mango metro magazine | bangkok | january 2015

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Krabi Ashore p4Explore the best-kept southern secrets

Volume 9, Issue No. 2 JANUARY 2015

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Now that the clear and consistent weather of the dry season is upon us, lots of folks

head to the islands and beaches in the An-daman. Krabi of course is no exception, with it turquoise bays, white sand beaches, and outstanding limestone karst peaks, most fa-mously in Railay Bay, where some of Southeast Asia’s best rock climbing is to be found.

Unfortunately, everyone and their mother knows about these spots and a recent trip there put me on one of the country’s most knockout strips of white sand, along with about 2,000 Russians and Chinese, so I decid-ed to move away from the sea, further inland, where Krabi also provides some great destina-tions well ashore from all the beach throngs.

Sa Morakot, also known as The Emerald Pool, is one of Krabi’s most beautiful haunts. There is a lowland forest reserve about an hour south of Krabi town called Khao Pra-Bang Kram Wildlife Sanctuary, which is home to hot springs, lakes, and to the endangered Gurney’s Pitta, a beau-tiful passerine bird that is found here.

While the park itself is quite magical, of-fering some quiet walking and deep forest, the highlight here is the colourful emerald pool, which is a brilliant jewel blue due to

KrabiAshore

Story and Photos by Dave Stamboulis

Explore the lesser-known highlights on this southern hotspot

mango metro JANUARY 2015 5

the abundance of calcium carbonate and lime-stone solution in the water, which reacts on local algae and bacteria found in a hot stream which flows into the pool, causing the splendid emerald tones. Additionally, the pool is quite large in circumference and almost several me-tres deep, so it is quite perfect for swimming in.

Come early afternoon, many of the tourist hordes in Ao Nang and Krabi come out here on coach tours, but if you arrive early in the morn-ing, you’ll have the forest and pool mostly to yourself. There are also other areas of the park to explore.

Further up the trail, there is a clear indigo blue pool known as Sa Nam Phut, which is the ori-gin of the Emerald Pool and about as clean a pond of water as one will find in Thailand. Due to its distance from the visitors centre it sees few tourists and is a very quiet and magi-cal spot. Nearby, one will also find the Hermit Shrine, where a small temple and tiger statue pays homage to a forest monk who retreated here to live without disturbance. On my visit here, the only other person I encountered was a forest ranger praying at the shrine.

Not far from the Emerald Pool, those looking

for more inland water activities should call in at Nam Tok Rawn Khlong Thom, or Khlong Thom Hot Springs. Thermal springs coming from the volcanic chambers of nearby caves have cre-ated 35-40 degree water which cascades into a river.

Several-human sized pools have been formed here in the forest, and visitors can choose from the natural hot tubs to a newer man made con-crete pool structure near the changing rooms. Again, getting here early in the morning or late afternoon is the way to go, and a wonderful way to enjoy the superb surroundings.

Not all inland Krabi attractions have to be this relaxing though. One bit of penance that ought to be on everyone’s list (at least to burn off some of the past evenings’ happy hour ses-sions) is the climb up Wat Tham Seua, better known as the Tiger Cave Temple.

No, this is not the temple where they have ti-gers that are supposedly drugged and contro-versial. That one is in Kanchanaburi. This one is Krabi’s highest landmark, a Buddhist tem-ple that sits right on top of a mountain. Tiger paw prints were found in a cave here, and the temple takes its name from a Vipassana prac-


ticing monk who came to sit here and saw tigers roaming the area. These days one is more likely to see hundreds of aggressive monkeys than tigers, pleading for tourist handouts, but the monkeys are just a side show. The real attraction here lies in climbing the 1260 steep stone steps (the sign at the bottom says 1237, but the numbers rise at the top!) to get to Krabi’s own slice of heaven.

The going is brutal, especially in the hot sun, and it is a quad and calorie burner, but is well worth it for the fabulous views of all Krabi Province from above, looking all the way out to the Andaman and all of the limestone and jungle clad surroundings.

There are several golden Buddha statues up here to keep you company, and if the weather is really clear, you might even see that white sand beach you left just for the privilege of getting this high. However, before you start thinking of just how good that celebratory beer is going to taste, remember that it is another 1260 steps back down.

The Tiger Cave Temple is just outside of Krabi Town, about 2-3 kilometers, where one turns left onto road 6017 and the temple is another 2km further on the left. Look up if in doubt and you will see the temple perched on top of a peak. There is no fee to punish yourself here.

