Pork Noodle soup without noodles เกาเหลาหมู (kao lao moo), 30 Baht

Rice Porridge with Pork โจ้ก (jóhk), 25 Baht

Pad Thai is one of my favourite Thai dishes and so I am always on the lookout for better recipes or variations. This one is certainly different. It is like the normal Pad Thai but it's wrapped in an omelette. It is called Pad Thai Hor Kai (ผัดไทห่อไข่). From what I can tell, the ingredients are all exactly the same, but instead of mixing the egg with the fried noodles, everything is wrapped in the omellete.

In the old days, you could go to any McDonalds restaurant around the world and you could be certain to get virtually the same menu. Burgers and french fries were always the main items. However, in Thailand, they keep adapting the menu for Thai tastes. This started with Fried Chicken Wings and Chicken Burgers as Thai people love deep fried chicken. But, it now includes rice meals. Their latest is "McD Namtok Rice" which is a popular Isaan meal. For the meat, they are giving you three choices, pork, beef or chicken.

One of my favourite Thai food dishes is definitely "pad thai". The recipe and taste does vary a bit but the ingredients are often nearly always the same. Recently I have found some shops selling some alternatives to using noodles in this dish. The most notable was one using green papaya. Then the other day I found a shop selling this one. It is Pad Thai with Deep Fried Wontons (ผัดไทเกี๊ยวกรอบ) and it cost 35 Baht. It was certainly strange having the mixture without any noodles. It was a bit like eating nachos instead of pad thai. I am not sure if I was thrilled about it but it did make a change.

This week saw the start of the Chinese New Year. On the day before, people set up tables and small shrines in front of their house as an offering to the gods. They were also burning paper money, clothes, gold and even an iPad.  Later in the day they make another offering of food, this time for the ancestors.

At school they probably had one of the biggest feasts laid out for the Gods in my area. Maybe with the expectation that they will receive great merit in return. Each of the food items have special meaning. For example: glass noodles (longevity), chicken (dignity), duck (cleanliness and harmony), pig (abundance), fish (wealth and fertility), oranges (affluence), pear (good fortune) and gourd (abundance). So they pick and choose the food carefully.

After paying respect to the deities, the burning incense sticks are then placed in each of the plates of food. Each person does this three times so they end up lighting three sets of incense sticks. This number is linked to how the Chinese bow three times to their elders and images of their ancestors. In fact, every part of this ceremony has meaning from the time it starts to the layout of the food. Nothing is random. For Gods there should be one rice bowl in front of the incense bowl. Then there are four rows of food: vegetarian dishes, meat dishes, fruits and desserts.

Furthest away from the incense bowl are the stack of paper clothing and gold and silver papers. Once all of the food has been offered to the Gods, then it is time to burn the paper offerings. This starts with the paper clothing and paper money. And then the gold and silver paper. There was also paper mobile phones and even cars. At the completion the firecrackers were set off. Nothing is wasted. The householders can now eat the food themselves, though often this is donated to friends and neighbours.

Honey roasted duck on rice (ข้าวหน้าเป็ด - เป็ดอบน้ำผึ้ง). Only 30 Baht. They also do on noodles. The shop is in Samrong on Sukhumwit Road between Soi 109 & 111 on the left hand side as you come from Bangkok (13.653055 100,598611).

If you want to see more food that we are eating in restaurants in Samut Prakan Province, then visit our Facebook page.

One of the good things about travelling to the Northeast of Thailand is the variety of food. Always nice to have something different. Some of the provinces near the Mekong River have many Vietnamese immigrants and this shows in their food. This breakfast is Kai Gat Ta, which is a pan fried egg. As you can see, they also serve it to you in your own pan. I had this for breakfast in Nakhon Phanom.

Designed for lovers of Thai Food, particularly for those travelling or living in Thailand.  You will be able to confidently order from non tourist restaurants that don't have an English menu or any English speaking staff. Simply show the waiter the photo & name in Thai script or even play the audio.

This week sees the launch of the third iPhone app that helps people buy Thai food (see my reviews for Thai Food Flashcards and Thai Food Guide). This new one is called "Thai Talking Food Menu" and in my opinion is the best of the bunch. Although it is not as comprehensive as I would like to see, it has everything that you would need from a Thai food menu decoder. The first screen gives you the different categories such as: deep fried, stir-fried, noodles, curries, salads, soups and rice. In the above example, I clicked on "noodles" where I was presented with a list of different noodle dishes. As you can see, there is a thumbnail picture of the dish, and the name in Thai, romanization and English.

Click on the food that you are interested in and you are taken to a new page where you can see a bigger picture and a bit of information about this dish. What makes this app better than the others is that it also has sound clips. So, you have the choice of either showing the picture to the food vendor or having a go at saying the name of the dish. If you are not sure what you want to eat you can click on the "Top 20" tab for some suggestions. Another feature that I really like is the talking dictionary. This is sorted into categories such as: noodles, meats, flavour, drinks and requests. Click on any of the words to hear a native Thai speaker. In the request section there are useful phrases such as "no chilli" and "do put in MSG".

At present there are about 70 or so dishes listed. I have already spoken to the developer about future improvements and he said he already has a plan to add more dishes. He said that he is only restricted by the number of photos he has in his private library. I actually like this app so much, and the potential that it has to be invaluable, that I will be offering the developer free access to my own extensive photo library of Thai street food. There is no doubt that "Thai Talking Food Menu will prove to be the most useful iPhone app for lovers of Thai food.

Download for $1.99 at the iTunes store >>>