Jok Pochana

We dragged our pummeled bodies out of bed and headed out for Jok Pochana, dodging street cafes that were springing up by the second. The hyper-refrigerated cake and pastry shop looked tempting, as did the roti shop, but getting to the crossroads of Phra Atit to play dodge car with the lights and traffic was more important. We sat down at Jok Pochana, in full swing with the dinner rush...lots of take out. The food is country style and very popular among the Issan diaspora...workers who have moved from the northern areas populated by Lao refugees and decendants of Lao who were inadvertently converted to Thai when the border between Thailand and Laos was redrawn at the close of the 19th century. They have a distinct language, food, and music, the lilting strains of malam. This is the food we love. In my jet-lagged, massage sodden brain, I mistook the sign for Shisha, 300 baht, for shushi, a delicious crispy fried fish with a spicy sweet sauce over it. Of course the cook had to come over and try to figure out just what the hell I wanted. I was well into my Beer Lao by that time and Muzzy was consummed by getting a photo of the other cook making the spectacularly delcious pak boon fai dang, a flamming concoction that could make a meaningful photograph. I switched gears and ordered the garlic pepper squid that I remembered from our last trip. The pak boon, fried morning glories, arrived with a smokey flavor adding to the oyster sauce and garlic. But the next dish blew us away. Muzzy put away his camera and we concentrated on the fried duck with onions in chili oil with a delicate halo of crispy basil leaves over the top. OH MY GOD...run, don't walk to Jok Pochana, the best kept secret of Bangkok's prodigious street food! We lucked out with one icey cold Beer Leo and one typically warm one...we shared. And now, we are crashing, seriously. More adventures tomorrow. Night All!