Technically I’m about 2 weeks late for a New Years post but it’s been tough getting back into things after an extended break. I was feeling SO burnt out in December and when I lose the will to even do the things I love like desiging, I know it’s time to step away and recharge. This meant a lot of sleeping and eating.
So to kick the year off on the blog, let’s talk food! Christine, her hubby, my boyfriend and I went out for a NYE dinner at Maenam here in Vancouver. Maenam, which translates to “mother water” serves incredibly authentic Thai dishes and for NYE, they had a chef’s menu for $55. My experience with set menus has been mixed (sometimes a poor mini version of the real deal) but they blew it out of the water. Because of the way the menu was structured and there being four of us, we managed to try 12 different dishes!
First course:
grilled qualicum jumbo scallops (hoi yang)
served with the roe on the shell with nahm jim sauce
chicken and lobster in golden egg nets (latiang)
caramelized shredded coconut, kaffir lime leaf, coriander
For the second course we had two kinds of soup: muslim oxtail soup (sup hang wu) – braised oxtail, orange zest, asian celery, vietnamese mint and a hot and sour soup of lobster and turmeric (tom som goong mangkorn) – light and aromatic, good balance of the earthiness of turmeric and dill. We were so excited to dig in that I didn’t manage to get any pictures!
Next up, the mains:
green mango salad with grilled albacore tuna (yum mamuang pla tu na)
toasted cashew nuts, sliced green mangos, lime zest
sweet pork belly salad (yum moo wan)
caramelized pork belly, mint, coriander, toasted coconut
stir-fried halibut with sator (pad phed gamp la sator)
pungent with turmeric flavours and aromas with bitter sator beans
stir-fried pork cheeks (pad cha muu tom beut)
wild ginger, green pepper corn, crispy pork cheeks
panaeng curry of maple hills chicken (panaeng gai)
one of the most famous curries, rich with peanuts, salty and sweet
mussaman curry of lamb shank (mussaman nong gat)
toasted peanuts, perfumed with lots of dried spices balanced with pineapples and pearl onions
For dessert we had two choices:
maenam’s nam tang sai
our version of the popular street side dessert. shaved coconut sorbet, candied thai fruit, jasmine perfumed pandanus syrup
Not sure the name of this but it was chocolately with mango ice cream and coconut
As you can see it was a total feast and really, that’s the best way to ring in the new year. Great food and great company. This is going to be a big year for us and I can’t wait to share all the new projects we have in the works!
Hope you enjoyed the food porn,
~ Cassie
{ images taken by Cassie }
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
my fav was the shaved ice. so refreshing!