Last night I caught up with some girlfriends (who are also food enthusiasts like myself) and we had a wonderful time at a surprising little restaurant called Rambutan. We had to order their signature dishes, highly recommended by both my friend and the waitress. I was delighted with the explosion of tastes. These were my favourites of the evening.
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| betel leaf with tea-smoked trout and chilli eggplant relish |
Amazing and addictive, this dish definitely had to have kapi (กะปิ) in it. I would be very surprised if it didn't. I absolutely loved it for the saltiness, and pungent aroma. Personally, I would add shredded fresh pineapple as well (although my friend disagrees).
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| fried soft shell crab in coconut served with a spicy dipping sauce |
OMG! How do I recreate this dipping sauce? The soft shell crab was crispy, moist and light. Although the coconut batter made me think of it more as a sweet dish rather than savoury, I absolutely loved the dipping sauce which I was happy to have on it's own. Just give me a bowl of steamed rice with this sauce any day. That would be a meal right there.
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| crispy duck w sweet rambutan, eschallot, garlic and tamarind sauce |
I was expecting the crispy duck to come out differently. I would have preferred duck breast or thigh rather than drumsticks. There was very little meat however the sauce was very different and balanced our meal well. The sauce had a smokey flavour which meshed well with the tangy tamarind and sweet rambutan. There was another flavour that I couldn't quite make out, something reminiscent of Chinese 5-spice powder, possibly star anise or cloves. I'd like to try this dish at home with pork belly.
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