Wat Thai Temple - North Hollywood

Had a fantastic experience yesterday at the Wat Thai Temple's Loy Krathong Festival. I've been to the usual food court they have on weekends, but this was something special. Thanks to Curt for the heads up post last week. There were food vendors galore, selling everything from pad thai, noodle soups, satays, and durian ice cream. There were things I haven't seen or heard of before. The music, the aromas -- it was like being transported to Thailand; we felt we weren't in the Valley anymore!

Here's a rundown of what we tried. If you know what these dishes are called in Thai, please educate me, as I would like to know:

1. We started with a tasty fried dish of wide, flat rice noodles stir-fried with dark soy sauce (and fish sauce) with greens and chicken. Noodles were chewy and had a nice bite; the greens were still crunchy and fresh.

2. Chicken and pork satay. Sweet with a nice barbecue char around the edges. Would've been killer if they came with a peanut sauce.

3. Shrimp ball stick. Delectably shrimpy, kind of like dim sum on a stick.

4. Mussels fried with glutinous rice flour and egg, on a bed of bean sprouts. This is a textural dream -- crunchy caramelized fried edges, chewy, with seafood flavor all complemented with the freshness of the crisp bean sprouts.

5. Seafood rice noodle soup, with slices of fish cake, some crunchy white fungus, and bits of fried tofu. The broth was a light pink from the sweet and sour chili sauce they put in. Delicious and refreshing with a little bit heat.

6. Crunchy battered fried bananas, taro and sweet potato.

7. Kanom krok. Tasty, small morsels of pan cooked batter made of rice flour and coconut milk. Amazing combination of sweet and savory flavors.

At this point, our bellies had reached their limits, although I would've wanted to try the papaya salad and the minced pork wrapped in rice flour batter...

NOTE: AS OF AUGUST 12, 2007, THE WAT THAI TEMPLE NO LONGER HOLDS ITS WEEKEND FOOD FAIR.