For Khlong Thom Hot Springs and Sa Morakot Emerald Pool one needs to travel about 45 kilometers from Krabi south on Highway 4 towards Trang. When you reach Kh-long Thom town, there will be signs posted for the left turn onto 4021 heading out to the springs and pool, which are another 25 kilometers inland and about 10 kilometers apart (hot springs are first).

It would be very hard to get here on public transport, so you either need to take a tour or rent a car. Unfortunately, the parks which these attractions are in do not give foreign-ers with Thai ID cards the usual Thai price, so you need to cough up 200 baht for the Emerald Pool and 100 for the hot springs unless you have Thai citizenship.

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The Art Of Eight Limbs

Muay Thai is an ancient sport attracting more interest than ever before

The smell of liniment hangs heavy in the air as the drumbeat gains pace, matching the fighters’ march to the ring. It’s the curtain-raiser at MBK’s regular Wednesday Muay Thai fight night and, today, the opening bout is between two lads aged maybe 10 or 11 – known as nak muangs. They perform to pre-fight ritual, known as the wai khru, which is a mark of respect to their teachers. And then it’s on.

“It’s the art of eight limbs, because you’ve got fists, feet, elbows and knees,” explains Arran Sirisompan, one of the organizers of the MBK fight night and regular ringside commentator. “It’s an ancient fight-ing style, maybe 400 or 500 years old. It was used by the army as a way to defend the King, so it’s a real warrior’s art.

“The scoring system is just like in box-ing – the judges will award points based on who’s more dominant. They also look for who’s using all aspects of Muay Thai – using their knees and elbows as well as just throw-ing punches and kicks.”

After the young fighters have finished, sev-eral more bouts follow between mature con-testants. Even without understanding the finer points of the sport, it’s impossible not to appreciate the spectacle, with both fight-ers seemingly taking it in turns to explode to-ward each other in bursts of movement and fury. When a kick connects, the slap rings out loud enough to be heard on the other side of Ploenchit Rd.

Arran comes from a well-known Muay Thai family. His father, Grand Master Chinawut Sirisompan was one of the first Thais to take Muay Thai to the UK, where he trained fight-ers at his gym in Manchester. After the fam-ily moved back to Bangkok, Chinawut was approached by MBK to stage a regular fight night. It quickly became a family affair, with


Arran commentating and his sister becoming a successful fighter.

Indeed, the issue of women’s Muay Thai is a prickly one. In the big stadiums, it is illegal for women to touch the ring, let alone compete. But at MBK, women are well and truly part of the package.

“Women’s Muay Thai is one of our staple at-tractions,” Arran explains. “There are definitely women who are interested in competing and not many outlets for them. So we’re happy to give them that opportunity.”

Otherwise, the fighters at MBK are, in Arran’s words, a “mixed bag”. They tend to be fighters who are either on the way up or the way down.

“There are guys who have moved from our fights to go and fight in the big stadiums and for big promotions,” he explains. “And there are a lot of people who are training in Bangkok, aiming to have careers in Muay Thai. There are always fighters in Muay Thai gyms who are ei-ther winding down or on the way up and want that experience in front of a crowd.”

And these days, Muay Thai is certain to draw a crowd. The sport is in rude health with a boom-ing profile that extends overseas. And, as a result, even Thais are embracing the sport in hitherto unseen numbers.

“There was a time when Muay Thai was looked down upon among hi-so Thais,” Arran ex-plains. “You’d have these young guys coming down from the north to fight in Bangkok and then heading back with whatever money they earned. That was the old rule of thumb.

“But now, partly because of the foreign interest and partly because some of the fighters are su-perstars because of TV, hi-so Thais now watch Muay Thai. So attitudes toward the sport and the understanding of it have changed a lot.”

MBK Fight Night is held every Wednesday night from 6pm, outside MBK on Ploenchit Rd.

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Indoor/Outdoor Restaurant in Thong LorSmall Italian take-out/delivery and dine-in restaurant in Thong Lor. Services condos in local Thong Lor and Ekkamai areas. All equip-ment included. Owner must return to ItalyReduced to 1 Million Baht

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Small Massage Shop - Ploen Chit3 Massage beds, 2 Massage Seats, Reception Counter and a shower recess. Storage and toilets behind the shop. Rent is 30,000 Baht a month. Sukumvit Soi 1, Ploen Chit.520,000 Baht

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MANGO NIGHTSIce Age Looming Large

Bangkok kicks off the New Year with one of Europe's most exciting rock bands visiting our shoresIce Age are a four-piece band from Copenhagen, Denmark with their original roots in punk. They formed in 2008 with the average member aged 18, and are now on to their third album Plowing Into The Field of Love which was released just last October.

