The Purple Pad Thai

Today is extra special, and not just because it is All Soul's Day. This also maks the day when I spawned and started to wreck havoc in humanity in my own little way. Spawns like me are born with a great appetite. To disappoint you, no, it is not brains or unborn children that my hunger yearns for (maybe occasionally); it is just good food.

I have been sharing posts about Purple Pad Thai on my Facebook. Purple Pad Thai's Facebook page is food porn. They post Thai food and delicious desserts that would really make you hungry if you scroll through their albums filled with pictures of Thai cuisine. My curiosity is shared by my friends who read through my posts. Sadly, Purple Pad Thai is located in Angeles City, Pampanga, but for foodies, no location is inaccessible to experience good food.

The menu can be intimidating as half of the entries are Thai dishes. Randy Ramos, manager for Purple Pad Thai, mentioned that they wanted to be as authentic as possible. Most of the Thai ingredients are imported to really give the authentic Thai flavor. Despite staying true to traditional Thai cooking, they made small tweaks to these dishes to make the flavors taste much more closer to home.

It would be silly not to order curry to which Thai food is also known for. Looking at the menu, I see the list of curry as Red, Green, and Panaeng. I am not a fan of spicy dishes. Spicy dishes can burn my lips and my tongue, I would not be able to taste food for days, but I may be exaggerating. Seeing the menu list, I assumed that Green curry would be the mildest of them all; Red would be hot, and the one with the Thai name would cause anyone to breathe fire with each bite. I was so wrong. Panaeng is the mildest curry they have. The waiter told me that it has the sweet taste of peanut butter. Red is regularly spiced, and Green is the pot of burning flames. Being the spice-sissy that I am, I ordered Panaeng Chicken Curry.

Fun Curry Facts: Did you know that drinking water does not help much in removing the spicy taste from your mouth? Take a mouthful of rice instead. The spicy taste adheres to oil in food, and oil resists water. With rice, oil with stick to the rice easily, removing much of the spicy taste from your mouth.

It didn't really took a while for the food to be served. The smell of curry and peanut butter is divine. The presentation is as simple as it gets, but curry does not need fancy introductions. You can find mixed rice included in the menu, but the waiter suggested to take curry with steamed rice. This would better compliment with the rich flavors of curry. Boy, this meal did not fail to disappoint.

Chicken was cut into bite-size pieces and was well-cooked. Yes, you get the sweet taste of peanut butter, bust surprisingly, it was still mildly spicy. The hotness gives the balance in the sweetness that peanut butter flavor gives. You get the spicy taste when you start to chew the chicken pieces, which feels like an explosion of flavor with every bite. It may be hard for anyone to stop themselves from ordering another serving of steamed rice because it is really delicious. I really find it surprising for me to enjoy spicy dishes because, like I said, I am not a fan of spicy dishes. Ordering this dish will never leave you disappointed.

yes, i couldn't resist taking a bite out of it before taking a picture.

I really suggest to go beyond your urge to order a another serving of steamed rice while enjoying your main dish as you really have to make room for dessert. Ordering something sweet is really refreshing to your mouth especially if you ordered a spicy main dish. Me? I ordered frozen Brazo de Manga. I had no choice as the other desserts are out (really shows you how much the people love these desserts). I will be doing a separate post about the dessert because it is going to be a mouthful (figuratively and literally).

The restaurant is spacious and fits about 80 persons. They also cater!

Chef Yel is the genius behind these delicious cuisines. He was featured on my previous entry, Sawasdee, Holiday Inn Clark, as a guest chef for Holiday Inn Clark. The Thai event was such a hit, Holiday Inn invited him recently to, again, manage their kitchen.

For my friends in Manila, plan a road trip, because Purple Pad Thai is really worth it. My regrets during this visit is I didn't order appetizers. I was eyeing on Crunchy Pork Salad. I know the name alone would leave anyone curious. I will make sure to plan another visit as there are other things worth tasting, perhaps the Fish or Shrimp with 5 Sauces. I will also try some of their amazing desserts, like Braso de Durian and the Carrot Cake.

Add them on Facebook though this link here. Directions are also available there.

Happy Birthday to me!

Sawasdee, Holiday Inn Clark

Sawasdee.

I never really though that I would get good feedback about the way I blog about food. I believe that if great memories were for the brain, delicious dishes are for the stomach.

