I know about sloe gin - and prefer Gordon's - but have only just
discovered Slow Food. It seems that some 14 years ago in Europe, some folk
who live-to-eat rather than eat-to-live reacted against fast food, not
by smashing up their local McDonald's, but adopting the edible snail as
their logo and winning converts worldwide.
Slowly fighting "the bland, the bad and the boring" of the
culinary world, there are now 60,000 Slow Food zealots - with an
extra 300 a month joining the table in the USA alone. A lobbying office
(pressure cooker?) has sprouted in Brussels, there's a quarterly magazine
in 5 languages and a 'slow binge' in Turin every 2 years. The most recent
5-day 2000 'Salon of Taste' was attended by over 130,000, the population
of a small European city.
Expats and visitors alike hoped along to open the new burrow
that is Bunny Club on December 12th. Down at the east end of Loi
Kroh, German Hans gave a free buffet to celebrate the Il Colosseo re-birth
as a smart n'cosy night spot. Free pool and billiard, as they say, much,
much more.
Guests of Hans
(he's the tall one at the back) included his mother Heida, man-about-golf
Alastair McManus (2nd right) and -bon viveur extraordinaire- Jeff Sanger.
Paradoxically, the beefeaters (another good gin!) might even save a
dying breed of cattle by eating more of them! An Italian producer of pedigree
Piedmontese, which have meat as low in cholesterol as skinless chicken,
took 250 orders in the first 2 days of the show and is charging to stardom.
Look out for a campaign named Ark of Taste and a website coming
soon.
Focaccia, the traditional flat bread from Tuscany, was another
hit at the binge above and prompted me to try Focaccia, the smart
Italian-style eaterie next to J.J. Bakery at Chiang Inn Plaza. Along
came the fluffy, slightly herby wedge of bread with a sliced olive baked
on top, and inside a generous filling of chicken, cheese, ham and salad.
A tasty, totally adequate lunch for 70b while my partner revelled in her
fruit salad with yoghurt and honey at the same price. Suss it yourself!
Happy Bar, Moonmuang Rd, Soi 2, celebrated it's 1st birthday
last month and ever-happy Khun Kaek laid on tasty free vittals and a seriously
good pool tournament. After some time in the doldrums, places like this
seem to be breathing new life into Soi 2.
* Only 3 or 4 kms south of the city on the Old Lamphun Road is a place
where you can catch a fish, then relax with a drink or two until it's cooked
to your specification. By The Pond is a unique idea from Khun Tim,
where you pay just 100b to fish all day in the shade of a bamboo hut. Night
time karaoke is on hand to round off a novel experience.
* Just 80b buys you a memorable 'Indian set' at Viking Bar, Moon
Muang soi 9, a serious challenge in that area of low cost food from the
sub-continent. Khun Natiya has sensational chicken curry, as mild or hot
as you like, and a poppadum and nan bread inclusive which would shame many
an air-con glass-front place.
* So it's goodbye, then, to Le Milord, the allegedly up-market
French eaterie on Old Lamphun Road, which failed to survive the long low
season. I'm normally sad to see any enterprise fail, but can make an exception
for a man who never paid for his decor, let alone his advertising. Someone
should have told him: my-rawd in Thai means'unlikely to succeed'!
* And it's au revoir to a certain popular saloonkeep in the Thapae Gate
area. His well established late night bar is on the block and the 3 storey
shophouse in which it sits has a very low rent. It's in the next 'Lonely
Planet' so, interested parties, call David Hardy at this magazine for more.
It's from the one and only Bernard Trink
in the 'Bangkok Post':
Just because you think you're a good
person it doesn't mean that life has to be good to you. You may be a vegetarian,
but the bull doesn't know that when he charges at you!
Night
Fowl
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