We decide to try out some of the local delicacies at the busiest lunch stall we can find. We are literally the only non-Thais in sight and the majority of the menu is written in Thai with no English translation. With the aid of some rather dodgy photos and a lot of guesswork we successfully order a mixed meat soup for hubby and bbq pork and rice for me. Both are delicious (although hubby, not being big on offal or animal extremities is a little perturbed by some of the inclusions in his soup), and whilst we aren’t welcomed with open arms, we are left to quietly enjoy our meal like anyone else. Sadly, I seem to have lost my shopping mojo (and don’t regain it for the whole trip) and leave the market virtually empty-handed. It was an eye-opening experience regardless.
That night we head to a restaurant not too far from the hotel, off of the opposite side of Sukhumvit Road at Sukhumvit Soi 12, oddly named Cabbages and Condoms. We have read several reviews and are curious about both the concept (a safe sex restaurant) and the food (good quality, reasonably priced Thai cuisine, offering more than the normal tourist adapted mainstays). We arrive without a reservation and are pleased to find the restaurant pleasantly buzzing (especially good for a Sunday night), but able to accommodate us without a wait. From the moment we enter through the front garden, it’s clear that the brains behind Cabbages and Condoms have fully embraced the theme throughout. There are shop dummies dressed in outfits entirely made of condoms and contraceptive pill packets, including a condom Santa; lampshades and lanterns made from condoms and a sign offering condoms in place of the traditional after dinner mint! We pass the fountain in the atrium and head upstairs to main room which seems to be the centre of activity in the small complex (there are a number of bars and saloons downstairs that are less busy). We are lead to a table at the centre of the room – a great vantage point to observe our other diners who are locals and tourists alike; couples sharing intimate tete a tetes and large groups sharing celebrations.
The long menu boasts a range of Thai dishes, many with intriguing ingredient combinations and most things that we have not come across previously in our two-week sojourn. We decide to go for a selection of smaller dishes to share, so that we can taste as many as possible, lingering over the menu whilst munching on more tasty savoury snacks. Everything is delicious and we have ordered just the right amount of food to feel nicely full. We um and ah over one of the delicious sounding desserts (I had my eye on banana fritters) but in the end we decide that we should quit whilst we are deliciously and satisfyingly ahead. We stroll out of the restaurant, and into the Sukhumvit night for a bit of a stroll around the hood.
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