Nasty ass Pakarang (not Parakang) in Providence, RI

Seriously folks this place was NASTY.

Just remember the name: Parakang, accent on the first A.
Do not go there unless you don't know anything about Thai food or good food in general.

Okay, it wasn't horrible. It was just very very okay. Before I get to the food, here are more reasons why I didn't like the place:

1) The menu was very short
2) They cost more than Sawaddee (My favorite Thai restaurant)
3) service was slow

The only good thing I can say about this place is that it was a large restaurant with hardly any customers...hmmmm, I wonder why.

Here's what I ordered:

Salmon and Ginger-yes, it was Salmon and ginger, but where's the "Thai" in this dish? It was bad, nasty and my stomach hurts now. Maybe I was expecting too much since everyone was raving about it. Plus they got an award for "Best Thai Food" in 2005. Yeah, that's 2005, and it wasn't like they got an award for 2004. Also, who's rating these places anyway? How do I know that this person rating this restaurant knows what s/he is talking about?

M-- got beef basil which was better tasting than my dish, but it was only good because it was yummy cow (dinner table talk was about slaughtering cows and killing chickens and knocking fish on the head).

Tom Yum soup was wack, W-A-C-K wack! It had too much sugar and the fish sauce was too strong. There was a lack of "sour" in the "hot & sour" soup.

The iced coffee wasn't bad, then again it's hard to mess up on iced coffee.

I told M-- that I no longer trusted non-Asian views on Asian food because honestly I don't think they've had enough to really compare what's great or not. Seriously though, I'm not trying to be racist or racial, but don't you think Asians know a lot more about Asian food since we eat it a lot more than American food? See, this is how we Asians see it. If we're trying to see if a restaurant is worth going to we survey the crowd and if we see a bunch of Asians we usually go in, but if we hardly see anything we run.

There was this restaurant in Oakland's Chinatown that served noodles. That place was always busy. 98 percent of their customers were loyal Asians, but 2 percent were loyal Americans (whites/blacks).

So what I'm trying to say is that Sawaddee is hands down better than Parakang. Someone said that she thought Sawaddee have down hill, but no I don't think so lady. Their pad Thai is so much better than Apsara (an Asian restaurant that she claims have better pad Thai). A restaurant that also serves Chinese, Viet and Cambodia food doesn't know that much about Thai food.


Sorry no picture, but don't worry they didn't do a good job on the presentation.

Phonatic

Today after Taiji, I went to this restaurant called, "Phonatic." I sat down to look at the menu and for some reason I couldn't find any "Pho" on the menu. And this is a place where they're supposed to serve Pho because it is "Pho" natic. Anyway, I looked at the menue again, but couldn't find anything with the words "pho" well except on the front cover. Then I remembered order a number 20 something....that's when I looked again and realized that the menu skipped 25 to 40. Wow, that's a lot of items missing. Anyway, when I saw this I thought, "hmmm, maybe they stopped serving it because someone complained about the MSG or maybe they're just out of Pho broth today." So when the waitress came to take my order I told her that I knew what I wanted but that it's not on the menu because number 25 to 40 was missing. I told her I wanted a small steak and beef ball Pho. I guess she didn't understand because she ran to get me another menu. With the menu I was able to point out that I wanted rare steak, but also with meatballs. The soup came and for some reason the bowl looked very small today, might have been because I was extremely hungry? Anyway, I also had Vietnamese ice coffee.....my hands are shaking from it still since I'm not an avid caffiene consumer. Today I tried something new that I have never done in my life while eating Pho. I ate the soup/noodles without an hot sauce or hoison sauce. That was a big step for me. I was able to appreciate the pho broth (I used to work at a Vietnamese restaurant called "Saigon City" in the Bay Area, the broth it's not easy to make). Don't worry I had my "rooster" sauce and hoison sauce on the side (I like to dip my meat). So yeah...with or without the MSG, I'd go back again because it was pretty good, it was cheap and most importantly they didn't charge me for adding the meatballs.

Here's a photo I found online (I forgot to bring my camera).

What to eat?

I wanted to get congee, but I think I'd rather get some Pho tomorrow after my Taiji class (we get to play with swords tomorrow). I can't wait! I'll see if I can get some photos. To be honest the pho isn't that great, but it's good enough. I think, no I'm sure they use msg, that's why it's not so great. I hate msg. damn.

