Was off for a quick business trip to Bangkok and despite my numerous times for both golf and business, i never tried the famous Soi19 wanton noodles and specialty meats
I guess the location and the ever crass crowd put certain people off. However if you do not mind waves after waves of fake havaianas slotted feets with cheap over the top psuedo fashionista and fuglies Chinese Archipelagos, the food offer you a quantum of solace if i may quote the producers of Bond.
The wanton noodles soak in a magical proportions of lard and noodles offer a bite and texture that is bar none and the whimsical small servings gets you craving for more. The char siew is nothing to shout about but the wonton have a caramelised center that resemble more of molecular gastronomy that spell El Bulli more than anything else. Bear in mind we are still talking about street food prepared by the lower rungs of society for the unappreciative hordes of culinary barbarians that thronged its queue from 9am to 3pm with no intermission.
Whats makes this noodles so special than? if we are talking about quality ingredients, there is none to speak of, if we are talking about culinary excellence, no cordon bleu chef or aspirants would ever set foot here, instead its a bunch of retired looking hitman that is tossing your noodles and slicing your meat. What about novelty than? No..i am sorry, wanton noodles is no novelty to most especially coming from a guy that had dined on the best Xi rong in HK under the expensive companionship of michelin trained chef while i was on business there.
Now if i really have to answer the question on behalf of 99% of the people who queue mindlessly over and over again, i would have to say its a feeling of void, emptiness, vacum and abyss that draws them to this place. Look at it, they got the perfect soul food for Asians, a nostalgic foodsake that most who would have tasted when they were a child with all innocence, the restaurant reeks of an ambience of yester years genuine of undevelopments and quaint which in a strange sense seek an agreement with the majority of underachievers who dines there. The constant queue create a feeling of achievement for the underachievers who manage to get a seat and create a perception that they are onto something good because in their real mundane life, they are almost never onto anything exclusive or rare....
Now.. imagine you are in the restaurant,...take a deep breath and look around you. "what do you see?" you see losers and losers and you think everyone is one except you and you relish the fact that you are an exception while you dine on your noodles..... Now you know why the wanton noodles taste so good here... it is never about the noodles but YOU. you finally found a place that could fill your void and for that 45 minutes(30 to queue, 15 to order and eat) of your life, you are served a noodles that appeal to your soul rather than your palate and you never understand why you love it so much until sungod66 tells you today...
Now you know why the majority of this establishment customers are Singaporeans. The most expensive and pressurised city in the world and yet the worst performing homosapiens inhabit it. ... Ciao
