Best lightly fried, Cambodians can't get enough crickets
Published in on 14 July 2005
PHUM THUN MONG, Cambodia - By day, the expanse of emerald rice fields look like ordinary, peaceful paddies. But when dusk falls, sheets of plastic unfurl from bamboo frames, electric blue neon tubes flicker on, and hordes of Cambodian crickets are lured to untimely, watery deaths....more

Bangkok's French connection
Published in Expression on 1 December 2001
“Perhaps more than anything else, it is the French chef’s willingness to question and build on the past, to innovate, to revise, that has kept French cuisine pre-eminent among western cuisines…” So says the Oxford Companion to Food under its entry for France. ...more

Tasteful education
Published in Where on 1 September 2001
If the name Cabbages and Condoms isn't enough to channel your imagination in the right direction, you'll get a better idea of what's to come as you enter this popular Thai restaurant. A small wooden fertility shrine greets visitors, complete with small sculptures of the famed monkeys who see no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil - only in this set there's a fourth monkey, demurely covering his nether regions with his paws....more

A new take on tradition
Published in Living in Thailand on 1 September 2001
It's about polishing a traditional concept a little, bringing it line with people's changing tastes while also subtly improving on it. ...more

Best buys in a shrinking market
Published in thaifin.com on 14 July 2001
As the baht slides against the US dollar, Californian winemakers are feeling the pinch in Thailand. ?We cannot say that Californian wine represents good value for money anymore,? says Uthorn Budhijalananda from The Wine Cellar. ?For good value you cannot compare them to Australian and Chilean wines right now. But compared to many French wines, they are still quite reasonably priced and good.?...more

Be good to yourself … but enjoy
Published in Living in Thailand on 1 July 2001
The garden is dotted with the deep purples and whites of Thai orchids here and there; a fountain gurgles and a cat lounges on the well-kept lawn. If health stems from a feeling of tranquility, then the Whole Earth is well on its way to keeping customers happy right from the start....more

Time out for tea
Published in thaifin.com on 1 July 2001
While coffee shops are opening in Bangkok almost by the day, teahouses are quietly going about the business of what they?ve always done: serving tea, properly. ...more

Chile stakes its claim to variety in value-for-money wines
Published in The Bangkok Post on 28 May 2001
Chilean wines are readily available on the Thai market - they really boomed here about four years ago - and many still represent excellent value for money in a market where the total overall tax is now nearly 400 per cent. Bangkok Fine Wine's Jonathan Glonek says, "For about 400 baht or under in Bangkok I always advise the following: If you like Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc buy Chilean; if you like rich Shiraz and buttery Chardonnay buy Australian."...more

Small country, ambitious wines
Published in thaifin.com on 20 May 2001
The New Zealand wine industry took its first steps back in 1819, but has grown most dramatically over the past decade. Last year the New World country's wine-makers sold NZ$168.8 million worth of wine to the world, a nearly tenfold increase on the 1990 figure of $18.4 million. And although not much of it is coming to Thailand, internationally-acclaimed New Zealand wine is definitely worth seeking out here for that special occasion....more

Uncorking value for money
Published in The Bangkok Post on 2 April 2001
"To take wine into our mouths is to savour a droplet of the river of human history," wrote Clifton Fadiman. If that's the case, to partake in human history is an expensive endeavour for those living in Thailand. The problem is certainly not that you can't buy some excellent wines here - you can. But by the time you add together excise, customs, interior and value-added taxes, you're looking at a whopping 335 per cent tax on an item that many health experts now agree can be beneficial in moderate amounts....more

Bangkok cooking schools
Published in thaifin.com on 2 April 2001
Whether you're an accomplished chef or you admit that you're a failure in the kitchen, taking a cooking class is a good way to learn how to whip up something new and delicious in the kitchen. And once you enjoy cooking instead of finding it a chore, chances are you'll save money by dining in more frequently....more

A meal fit for a warrior
Published in The Nation on 2 March 2001
"This is not like any other Japanese restaurant," claims the Pathumwan Princess's general manager, Stanley Pao, of the hotel's new Nabe-Ya. "This is a trendy, contemporary restaurant, where you can have the fun experience of cooking by yourself."...more

The rhythm's gonna getcha
Published in Living in Thailand on 1 February 2001
"We are authentic," says Vicente Lerro Fong, director of Cubanos, the latest Latin venue to hit Bangkok. "We have authentic Cuban food, Cuban cocktails, Cuban cigars, a Cuban band …"...more

An authentic taste of Thailand
Published in Living in Thailand on 1 December 2000
With its soft opening on November 1, the Hotel Plaza Athenee has put Wireless Rd back into focus for those with their fingers on the pulse of the hotel scene. And with the new hotel, of course, comes several additions to the Bangkok wining and dining scene - in fact no less than five new restaurants and four bars have thrown open their doors....more

The taste of Takumi
Published in Expression on 1 October 2000
Takumi: it means skilful and clever in Japanese. And it’s an apt name for this stylish restaurant, tucked away on the second floor of the vast Merchant Court Hotel. ...more

East-west fusion
Published in Living in Thailand on 1 September 2000
When the chef has tried some 600 combinations of ingredients to make the best possible Indian naan bread – with a Western twist – you know the restaurant under their charge has got to be special....more

Water works
Published in Living in Thailand on 1 July 2000
If there’s one ‘national’ cuisine that you may not have thought of trying in Bangkok, it’s perhaps that of Taiwan. ...more

Secluded rendezvous
Published in The Nation on 9 June 2000
You can choose the restaurant, but you can’t choose who sits at the table next to you. We were squeezed between a table with a blonde Australian woman in pink, who announced to the restaurant – and her subdued companions - her reasons for becoming a vegetarian, and a table of Americans who were screeching less loudly but no less obtrusively about shows in New York. A few Thais chatted in hushed tones in a corner, hopefully unaware of their dining cohorts’ bad manners....more

The latin connection
Published in Expression on 1 April 2000
I have a theory about why the Latino craze originally kicked off in Thailand: it was the Ricky Martin-World Cup connection. With literally millions of Thais glued to their screens for the biggest soccer event on earth way back in 1998, it was perhaps inevitable that they would be seduced by the Puerto Rican’s rhythmic rumblings. ...more

All material copyright Samantha Brown 1997-2005