The post-punk sound, somewhat reminiscent of Joy Division, remains but the new opus sees them expand their palette of instrumentation to sources as eclectic as the mandolin and viola.

"I think it’s important bands grow a little and experiment with different sounds while still be-ing themselves and not disappointing their fan base,” says Popscene promoter Matt Smith, who is bringing them to Bangkok.

Smash Cut Reviews, who give the new album 8 out of 10, said: "When they really decide to slow it down, with the drunken-stumble-home of Against The Moon, there’s enough going on, what with the horn section and piano motif, to doubly engage the listener while also laying out one of the most emvotionally bare (and meta-punk) sentiments: “Whatever I do, I don’t repent.” It reaffirms the idea of ‘punk’ as a concept instead of a sound, and is beautifully exemplified here.”

Ice Age have certainly turned heads in their na-tive Europe. Not many Danish punk bands have

made the profile pages of Vogue magazine, after all, usually the preserve of the Sophie Ellis-Bex-tors of the music world.

Singer Elias Bender Rønnenfelt told Vogue: “The songs are a lot more open and not so compressed and frenetic. I wanted to make the vocals sound very intimate. I’m not perfect at hitting notes, but I don’t try very hard either. It creates an effect that’s more about intuition. Anyway, I do con-sider myself a great singer.”

In keeping with Popscene's philosophy of bring-ing in local supports for international acts, two Bangkok acts are playing with Ice Age.

Says Smith: "Alternative rock act The Sangsom

Massacre have been together for nearly two years and have been putting the hard work in playing anything and anywhere Bangkok has to offer.

They have just released their first EP The Versus Of Vice which is available via their Bandcamp page.

And The Ginkz have been on the Bangkok scene for several years now and are real entertainers. They play more traditional, tongue in cheek, sometimes Molam sounding material."

Ice Age with Sangsom Massacre and the Ginkz are playing at Langsuan Castle in Chatuchak on Saturday, January 17. Prices are 650B including a free beer.

Degaruda have been turning heads for over a year now as one of Bangkok's tightest and most innovative original rock bands. Quite brilliantly, they self describe as being influenced by "DC hardcore punk, stoner metal, and Karen Carpen-ter.”

But according to singer Dino Tarasin: "Our main influence is the Carpenters in terms of song writ-ing. We like pop melodies mixed with unconven-tional song structures."

Last year, the band released their first self-titled album. The song titles are certainly succinct and hint at the tightness of the tracks with names such as Tanks, Milk and Lamb.

It presaged a year of ups and downs. Tarasin says: "Our best live experience was at Noise Market 2. It was raining all afternoon and we were delayed so we didn't expect to play to a lot of people. But then we started playing and about 300 people were there and they all went nuts and had huge smiles on their faces.

“Probably a low point was a show we did at Im-mortal Bar the second night of curfew after the coup hit. There was literally no one there but the other band that played before us.”

Degaruda plan to release a new album this year but have to wait first as bassist Phil will be enter-ing monkhood in January. And unlike some of

the city's promoters and venue owners who are feeling down about the musc scene, Tarasin is quite buoyant.

"Personally, I feel that we're either coming to or in the middle of a golden age in terms of the indie music scene,” he says.

“There are so many bands with so much talent that are doing it for pure love and passion and don't really give a shit if they get famous.

“We've played with bands like Monomania, Plas-tic Section, Matthew Fisher and the Fishes, aire, Triggs and the Longest Day. And they've always put on inspiring shows.”

Degaruda making waves


A Year of Hard KnocksWill 2015 bring a better or worse year for the capital’s nightowls? The jury is divided

MANGO NIGHTS

2014 was certainly a tumultuous year for Bang-kok nightlife with the effects of martial law, enforcement of closing times, visa crackdowns and increased police searches of foreigners in the Asoke area all having an impact on the qual-ity of the scene.

Mango Metro asked a sample of promoters, DJs and comics across the city to comment on what they thought about the current situation and one common thread that emerged was the strict enforcement of 1am and 2am closures across the city.

According to Popscene promoter Jimmy Livewire: "Fingers are crossed that things can improve in regards to late licenses. If things can go back to how they were a few months ago then I think punters will feel a lot more relaxed about going out and will hopefully do it more.”

Thai DJ Souldust, a perennial at venues such as Oscar and Vogue Lounge, concurs but certainly doesn't mince his words when asked what he sees as the no 1 challenge for Bangkok's night life.

