Saturday, January 14, 2017

Bael :: มะตูม

This trip, 'bael' (มะตูม, pronounced 'matoom' in Thai) keeps jumping out at me; in the form of fruit infusions at the spa or as cakes at the cafes, and jam at breakfast and tea wherever. I was wondering what the heck it is till I realized it's familiar to me as 'Asian quince'. Or specifically, 'Bengal quince'.

Ate them all. Well, a bite and a sip. The spas and massage parlors we went to this round provided pandan and bael infusions before or after treatments. Not too bad, except it's always too sweet for me. End up having a glass of water instead.

A generous slice of bael cake at the friends' Bangkok restaurant 'ShouldBe' nicely concluded the 'quince experience' this trip. Yes, their restaurant is really named as such. 'Food as it should be', they proclaimed. Okaaaaay. I have to mention that ShouldBe does a pretty good spaghetti carbonara with no cream. Spot the egg yolk! A little odd in terms of interpretation, but I could live with it. Ate it all up, leaving behind the pieces of bacon.

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