{"id":3261,"date":"2017-06-06T04:28:08","date_gmt":"2017-06-06T04:28:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/?p=3261"},"modified":"2017-06-06T04:28:08","modified_gmt":"2017-06-06T04:28:08","slug":"turning-thai-in-las-pinas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/turning-thai-in-las-pinas\/","title":{"rendered":"Turning Thai in Las Pi\u00f1as"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m sure Thailand has so many delicacies that \u201carguing\u201d what Thai food is, is somewhat futile. I guess that \u2013 just like the Philippines \u2013 even popular fares are prepared in different ways in different regions (say, pad thai<\/em> in Bangkok versus in Phuket). But here\u2019s the thing: So many of the Thai food that \u2013 at least we tourists know \u2013 tend to be \u201cregulars\u201d, e.g. the aforementioned pad thai<\/em>, pandan chicken, spring rolls, et cetera<\/em>. And so these have become \u2013 in so many minds \u2013 Thai food as is commonly known.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Erawan2\"
\n<\/a> \"Erawan3\"
\n<\/a> \"Erawan4\"
\n<\/a> \"Erawan5\"
\n<\/a> \"Erawan6\"
\n<\/a> \"Erawan7\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the catch: Outside of Thailand, so many tried mimicking Thai cuisines; and truth be told, not that many succeed. But occasionally, some manage to capture at least some of the yumminess of Thai foods.<\/p>\n

And in Las Pi\u00f1as, a somewhat austere venue named Erawan manages some hit-and-miss Thai moments\u2026<\/p>\n

WHAT\u2019S THERE<\/strong><\/p>\n

The \u201clatest\u201d Erawan (along JB Tan St. in BF Resort) is actually the third \u201cversion\u201d of Erawan. The first and second had to close (i.e. lease issues), but because of public clamor (claimed the servers), the owner was sorta encouraged to just keep opening up in different places.<\/p>\n

Look-wise, there\u2019s not much there; just wooden tables\/chairs facing the street. This isn\u2019t that different from so many home-based eateries I\u2019ve been to in various parts of Thailand (and in some ways, even \u201cclassier\u201d, since this is clearly a dining venue, while those in Thailand are just houses-turned-into-eateries).<\/p>\n

No, perhaps except for that elephant in the logo (and maybe the plastic chopsticks), there\u2019s nothing identifiably Thai here. I remember a statue of Buddha in the second version of Erawan; but in the third version, it\u2019s nowhere to be seen.<\/p>\n

WHY GO THERE<\/strong><\/p>\n

But \u2013 as in many of the places in Thailand where I had a lot of fun with the chow \u2013 you don\u2019t really come here for the place. Instead, it\u2019s the food that ought to entice you to come here. And on this, Erawan pleasantly surprises now and then\u2026<\/p>\n

Tried during repeated visits were:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Papaya salad (P80 for medium; P160 for large) \u2013 This one captured the somewhat sweet yet sour lasa<\/em> (taste) of the Thai original. My one issue is with the shredded green papaya used, with Erawan\u2019s version not malutong<\/em> (crunchy) and somewhat too soft.<\/li>\n
  2. Fresh spring rolls (P70 for medium; P150 for large) \u2013 This is spot on, capturing the right combo of fresh veggies stuffed in oh-so-soft (and even pasty) wrapper. The dip, though, could be bettered.<\/li>\n
  3. Pad Thai (from P110 for shrimp; from P100 for chicken) \u2013 This one is a bit tricky for me, since I recognize that different people may prepare it differently. I am appreciative that it uses many of the ingredients found in Pad Thai in Thailand, but taste-wise\u2026 it\u2019s just \u201calmost there\u201d for me.<\/li>\n
  4. Laab (Thai pork\/chicken salad, P85 for medium; P180 for large) \u2013 At least the one I tried was a hit, capturing how I remember Thai street vendors prepared this.<\/li>\n
  5. Tom yum (P150 for medium; P250 for large) \u2013 This had the right tang. But if there\u2019s one issue here, it\u2019s the portion \u2013 if they put even less seafood, it\u2019s like just having all sabaw<\/em> (soup). Best when eaten with rice.<\/li>\n
  6. Thai chicken curry (P100 for medium; P200 for large) \u2013 Not as curry-ish as I prefer my curry to be, or even as spicy as I expect it to be. But similar to tom yum, the bigger issue isn\u2019t the taste (it\u2019s good in its own way) but the amount of meat in the serving.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    WHY AVOID THE PLACE<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Perhaps the biggest \u201cissue\u201d is Erawan\u2019s location. Since it\u2019s in a village (if your car doesn\u2019t have their sticker, you even have to leave your license at the guard house), you have to dayo<\/em> (intentionally go to the place) just to be there. For many in other parts of Metro Manila, this is a deal-breaker.<\/p>\n

    Then because the place \u201csells\u201d itself as a \u201cThai street food\u201d resto, everything here is sorta laidback \u2013 e.g. no airconditioning. If you know how hot\/humid Metro Manila can be, then this \u2013 too \u2013 may be an issue.<\/p>\n

    IN THE END<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Various parts of Metro Manila have food havens \u2013 e.g. Maginhawa in QC, Jupiter (among others) in Makati, right across DLSU in Taft in Manila, et cetera<\/em>. If you\u2019re keen to discover what Las Pi\u00f1as has, then by all means, give Erawan a visit (JB Tan is also becoming the village\u2019s \u201cfood hub\u201d, so there are other restos there that are worth checking out).<\/p>\n

    Erawan is located at 101 JB Tan St., BF Resort Village, Las Pi\u00f1as City. For more information, call (+632) 6978185 or 09065570324.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Various parts of Metro Manila have food havens \u2013 e.g. Maginhawa in QC, Jupiter (among others) in Makati, right across DLSU in Taft in Manila, et cetera. If you\u2019re keen to discover what Las Pi\u00f1as has, then by all means, give Erawan a visit (JB Tan is also becoming the village\u2019s \u201cfood hub\u201d, so there are other restos there that are worth checking out).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":3262,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,8,7],"tags":[1727,1567,1728,1568],"class_list":["post-3261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-destinations","category-dining-out","category-travel","tag-erawan","tag-las-pinas","tag-thai-food","tag-travel-las-pinas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3261"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3261\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3268,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3261\/revisions\/3268"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}