I'm hungry

I'm hungry and writing food blogs late at night is not helping either! Here's what I ate today. For breakfast/brunch I ate 2 toast and 2 eggs. Boring! That was around 11:30AM. Later I had a piece of cake around 3:30PM. My headache wouldn't go away so I figured I should eat. I had bought from steak earlier that day, but was too lazy to make it. (I usually like my steak blacken; eaten with rice, greens (usually beans, but broccoli would do today) and sautee mushrooms).

I was craving fish, raw fish so I went up the block and got some sushi and faux sushi (California rolls). And a serving of miso soup. Yumm. Speaking of faux sushi, I can't stabd it when people think that California rolls are "sushi." No honey! sushi means RAW FISH! shesh! Anyway, I had Saba and Saka.

So that was all I ate today....I fell asleep watching "That 70's Show." And when I woke up it was too late to eat (2AM....it's 3:31AM right now). Anyway, I kept starring at this photo that I took not too long ago. It looks so good! And it is/was very good! I had some leftover beer so I poured it over my chicken wings, threw some salt and pepper onto it and some "rooster sauce" and damn did it come out great. I also had some Chinese greens. I think they're called White Chinese Flowering Cabbage, they look kinda like mustard greens, but they're softer and leafy.

Anyway, one of the reasons I hate Providence is because they don' t have any decent produce (that's why when I want/need some Asian produce I go to Boston)! Well, at least not the ones I ate! I don't want any chard! And I don't want any damn turnip! I want some mustard greens, some
pea shoots, Ridged Luffa, snakebeans (they have some here, but they look like shit), Bitter Melon, and even better! Bitter Melon Leaves (with beef)! and oh my gosh! some pumkin leaves! They are so good in soup form! some Thai eggplant, etc! And some damn home made crushed "hot" pepper! damn. Man, I do really miss home, California. Hmmm. I should get to bed now. I'll dream of all the food my mother would make for Thanksgiving. My sister usually makes the "traditional" Thanksgiving food, but my mom makes Mien food, crab soup, noodles, etc......too bad I'm not going to be there though.

More Photos. All Photos.

Street Food

I didn't get any photos of the street food that we had when we were in New York, but I promise you that the chicken kabobs were freaking awesome! The hot dogs, not so great. Too small and flavorless for my taste.

We past by a food vending business. I stopped to take photos, but didn't buy anything. They sold food and t-shirts in the vending machines, but the drinks you had to buy from them. They should have a beverage vending machine. I remember this old vending machine they used to have at Longs (a drug store). I wonder if they still have it there. Anyway, for 25 cents a tiny cup, I'd say an 8 oz cup, would drop down and then the drink of your choice would come down next. I loved going to Longs with my mother. While she was in line I'd ask for a quater and go get myself a drink. Sometimes I would save her some or she'll give me 2 quaters and I'd get her a drink as well. I bet American's wouldn't have an obesity problem if these vending machines existed instead of the ones with the 16 or 18 oz bottles of sodas.

China Town wasn't so great. The fake Tiffany's were not worth it. But I did buy a boot-leg Von Dutch cap. I only wear it at home.

So I went to NY

I FINALLY went to New York.

We didn't spend that much money on food, which was good because we were able to spend it on fun things.

We ate street food; too bad I didn't take a photo of it. We had chicken kabobs (to die for!). I wasn't into the hot dog; it was too small (thin) and it didn't have much flavor. We were standing in Time Square with a bunch of strangers eating street food, it was weird at first.




We also ate at a place called Cafe Orlin's at St. Marks place.
I love love brunch/breakfast.

For $11 we got egg benedicts (with ham or salmon, we got both and shared them), potatoes, OJ and a latte. Yum.

It's been a long time since I blogged

A lot of has happened since I last blogged....food wise. I FINALLY made lasagna, and it was pretty damn good. I made it twice. The first time with basil, beef and 1 bottle of pasta sauce. The second time I made it with pasley, basil, hot Italian sausage, and 2 bottles of pasta cause (it over flowed a little). Both times were good. Here are some photos. (I don't think I have photos of the second one)

I also baked a cake and did pretty well on the frosting too, or at least I think it was pretty good. M—and I had cake for the next few days, it was delicious. M-- asked me, "Did you take a photo of your cake? I don't know why I'm asking. Of course you did!"

I made flan a few more times, but stopped because of all unnecessary sugar.

I made a coconut desert dish, and much much more which I can't remember because I didn't take photos of them. Well, stay tune for more.

Tonight we're having Gobi, yummy.