Chowing down on California Chinese

IF YOU’RE looking for some familiar comfort food in a relaxing setting, head down Soi Thonglor towards New Phetchaburi Road. Here, on the ground floor of the Metropole Hotel, you’ll find Chow Cafe & Bar, a laid-back eatery and drinking venue offering sumptuous Californian-style Chinese dishes in an artsy, New York loft ambience. 
The menu is basically Chinese but miles away from the traditional. Think of the Chinese takeaways you’ve seen in Hollywood movies and you’ll get an idea of what the kitchen here is all about – Asian-inspired food with Californian nuances. The extensive and affordable menu is packed with familiar flavours and sizeable portions cooked to perfection by Pairoh Arungnam, an Italy-trained Thai chef whose experiences working in Taipei inspired her to come up with some flavourful dishes that are sure to please both the Asian and the Western palate.
There are no separate sections for appetisers and entrees but, as with most Chinese restaurants, the dishes are categorised by cooking method. Start with something easy and quick like Chow’s tofu (Bt220), which is light, tasty and surprisingly filling. Chunks of tofu are first marinated lightly with soy sauce then stuffed with minced chicken meat and a little of the skin to keep the filling moist and juicy after frying. The crispy fried chunks are not at all soggy and go well with the accompanying slightly sweet and savoury sauce made of beetroot and tomato and a dash of Chow’s signature dressing. 
The chicken wings here are also a must. Chow’s sticky wings (Bt240) are indeed sticky and succulent. |The big wings are skewered to |keep their elegant, long form |after deep-frying and for convenience when eating. Pairoh first |marinates them with paprika, a |bit of sugar and soy sauce, then |roasts them to keep the meat |moist before putting them in |the deep-fryer to crisp the skin. Grab a wing and dip it in the slightly smoky Mexican-style barbecue sauce or the simple salty-and-sour tomato salsa. 

   Chow’s sticky wings                                                                                                Chow’s salad    

A healthier choice would be Chow’s salad (Bt240), which combines the traditional Caesar salad with Chinese-style baked shrimps. The large fresh shrimps are baked in a small tin pot over high heat with garlic and ginger for about 10 minutes to allow the seafood to cook through and absorb the aroma of the herbs. The bowl comes with lemon 
 dressing to cut the richness of the seafood and the slight smokiness of the shrimps. 
If you want something a little more filling, perhaps a dish to give you energy before a night out, opt for Chow’s speciality, lo mien noodles that come with variety of meat choices. Priced from Bt200 to Bt250, Chow’s offers a vegetarian selection, spiced chicken and sweet and sour pork options. We opted for the Mongolian beef (Bt250) where the heavily seasoned beef strips are stir-fried with high quality wheat flour noodles and tossed with Chow’s home-made secret sauce with ginger and Chinese rice wine. The dish comes is a little salty but a squeeze of fresh lime helps balance the flavour and adds roundness. While most restaurants either overcook or undercook the lo mien noodles, Chow gets it just right; it’s almost al dente! 

 Chow’s specialty lo mien noodles                                                                                                         Fatty wok

Another not-to-be-missed dish is fatty wok (Bt220), a mouth-watering, filling and decadent rice |dish guaranteed to put every diet plan on hold. Left over rice, which is normally drier and coarser, is |wok-fried over high heat with shrimps, bacon, bok choi, peas and Chinese sweet pork sausage (goon chiang) then flamed with Chinese rice wine for extra aroma. The rice is crumbly but not crunchy, and it is naturally seasoned with the other ingredients as well as sesame oil |and the aroma of the heated wok, making it a very addictive and fulfilling dish. 
Leave some room, in fact a lot of room, for the recommended dessert, patongko with dips (Bt200). The gigantic deep-fried wheat flour bruschetta stick is home-made but without the baking ammonia that is commonly used to help the dough rise. The result is a sticky white dough wrapped in a crunchy skin to dip in three selections of sauce: chocolate, ripe mango and the plain condensed milk. 

The cafe is also an art gallery where local aspiring Thai artists are invited to showcase their works.

CALIFORNIA DREAMING
Chow Cafe & Bar is located at ground level of The Metropole Hotel at the corner of New Phetchaburi Road and Soi Thonglor. It’s open from 6pm until late. 
For reservations, call (02) 318 2274 and (083) 601 0009.