Sweet crispy rice noodles.
Despite my scepticism due to its off-track location and indistinct profile, I arrived at Simply V, which opened less than two months ago, following a friend’s recommendation of its American-style BBQ.
But as I’m writing this, my mouth waters for the impeccably tasty Thai dishes the restaurant also offered during my visit. Some of the best in town, I have to say.
A new player in the Bangkok food scene, Simply V is a family-run restaurant offering suburban diners a wide variety of dishes amid a cosmopolitan ambience.
The 200-seat venue, decked out in a contemporary style, is divided into four sections including the main dining hall, coffee bar, al fresco garden terrace and private room.
And to cater to the large dining capacity is a 10-million-baht cooking arena equipped with a state-of-the-art, professional — almost industrial — kitchen system.
It all began with the culinary passion of Yannawit Wattanasin, a university lecturer-cum-part-time cook, who, almost every weekend over recent years has indulged his family with home-cooked American-style BBQ food.
The 200-seat restaurant offers has a cosmopolitan feel. Pattanapong Hirunard
The recipes were garnered from his previous years living in the States. And other than the arrays of expensive, well-selected cooking appliances, remarkable also is his manually constructed wood-fire smoker. With this, Yannawit char-infuses his meat, sometimes his sauce, with imported wood chips — namely, cherry, apple, hickory and mesquite.
I recommend you start your meal with chicken wings (150 baht) that come in two options — Buffalo and Texas styles.
Served with celery, carrot sticks and ranch-mustard dressing, both provide the truly satisfying mouthfeel of authentic American-style wings, with a lightly crispy exterior and juicy, piping hot meat.
BBQ lovers won’t regret the Texas-style BBQ pork chop with mashed potatoes (320 baht) and the barbecued pork ribs with coleslaw (450 baht for a half rack). Both proved delectable.
After the Western fare came the big moment for the extra pleasure — the Thai cuisine. It is under the helm of a veteran Thai chef, who has worked in several of the city’s well-established Thai restaurants.
No matter whether you have your favourite place for sweet crispy rice noodles, if you are mee krob connoisseurs, you have to try Simply V’s rendition (150 baht). For me, it’s the best in the country.
The dish came complete with all the works, including brittle morsels of tofu, fluffily crispy egg, pickled garlic and lime-like Seville orange zest, whereas the noodles were skilfully prepared to provide a subtle harmony of sweet and sour tastes, and a perfect texture that long retained its crispiness.
The 200-seat restaurant offers has a cosmopolitan feel. Pattanapong Hirunard
Another appetiser you can’t afford to miss, the sour and spicy salad of smoked pork collar (180 baht), is the love child of the Thai kitchen and the smoke house, and you’re guaranteed to love it.
Supple slices of pork yielded the flavour-profile of good bacon but with the juicy character of a succulent pork steak. And if you wonder if the Thai-style dressing, made with lemon grass, shallots, roasted dried chillies, mint, lime juice and fish sauce, would demerit the pork, let me assure you that the well-concocted sauce did a marvellous job of enhancing it.
For entrées to enjoy with rice, I urge you to order the wok-fried, finely julienned morning glory with nam phrik kapi (150 baht) and stir-fried green beans with shrimp paste and fresh prawns (150 baht).
The deep-fried sea bass with green mango relish (380 baht) was equally impressive. Nice fillets of the whole fish were properly deep-fried to exhibit a crispy exterior that revealed a cottony white centre. The aromatic sweet-and-sour relish made with shallots, roasted peanuts and thin strips of green mango proved a great complement.
The winning entrée, however, was a dish that, if judged simply by the description and the look, you would fancy having a second bite of.
Texas-style BBQ pork chop.
As soon as we had the first bite of sautéed duck with cumin leaves and chillies (280 baht), we fell in love with the subtly seasoned dish made with wok-fried fillets of fresh duck seethed with fragrant herbs.
And if you’re in the mood for green curry, you’ll be gratified by the chicken green curry accompanied by warm roti bread (120 baht).
Although a common-sounding a choice, the chocolate lava with home-made vanilla ice cream (150 baht) proved worth wrapping up the meal with.
Another best-selling option, the hot chocolate (110 baht), featuring rich and velvety chocolate cubes in hot fresh milk, is ideal whether you’d like to finish off with a soothingly stomach-filling dainty or simply to spend a laid-back afternoon with a warm, comforting drink.
Service was executed with Thai-style cordiality by knowledgeable staff.
Sautéed duck with cumin leaves and chillies.
Stir-fried green beans with shrimp paste and fresh prawns.
This source first appeared on Bangkok Post Lifestyle.