Ruen Thai

Not often I would step out of Bangkok for only a meal. Thanks to this exceptionally nice weather of winter managed to bring me to Ayuthaya for a short trip.

I found myself at a river side local restaurant called 'Ruen Thai'. As the sign says, grilled river prawn is their speciality.

It was a blissful day with nice weather. We were lucky to get a table right on river side. Panorama view of the river was spetacular.

The menu is very simple. Fresh catches from river can be cooked in any style. Price is mostly pinned at either 150B or 180B.

We had a river fish called 'Pla-Kao' stir-fried with herb. Fish was very fresh and packed with juice. The size of each bite was very large and plump.

For the soup, we chose a kind of clear soup Tom Yum. This was made from another river fish called 'Pla-Kang'. The taste of Pla-Kang isn't as full flavor as Pla-Kao, yet this was also perfectly fresh. Well balanced spiciness and sweet&sourness. A good Tom Yum it was.

Here comes the star of the meal. Grilled River Prawn. 1,100B per kilo. Look at the gigantic size of these river prawn. These are nothing less than a size of lobster.

My favourite part is the yellow creammy fat inside the head.

Mix this fat with nice white rice, sprinkle with a dash of Nampla. The outcome is my very own prawn risotto.

The prawn flesh from legs and claws can be cooked into another dish (Free of charge). We asked the restaurant to stir-fried these with broccoli. This is also delectable.

Considerable another good short escape from Bangkok. Especially when the weather is chiled enough. Ruen Thai is a place where prawn lover should drop by if they have a chance to go to Ayuthaya.