KATHMANDU: Said Uddav Thapa, owner of 5 Spice located on the restaurant road near the fire station, “It’s the only Thai & Chinese restaurant here.”

Uddab is a student of Hotel Management and has experience in Singapore and knows Chinese and Thai cuisine. His sister-in-law Kanchan Pandey helped set up the restaurant with a family room and a conference room. We sat in deep lounge sofas.

Chef Bhim Shrestha, the head Chef, has worked in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and brings exotic dishes to 5 Spice. Serving with him is Chef Bhisma Thapaliya who knows his Thai food. Together 5 Spice should become formidable.

Initially Thais preferred fish. It was in the 17th century

that Europeans and Japanese influenced Thai cooking with the Portuguese introducing chillies

and meat. Thais use fresh herbs such as lemon grass and galangal, a sort of ginger with a citrusy, earthy aroma. A Thai billionaire once told me that the combination

of galangal and lemon grass used in Tom Yam Kung soup cured cancer.

Certain dishes seem to be common to South-East Asia like the Spring Roll and the Satay which we ate in 5 Spice.

The Chicken Spring Roll was fried to a fine crispness and inside was a fantastic combination of chicken and vegetables. The 5 Spice spring rolls with its capsicum and vegetables balanced the chicken and were unusual and very five star.

The Arabs brought the Satay to South-East Asia would have approved of the 5 Spice interpretation of marinated chicken instantly grilled with a slightly hot crust on the outside and tender chicken all the way through to it’s bamboo skewer. The accompanying sauce was devilishly hot.

The Tom Yam Kung, probably one of Thailand’s most famous dishes, is a soup of many flavours including the galangal, lemon grass, lime leaf and mushrooms to balance the prawn that was resistant to the bite. I never dreamt that I would see the day that I could walk to Thai food in Jhamsikhel.

Som Tam is a papaya salad that generally should have a dry shrimps in it but Uddav says, “We don’t put the prawns because so many people are vegetarian.” The raw papaya and carrots are mild at first and suddenly pack a wallop of heat. A sprinkling of peanuts on the top gives the hint of the crunch. A sense of lemon juice pervades.

Another of Thailand’s national dish is Pad Thai, which is a dish of stir-fried rice, noodles with eggs, fish sauce, red chilli pepper and chicken. It was made popular in the 30’s or 40’s by a clever Prime Minister to encourage the eating of noodles so that Thailand could export rice and earn money. We chose to eat it with the Green Curry and Penang Curry. Says Madhur Jaffrey in her Curry Bible, “I love Thai curries with an unholy passion.”

We were served by Anil Bhattarai, who really didn’t deserve us that morning because there was a 25-people lunch following us.

The Pad Thai was as light as it

is in Thailand and a replica of

what you get there. It was sweet and in complete harmony with Penang Chicken which is made in coconut milk, fish sauce, lime leaves and paste that contains hot chillies.

The Green Curry has a strong taste of coconut mixed with chillies. No wonder Madhur Jaffrey’s mad passion.

We too have fallen under the Thai spell of 5 Spice Thai food. This article

will be continued

next week when we’ll

go and taste 5 Spice’s Chinese cuisine.

Call 5009031 —

either Uddav

or someone responsible will answer.