"The enforced, Orwellian, totalitarian and down-right fucking shit 2am curfew [excuse the lan-guage]. It’s the single biggest killer in our city’s otherwise flourishing scene," he says.

But dig a little deeper and it seems the early clo-sures aren't the only problem for the sector.Mixmag Asia publisher and SixSix Asia director Dave Milligan, who has been responsible for some of the biggest international DJ events in Bangkok, says he is wholly negative about pros-pects for the city.

Indeed, after concentrating on this market for some years he is now branching out into other parts of Asia for his events.

"Unfortunately, things have been so stagnant for so long that there isn't one venue which is re-motely comparable to a world class venue. The powers that be are holding things back in a mas-sive way," Milligan said. "I have nothing positive to say unfortunately.”

Early closures hit the dance clubs hardest but the live music scene also appears to be under-

going mixed fortunes.

Popscene's Jimmy Livewire recently indicated he intended to curtail his regular promotion of touring international rock acts because of the apparent fickle attitude of Bangkok's audiences to actually attending their gigs.

"The excuses ‘I have work tomorrow’, ‘The venue is too far away’, ‘It’s too expensive’ are actually a bit pathetic. My ticket prices are never more than 650 baht, 80 percent of the time the ven-ues are accessible by MRT or BTS and if they fall on a school night then they’re usually over by midnight." Livewire says. "I’m really not one to blow my own trumpet but if Popscene didn’t exist then there would be a lot less international bands/artists travel-ling through Bangkok. I’d actually go as far to say 80% less acts. If people don’t come and buy tickets for my shows then I can’t pay the artists. No tickets sold means no more shows, it’s that simple."

For Bangkok's own rock biographer and uber-


MANGO NIGHTS

blogger Dave Crimaldi, the live music problem is related to a lack of supply as much as demand.

"The underground live music community needs more venues,” he says. “But police seem to be enforcing laws they never cared about in the past like zoning laws for music and entertain-ment – this has forced some popular under-ground venues like Fatty's to no longer feature live music. Last year [2014] we also lost Harmon-ica and Cosmic Cafe that really hurt us to lose.

"I also think the scene needs more music writers, reviewers, photographers and videographers because developing digital content is vital to global awareness of the Bangkok scene. While time-consuming, this is the DIY attitude. If you can't get press, start a blog or zine. If you can't get a producer, produce your album yourself.”

That said, Crimaldi, also sees positive signs in the venues who are embracing independent music such as Play Yard, The Overstay, Immortal, Rock Pub, Hemingway's, Jam, Det 5, and Brownstone Studio. He also namechecks some interesting innovations such as SoFar.

"They are secret gigs set up in intimate settings,” he says. “It's all volunteer production crew and people register to go. It's a novel idea and brings the mystery back to music. Things like that keep the medium alive."

"The festivals Keep on the Grass and Noise Mar-ket are both taking place out of town on the

same day at the end of January – I think the sites of those festivals are very close so people can enjoy Noise Market in the day and then go to Keep on the Grass towards night.”

Livewire also agrees that the burgeoning num-ber of festivals here might serve to keep the mu-sic scene stimulated.

One area of the city's nightlife that is certainly on the up and up is English language comedy.A dedicated Bangkok Comedy Club opened up above the Royal Oak Pub earlier in 2014 and principal Chris Wegoda sees this as epitomising a trend away from nightclubbing toward other nocturnal activities.

"Not long ago all you could do was party at night in Bangkok, that hasn't changed but party can mean so much now. I think the ever growing English language arts and entertainment scene with more and more theatre, cabaret, magic and of course comedy shows has to be a large part of it," Wegoda says.

"The popularity of international comedians at our club has motivated us to add more to the schedule in the New Year. This will also help the growing local comedy community, which has really blossomed this year.

“We are going to be having some big names starting as soon as January with Gina Yashere who has appeared on Comedy Central, the To-night Show, Conan O’Brien and a lot more."

Grem Wood, who performs with another com-edy troupe, Bangkok Hilarious, agrees that 2015 will see comedy establish a foothold.

"2015 should see it grow to receiving more in-ternational performers," he says, predicting a minor surge in comedy and stage shows.

"A growth in the theatre industry in Bangkok will define the new year, allowing acting in more than TV commercials and minor movie roles, this growing a bigger and more tight nit performing community.”

One thing all our respondents agree on is that there will be no shortage of artist "supply" in the new year.

