We went to Siam Namnueng at the newly opened Icon Siam shopping centre by the Chao Phraya river in Bangkok. Siam Namnueng is a family oriented restaurant serving both traditional Vietnamese and Thai cuisine.
We came to Icon Siam by river boat to experience Bangkok from the Chao Phraya river. I like to use Bangkok river boats whenever possible as they are very convenient, efficient and inexpensive (sometimes free) - no traffic jams and Bangkok look so differently beautiful from the boats. This is the view of the majestic Icon Siam mall from the pier as our boat pulled up alongside.
At the ground level of Icon Siam, there's Sook Siam featuring an indoor floating market with temples, long-tail boats, Thai pavilions and numerous street market style stalls selling traditional Thai snacks and handicrafts. (At the upper levels of the 6 storey modern shopping centre are all the international and top Thai names in fashion, consumer technology, and a huge classy Takashimaya department store.)
Siam Namnueng is a prominent double storey restaurant at Sook Siam styled like a large village house made with wood.
The decor is simple and clean, yet charming, welcoming and comfortable with wooden furniture and padded chairs.
Siam Namnueng sports an extensive menu - all familiar Vietnamese and Thai dishes. The menu has pictures and English, so ordering is easy even for visitors. We started with their popular Mixed Meat Fondue. It's a platter of lightly seasoned fish, shrimp, chicken and pork.
The dish comes with some fresh leafy greens and fresh coconut juice in a claypot on a wax burner. The meat is cooked by simply tossing them into the coconut juice fondue.
I like this Mixed Meat Fondue as it is clean tasting and I can taste the natural sweetness of the various meats.
At Siam Namnueng must of course taste their signature nam nueng. The dish consists of pork and spice wieners, vegetables (garlic, cucumber, pineapple, green banana, chili pepper, lettuce etc) and sauces.
Nam nueng is eaten by folding a piece of pork wiener with your choice of vegetables and sauce in a thin sheet of rice wrap. Each mouthful is a blend of savoury sweet flavours from all the ingredients. It is a mix of crunchy and soft textures.
Nam nueng reminds me of Korean ssambap (lettuce wraps) but with different ingredients and sauces. I wasn't full of enthusiasm at first as I was rather full already, but one bite of nam nueng and I couldn't stop.
The thing that struck me was this special sweet savoury nutty thick nam nueng sauce. It was really addictive and I was happily eating it neat.
Fresh Shrimp Spring Roll.
Nice fresh shrimp spring roll in a thin chewy rice wrap tightly packed with crunchy fresh vegetables, shrimp slices, egg and sweetish sauces.
Crepe with Pork, Shrimp and Vegetables.
Inside the feather light crispy egg crepe were crunchy fried bean sprouts, stir fried minced pork and slices of shrimp. Eaten with a coconut sauce with spicy cut chili pepper, raw onion etc.
Fried Shrimp Cake. Minced shrimp paste sandwiched between thin crepe fried to a crisp. Eaten with a zesty sweet plum sauce.
Grilled Streaky Pork served with vegetables and boiled rice vermicelli (bee hoon).
Fried Chicken Wings.
Vegetable Roll with Pork Sausage.
Siam Namnueng serves a good spicy sour Tom Yam Kung.
Som Tum zesty sourish spicy sweet papaya salad.
Simple tasty fried rice.
Recommended for you ๐ Lots of Thai and Vietnamese dishes (but no pho ๐ ), so it is a great place from singletons, couples to large groups. Dishes were all well executed with fresh ingredients. Flavours were well balanced - dishes were flavourful without overpowering sharp or off tastes, so go ahead and try everything ๐ There's no worry of burning your tongue while enjoying Thai and Vietnamese food culture here.
Restaurant name: Siam Namnueng
Address: Sook Siam, Ground level, Icon Siam, Bangkok, Thailand
GPS: 13°43'35.3"N 100°30'41.7"E ๐ 13.726476, 100.511579
Hours: 10:00am - 10:00pm
Non Halal
Date visited: 19 Oct 2019
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete