourmet Visits TRIPLE N RESTAURANT

I was waiting to have lunch with a friend I'd met the week before in a Karen village in Chiang Rai. There, after a series of language exchange sessions, the one Thai word she learnt very quickly was aroy - 'good tasting'

"But if you want to say the food is really delicious," I told her, "you say aroi mak."

Kelsy was a new girl in town so I asked her to meet me at the ‘Triple N,' a perfect meeting place because it was so easy to find. Located almost opposite the tha Phae Gate on the corner of Ratchadamnoen and Moonmuang Roads, the restaurant is a part of the famous Montri Hotel, one of the best-known hotels in town. I always recommend my friends to stay here because it's a comfortable, clean and convenient place from which we can go off on night adventures and to shopping places easily. Most importantly, it is inexpensive. Staying here is nothing short of a perfect dream. Plus, this restaurant serves from 6.30 am. to 11 pm, so it's quite convenient for appointments at either breakfast, lunch, or dinner time.

I was there too early so I headed first to the high speed Internet corner inside the restaurant. Too bad I didn't bring my lap top for they also had wi-fi network at work here. Ten minutes later I finished checking my email and yet Kelsy hadn't arrived so I went to look for a table. I would have chosen the lovely terrace area outside if the sun had not been so hot. Instead, I chose to sit inside the air-conditioned room. And by this time I was beginning to develop an appetite.

Hoping she wouldn't mind if I started first, I gave the ‘Triple N Fried Shrimp' a try. I always work on the principle that any food that bears the restaurant's name should be the star of the place and hence a guarantee of excellence. And if it does not work 100% of the time, it's not totally unreliable.

And yes this time it worked! Imagine a perfect combination of Thai's shrimp powder cake wrapped in Chinese-style spring roll, then deep-fried, with either sweet or sour mayonnaise on top.

Kelsy burst in when I was reaching out for the third piece. We greeted and chatted about how each of us coped with returning to the world of 24-hour electricity. She looked as cheerful and carefree as ever.

We studied the menu and could see they had a really wide range of delicacies from Thai to Western Food, as well as dishes for the health-conscious. This gave me a hard time because I wanted to try brown rice salad but Chicken Cordon Bleu was the most recommended dish there. So, as I was hesitating, Kelsy suggested we ordered both and then share the food as we did in the village. Thanks to her good idea and the Thai custom of sharing dishes, we both agreed after the first bite that we'd made the right decision.

The ‘brown rice salad' was divine. The rice alone was special as it had a much better taste than the normal white rice, quite apart from its higher nutritious value. As well, to make it a healthy salad dish, they added raisins, garden peas, sweet corn and carrots, all of which blended in the most mellow way possible.

The salad was just an opening act before the main star, ‘Chicken Cordon Bleu,' came on stage. I was running out of words to praise this dish so I asked Kelsy, if she could think of any words that would be appropriate in describing this fantastic taste.

"Of course, I have," she answered, "just say ‘aroi mak!'"

And it became the word of the day. We couldn't help but repeat it through the whole meal. And since Kelsy wanted to pronounce the phrase better, we made another appointment for a visit here later.

Dina Diva