LA food diary.
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LA food diary.
Some of you know I’m a big fan of LA food. I think that dollar for dollar you get a tremendous amount of cuisines, varieties of foods, in this melting pot which feels to me like it has far more immigrant and working class food than the Bay Area. Even the density and quality of ‘fancy food’ is high!
I’m keeping a record of my LA 2024 discoveries.
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1. Lacha Somtum, Thai town
You know how in most Thai restaurants you get just one mango salad and one papaya salad? At Lacha you get the whole range of Isaan papaya salads.
I mean, just look at this menu. It’s a whole page of somtum. I love the ones with raw crab. They get marinated like a ceviche. And pretty much absorb all the heat. So when you eat it it’s like a heat brain freeze. I’m addicted to it. The one here is exceptional
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I let my Thai friend do the ordering.
The papaya salad was exceptional; the raw crab (which he kindly let me have) was so good it tasted like a scallop ceviche. One of the best I’ve had outside Thailand. I don’t often get these serious and intense flavors elsewhere. Even in other Thai spots.
The Isaan sausages were very good so was all the larb. The duck larb came with crispy duck chicharon which was a nice touch.
Eat with sticky rice!
lachasomtum.com
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@skinnylatte OMG that all looks amazing!
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@skinnylatte regardless of what's on the menu - I always ask Thai places if they have som tam poo (with the raw/salted crab). If they have it great! If not I hope it gets them to think it would sell...
(I daresay I've gotten really good and spicy papaya salads even without the crab, I like to think it's perhaps because I ventured to ask about the crab) -
@jackyan burp
going for char kway teow later
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King Harbor Seafood. On Harbor just north of 22.
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@Littlebobbytables thanks!
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Q: will Thai places like these be vegan friendly? No
Go to a vegan specific Thai restaurant. None of this food is easily modified. Telling a Thai chef not to use fish sauce is like telling any chef not to use salt. It's also built into the food prep and not easily changed
Go to Salaya, Bulan instead. Just note that the food will be more fusion-y and.. nowhere as spicy!
Vegetarian Thai places will be less fusiony and more Thai-ish, imho (catering to more Buddhist Thais) just ask for 'jay'
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@jackyan @skinnylatte haven’t found any quality Thai food in NZ thus far. Now I want to fly to Thailand or LA to eat. Hungry!
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@skinnylatte this is perfection.
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@skinnylatte I was so thankful when I found a veggie friendly Thai place in Tokyo, they were in the basement of a tower near Tokyo station and when I ordered a tofu dish they asked me if egg was ok!!! I was pleasantly shocked!!!
Appreciate the ‘Jay’ tip, that’s hugely helpful!!
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@moss look for the Chinese character like here in the top left (from a Thai vegetarian religious festival)
And this is also a good resource with audio that helps with pronunciation
The Essential Thai Language Guide for Vegans & Vegetarians
Are you a vegan or vegetarian traveling in Thailand? Don't leave home without learning these essential Thai vegan phrases. Includes audio.
The Thailand Life | Award-Winning Thai Blog (www.thethailandlife.com)
Especially since diff people might have diff understandings of what is veg and what isn’t
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@skinnylatte Thank you thank you!!!
I’m personally fairly flexible in my eating when abroad, especially by way of fish sauce & broth ingredients, but this is really helpful (and I kinda want to attend this festival now, heyloooo delicious!)
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@moss i really like this guy's channel
he speaks in mandarin but there are probably subs
he's a buddhist in malaysia and he makes a lot of malaysian chinese foods that are veg (you'd almost never get veg versions of it unless you make it yourself like him) and he also goes to a lot of temples where he shows the kitchens preparing things like veg char siew
just far more advanced than like just subbing things out with 'impossible' style plant based stuff lol
家庭煮父 Vegepapa
Hi!大家好!我是家庭煮父!也是一个蛋奶素食者!2019年开始把影片上载至YouTube这也是一个推广素食的频道喔!将我所会的,都一一透过影片来与大家分享!希望借此能把更多素食菜肴分享给大家接下来我会分享更多关于✭素食烹饪〜✭素食美食介绍 ♣生活小魔术♣希望大家会喜欢啦〜 订阅及分享就是给《家庭煮父》最大的鼓励...
YouTube (www.youtube.com)
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@sumisu3 This is like Chinese food. People ask me, ‘Where’s the nearest place for some quality Chinese food?’ and I reply, ‘Maxim’s at Hong Kong Airport.’
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@jackyan @skinnylatte in my case for Chinese food fortunately it is my wife’s cooking. This part I’m lucky. And having just recently returned from Taiwan and having eaten way too much for 10 days I also feel spoiled. But darn I want some good Thai food. Might have to try to cook some stuff myself as best I can.
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2. Borneo Kalimantan (Borneo Eatery on Google maps), Alhambra.
A restaurant I must visit when I’m here. It is, by far, the best Indonesian / Malaysian / Singaporean food I’ve had anywhere in California (I keep trying, and I keep being disappointed, but this place never disappoints).
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@skinnylatte omg that pempek you're gonna make me cry