I always believe that to be a good writer/blogger, i should be able to talk about my experiences that I am able share this experience to readers and let them feel exactly what I felt during that given moment. Food is one of the things that excites us, moves us, and satisfies us. Saying that the food is delicious is never really enough.

Mequeni Cafe

I was really humbled to be asked to do a piece about Holiday Inn's features buffet.

Holiday Inn is regularly serving buffet to customers.

*Platinum cardholders even get a special discount.

The event was handled by PR Expert Thana Balakrishnan. He is a Singaporean native and is not foreign to Thai cuisine. He is known to handle a lot of events for numerous hotels all over the world. The featured chef who prepared the amazing Thai menu for Holiday Inn is Chef Yel Cunanan who is head chef for Purple Pad Thai. (which is one of the restaurant whose food I am dying to try out one of these days.)

Catch Chef Yel regularly at Purple Pad Thai

The though of Thai food gave me that impression that I am about to be serve with spicy food. To be honest, I have a really low tolerance of spicy dishes. It was a relief to see that my spot already has a glass of water available; though I was really thinking that this would not be enough considering the wide array of dishes that we will be served. Also adding to the pressure, this was my first time to be asked to write a piece for an event, especially for an establishment such as Holiday Inn. I was already hot and bothered sans the taste of  this spicy cuisine.

We had a little chat about with Chef Yel. He mentioned that Thai cuisine share a lot of similarities to ours. One of them is our inspiration from many different regions. Every region would have their own unique dish. He also mentioned that the Thai cuisine really understands flavor. You would have a bigger understanding of this when you experience these dishes.

Appetizers

Appetizer started with Som Tam. It is made with shredded green papaya, lime, I tasted a hint of strong garlic and less of the chili, a little sugar for sweetness, but still packed a whole lot of spice. This was craftily served in a shot glasses. and for a little shot glass, it does pack a lot of taste. You can sense the rawness, slightly sour to bitter taste of green papaya, tangy due to lime, then the hint of garlic and chili. In between that taste you would hint a taste of sweetness due to the sugar. The taste does gives you a cleaner palate that would prepare you for your next bite. Other appetizers are available but this as especially recommended by our host, Thana.

I chose to sample a dish which seemed like sweet and sour fish. The dish is called Pla Sam Rot, it was spicy, sweet and sour at the same time.Chef Yel explained that the dish is created to be a little milder. For me, the combination of taste is really great. Pla Sam Rot literally means a fish with three tastes, which it does. The sour and tangy taste that you get from this dish actually comes from tamarind, which was really surprising and really delicious. There were a lot of other dishes served including pork skewers dipped in sweet, tangy, and spicy sauce. The truth is, the taste does not blend together and are really pronounced but there is a harmony to the whole dish which you would not see in other cuisines.

Pork Skewers

At any point that you find that the dish is too spicy, you can clear your tongue from the burning sensation with a little of Som Tam, the green papaya salad that was served as appetizer. It is really convenient that this is served in serving sizes in these small shot glasses. Crafty, the presentation is, really.

Som Tam

I finished the dish without barely touching my drink. I never realized that I would be enjoying the food so much. I was really bracing for the moment when it was time for dessert.

Desserts!

Desserts are my favorite! Desserts that they served is Khao Niao Mamuang which is sticky rice with mango and thick cream of coconut milk. The green one is a fusion dish which is inspired by the Thai dessert, Tako. This is almost has the same consistency as our local Leche Flan. It is mild, custard-y sweetness and has the taste of pandan leaves. The top is garnished with lychee. You would notice the dark bottom end as this was soaked in sugar and has the hint of vanilla. It was really surprising to taste a lot of flavors in just small serving.

Khao Niao Mamuang

The Khao Nioa Mamuang is also delicious. The sticky rice is not sweet as I expected it to be, but rather it was a little bit salty. You would get the sweetness as you bite through the mango slice and the coconut milk cream. The surprise in this dessert is really refreshing. The conventional serving is really different. The version created for the Holiday Inn buffet is made to echo sushi which also provides us with an explosion of taste in just a single bite. A serving of these desserts provides you just that. BUT, I really had to have more than one of each.

Buffet

Thai Cuisine is only available until the end of the month, but other international dishes are available. The Mequeni Cafe in Holiday Inn Clark serves buffet to everyone at a budget of P1000/per head. Discounts are given to Privilege cardholders. You can find contact information and directions by checking Mequeni Cafe through their Facebook page. For more details about Holiday Inn, you can visit their website. Sawasdee!