Flavours of Thai street food
It’s a drizzly Sunday evening but the overcast skies and sporadic bursts of rain do little to dampen the slow but steady stream of people traipsing in and out of a small Thai restaurant in Wellawatte. Situated directly opposite St. Peter’s College, Tom Yum is sandwiched in between the many buildings which speckle Galle Road. Apart from a token neon sign proclaiming its name, it doesn’t draw much attention to itself. There’s also little fanfare within the restaurant– diners are greeted by a blackboard with the day’s specials haphazardly scrawled on it and the ambience is casual– but this deceptively simple restaurant serves fresh, flavourful food and has slowly garnered a following amongst Thai food lovers in Colombo.
Tom Yum’s signature dishes: Pineapple Fried Rice and Tamarind Fish and left, inset, the restaurant on the Galle Road
Divanka, the affable owner of Tom Yum, is a familiar figure at the restaurant, stopping to make a casual recommendation here and there or enthusiastically greeting repeat customers. A firm enthusiast of Thai food, Divanka has a food ritual he abides by whenever he visits Thailand. The first thing he does when landing there is to make a beeline for a simple dish of steamed rice and phu pad pong gari – a stir-fried crab in curry powder. From the ubiquitous food carts which serve stir fries and soups with remarkable ease to night markets – the street food scene in Thailand is a vibrant one and an integral part of its everyday life.
Tom Yum, he explains, was started as a culinary experiment to bring the flavours of well-loved Thai street food to the streets of Colombo.“We don’t have food that is particular to a region,” says Divanka, referring to the regional variations and cultural hybrids of Thai cuisine. “It’s just any Thai food that we like. It can be from the north or the south, from along the Laos border or the Myanmar border – it could be from anywhere. If we like it, then that has found its way into the menu.”Divanka informs us that during the initial stages, the restaurant’s name was a toss-up between two well-known Thai dishes – Tom Yum or Som Tum.
The restaurant serves the standard fare that has become synonymous with Thai cuisine. Familiar dishes such as Pad Thai, Green and Red Curry and Som Tum-shredded green papaya tossed with tomatoes, green beans, dried shrimp, roasted peanuts and red chillies -occupy the menu. The restaurant’s culinary namesake, Tom Yum, is a fiendishly spicy seafood concoction tinged with the unmistakable flavours of lemongrass and fish sauce and is a favourite among those who have a penchant for spicy food. Leaning towards a seafood heavy menu, Tom Yum features dishes such as prawn toast (Rs. 450), garlic squid (Rs. 690), shrimp omelette (Rs. 350), steamed squid with lime sauce (Rs. 1100) as well as Massaman (Rs. 750), coconut milk soup with chicken (Rs. 650) and spicy minced chicken salad (Rs. 650).
Our pineapple fried rice arrives at the table in a hollowed out pineapple while steamed rice (Rs. 195) provides a gentle accompaniment for the phu pad pong gari (Rs. 890). The fried crab curry is generous with the crabmeat and is, thankfully, sans shell for the convenience of those of us who aren’t endowed with the rare talent of wielding a crab mallet and claw cracker gracefully. The fried fish with tamarind sauce (Rs. 2000) however, is the indubitable star. The tamarind sauce is a seesaw between the sour and sweet and is poured over a crisp, fried fish and topped with bird’s eye chili and coriander leaves. The dish is an unfussy, simple one which manages to hit all the right notes, while typifying the flamboyant flavours of Thai cooking.
Jokingly referred to as the CTO (Chief Taste Officer) of Tom Yum, Rom is the force behind the kitchen and is responsible for the bold flavours which Tom Yum serves up. Soft-spoken and petite, Rom flits between tables while keeping a firm eye on proceedings in the kitchen.
We return to Tom Yum a few weeks later for a preview of the restaurant’s latest addition to its menu – a barbeque salt fish. A whole fish which is stuffed with lemongrass and herbs, caked in salt and then grilled on a barbeque. The salt crust protects the skin of the fish and helps retains its flavour and is prised off when the fish is grilled to perfection.
Rom shows us the best way to eat the fish, tearing leaves of lettuce to form bite-sized cups and placing little beds of rice noodles with generous chunks of the tender fish. You can top it off with a few coriander leaves or one of two dipping sauces – a fiery hot chillie sauce (a heads-up – this is not for the faint hearted) or its more forgiving, slightly sweeter counterpart. A basil and pineapple blend or the Thai orange juice are welcome anodynes to balance the heat from the main dishes while sticky rice with mango (Rs. 500) and fried sliced bananas (Rs. 400) are some of Tom Yum’s sweet offerings.
Divanka remains firm to one culinary precept: from the portion sizes to the fiery flavours, the food is authentically and unabashedly true to its Thai roots. The restaurant was a leap of faith and has been an unceasing learning curve since its beginnings late last year. Food is a potent unifier, and Divanka confesses that one of the most gratifying aspects of opening up a restaurant have been getting acquainted with the people that have walked through the doors of Tom Yum.