Baan Somtum

Somtum or papaya salad is from Isaan, or the Northeast of Thailand. Most of the time, it comes in two variations: the fiery hot one with salty crabs or the slightly sweet-and-sour one with dried shrimps. In a rare occasion, at least in Bangkok, you can get somtum made with khanom jeen (fermented rice noodles) or with long beans or with julienned carrot. So, when we went to Baan Somtum on New Year this year, I was blown away with the selection! We could get somtum with pomelo, somtum with fruit, somtum with salted eggs, somtum with corn, and the list goes on for a page! We tried a few things, and they were delicious somtum, despite the unusual ingredients. You can see the somtum made right in the middle of restaurant. The restaurant also serves other Isaan dishes like Lab (minced meat salad in lime dressing), Namtok (grilled meat salad in lime dressing, Soob Nomai (bamboo shoot salad), but the quintessential grilled chicken is missing from the menu. That is made up for by the friend chicken. The logan drink comes with a pile of the sweet dried logan on top, not just a few you normally get. It is refreshing and calms the spiciness of the salad. The fruit-based desserts and the black jelly desert are all excellent and refreshing, a nice finish to a fiery lunch. The service is a bit uneven. Food comes in batches, and it was hard to get the servers’ attention. This place is clean, so it is a good place to try these dishes, better than risking at street vendors. The place is packed on New Year during lunch. I heard that it also draws the lunch crowd from the Financial District nearby. It may help to reserve a table. Cash only.

Everything on the menu is delicious. The crowd is predominantly Thai, the food is excellent and well priced. One or two of the wait staff speak English too. Be prepare to wait 15 mins for a table.