Night market, Hua Hin

Hua Hin is a small town situated on the north east gulf of Thailand. Being a coastal town, seafood features strongly on all menus. The night market has all the usual bling, but the seafood on offer is the highlight.

The night market is held is held on Dechanuchit Rd, and the stall on the corner of Srasong Rd, out the front of the Siam commercial Bank, is my favourite.

I first visited this place 2 years ago, and it was great to see that nothing has changed. It is still run by the same family. The whole street is filled with stalls selling super fresh seafood, and they are all vying for your dollar. I was first attracted to this particular stall as they were the only ones without a tout out the front. It was like they had a quiet confidence in what they were doing, and left it up to you to make up your own mind. I have never regretted it.

On my recent visit, the hot n' sour prawn salad brought tears to my eyes, and big smiles to all the staff, especially the chef. The salad, Aus$3, is made up of lightly poached prawns, lemongrass, mint, shallots, scud chillies, lime juice and fish sauce. The prawns are poached in stock for a matter of seconds, before being tossed with the remainder of ingredients. Super fresh simplicity. Another night I devoured a green curry of prawns, Aus$4, filled with thai eggplant, shallots, scuds and kaffir lime leaves, which also left me reaching for my beer. Although it was sensationally hot, I had to finish all of it as the flavour was addictive.

Hopefully I can return again in the not too distant future.

Siam Winery, Floating Vineyards in Thailand

I was fortunate enough to be shown around the winery and the nearby floating vineyards. The winery is itself a state of the art complex with an ultra modern tasting room.

The "floating" vineyards are quite unique. The vines are planted on raised soil beds that are surrounded by channels of water. The water level varies according to the season. One interesting concept is the way the vines are trained into a pergola to form a canopy of leaves, thus protecting the grapes being scorched by the sun. Another noticeable difference is that there are 2 vintages per year.

Of the wines I sampled, the two stand-outs for me were the Monsoon Valley Malaga Blanc and the Monsoon Valley Pokdum.

The Malaga Blanc, a grape originally from the south of France, is a light bodied wine with a crisp and fresh finish. It would go well with a variety of seafood dishes, especially salads, and also a green curry. The Pokdum, a grape originating in Thailand, had some lovely spicey characters and is medium bodied. It would also go well with a variety of spicy dishes , especially a Thai beef salad or a Red duck curry.

All the wines produced by Siam Winery are made with the Thai cuisine in mind. You can organize a visit to the winery and have a matching food and wine luncheon. It was a wonderful experience visiting the winery and I would especially like to thank Ms. Waraphorn and Ms Kae for their immense hospitality.

Night market in Hua Hin

The night market is held is held on Dechanuchit Rd, and the stall on the corner of Srasong Rd, out the front of the SiamCommercial Bank, is my favourite.

I first visited this place 2 years ago, and it was great to see that nothing has changed. It is still run by the same family. The whole street is filled with stalls selling super fresh seafood, and they are all vying for your dollar. I was first attracted to this particular stall as they were the only ones without a tout out the front. It was like they had a quiet confidence in what they were doing, and left it up to you to make up your own mind. I have never regretted it.

On my recent visit, the hot n' sour prawn salad brought tears to my eyes, and big smiles to all the staff, especially the chef. The salad, Aus$3, is made up of lightly poached prawns, lemongrass, mint, shallots, scud chillies, lime juice and fish sauce. The prawns are poached in stock for a matter of seconds, before being tossed with the remainder of ingredients. Super fresh simplicity.

Another night I devoured a green curry of prawns, Aus$4, filled with thai eggplant, shallots, scuds and kaffir lime leaves, which also left me reaching for my beer. Although it was sensationally hot, I had to finish all of it as the flavour was addictive.

Hopefully I can return again in the not too distant future.