Gastronomic adventures with iago

You will definitely find a Patonggo stall at many morning or evening markets in Thailand. Its shape might look funny to you - two breadsticks stuck together. The way to eat it is to tear it into pieces then dip it into your coffee, rice porridge or whatever else you are having. Eat it however you like.

Even though there are many stalls selling Patonggo, it doesn’t mean all of them are good. People might not take it seriously as it is just fried dough but a good Patonggo can make a difference. It’s supposed to be crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. If you found a very chewy one, that is bad Patonggo.

On Tanow road, near Rajchadamnoen Road, there is one small shop that has been selling Patonggo for over 30 years. Wan is taking care of her parents’ recipe.

Tell me about your shop.

We have been open for over 30 years since my parents’ generation. This street wasn’t as busy as it is today.

What’s your secret?

Our Patonggo is crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. Even if it gets cold, it’s still delicious and not chewy. We also use good quality flour and fry them in new oil everyday so that’s why they are savoury.

What goes well with your Patonggo?

We have our homemade pandan mustard, sweet condensed milk and soybean milk. But our Patonggo themselves are great already.

Do you have some foreign customers?

There are some Asian customers like Chinese because this food is originally from China. So they are familiar with it. Most of our customers are Thais because they already know what time we are open. The morning period is 6 a.m. – 9 a.m. and evening period is 4 p.m. until 9 p.m. everyday.

Surawuth (or Nun) is a second generation. His family has been operating this stall for 60 years at this very spot. This is the oldest Khao Sia Po stall in Bangkok (or perhaps even in Thailand). He only has four tables for customers which are enough since most customers order take-out.

What is Khao Sia Po?

Even though it’s Chiu Chow style food, the word itself is actually Thai. In the old days when people lost their money on gambling (Khao = Rice / Lose = Sia / Po = a kind of Thai gambling), they would come to the restaurant and order whatever meat left on rice. The dish usually comes with broth made from five spices. The word came from that.

So what meat do you put on?

There are some choices: duck meat, roasted red pork, crispy pork, innards and egg. You can order all or just some particular meat you like. If you wanted only crispy pork, it’s ok. But that wouldn’t be the real Khao Sia Po. I also have “duck and winter melon with pickle lime soup”. It helps to cut the grease.

What’s the secret of your food? This stall is already 60 years old.

I can’t tell you our secret recipe but let me put it this way: “if your food isn’t delicious, you won’t survive around here”.

Do you have many foreign customers?

I have some. I think they accidentally found my shop while walking around here just like you did because we are close to Chinatown too. I met some from Germany and Japan. They said they would recommend my place on some websites which I really don’t remember.

What do you like to do after work?

Just chilling at home and preparing ingredients for the next day. We open from 12.00 midday to 8 p.m. everyday. So I’d rather not do anything much after work.

Do you want to expand your shop?

No, this is enough for me. We have regular customers who know where the shop is and I live around here anyway. I don’t need a bigger shop. I’m comfortable with this.

Anyway, what do you think about our phone app?

Well, I’m a very low-tech person. From what I can tell it looks fun but do you have Khao Sia Po on your app too?