"The Kolour parties are going to get bigger and carry on the momentum of their growth; they’ll elevate themselves to the next level for sure." Souldust says. "Others may see this as a bad thing, but the way I see it is they’ll leave a gap in the market for mid-tier brands to come into light."

He also sees a trend away from the current deep-house scene toward house and techno: "The best thing about the city’s scene in 2015 is how competitive it’s going to be, and much like any economic model, a market which is highly competitive will be much more interesting with people offering different styles of music, price range and party concepts. The punters will be spoilt for choice.”

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Ari’s dining scene has really taken off in recent months and Rock may be the most sophisticated of the new places that have opened up lately. Set up by a team of foodie friends, Rock offers a Thai-inspired menu that boldly borrows bits and pieces from other Asian cuisines without top-pling into full-blown fusion. In fact, it’s these innovations that make Rock stand out from the crowd.

The canapés are exceptional, starting with the fresh pomelo slaw with toasted co-conut, served in betel leaves. This dish is a classic Thai starter that has returned to several menus throughout the city, albeit with a certain modern twist. The crab rab wafers that come with a cream cheese and a sweet-sour sauce are just as impressive.

Moving on to the appetisers, the sweet mango salsa with smoked duck breast and crispy wantons is a beautifully bal-anced dish, with the mango delivering a delicious citrus offset to the smokey duck.

Rock

The charcoal-grilled pork neck with tamarind dipping sauce is also immensely satisfying – there’s a hint of street food style here, height-ened and refined by the introduction of more delicate flavours.

There are some inspired mains as well – try the yellow curry lamb shank with roasted potato and carrot or the crab curry with rice noodles.

Overall, Rock is the fresh, thoughtful approach to modern Thai food, set in a gorgeous interior.

Rock7/1 Soi Chumnanaaksorn, Phanonyothin soi 90826-888-200facebook.com/rockrestaurantandbar

It’s fascinating to watch Thai embrace western food in such vast numbers and there are few places where this phenom-enon is as acute as at Jim’s Burgers and Beers. It’s a compact cafe set-up in Ari with an even more compact menu. Neverthe-less, it’s packed night after night with an overwhelmingly Thai crowd.

The interior is comfortable and well-judged but the openers haven’t broke the bank going for appearance. Rather, they have hit upon a formula for a damn good burger and are sticking to it.

The signature offering here is the Honey Beef Burger, which uses milk, cheese and honey to flavour the patty. It’s a serious offering. Forget about the dinky little slid-ers served up at some of the gastropubs around Sukhumvit and Silom. This burger is a proper two-handed beef sandwich. And it’s an absolute winner.

Not to be overlooked, the Super Cheesy Pork BLT is as epic as it sounds and the Mr Maew fried chicken is an ideal side. Wash it all down with a Lucky Jack Pale Ale.

Jim’s Burgers and Beers

Jim’s Burgers and BeersRama 6, in front of Ari Samphan Soi 302-000-9598Facebook: JIM’s Burgers & Beers

MANGO BITES


Dutch chef Hank Savelberg caught the eye of Michelin with his European restaurant in the Hague and now, as of last month, he’s brought his eponymous brand to Bangkok. Wireless Rd is already full of lavish restau-rants and luxury hotels, so Savelberg will have its work cut out standing out from the other glittering options in this neighbour-hood.

Savelberg made his name serving more tra-ditional cuisine than is on offer here – it ap-pears that, rather than doubling down on the formula that has brought him a flood of accolades previously, Savelberg is embrac-ing a more modern style as he branches out into Asia.

Even allowing for this snazzier presenta-tion, the produce is still allowed to shine. For example, the lobster salad comes with lobsters cream, vinaigrette, lemon and honey, creating a delicious offset that nev-er threatens to take the spotlight off the lobster.

In Bangkok, the gastrobar is the Holy Grail of nightlife venues. Places that can attract diners as well as drinks rake in the cash but getting it right is harder than it might seem. Sway, though, does a fine job of bal-ancing their food and drink, pairing some well-chosen craft beers with their signature chicken wings.

Sway boasts a self-service ‘beer wall’, al-lowing customers to pour their own craft beers. They’ve sourced some interesting brews, offering a well-balanced selection that gives plenty of space to the thriving home brew scene on the west coast of the USA.

The food is rustic, with a few Canadian clas-sics reflecting the nationality of the own-ers. The putine is a messy delight: fries lib-erally seasoned with a choice of toppings, whether it’s gravy and cheese, jalapeños, pork belly or grilled chicken.

But the chicken wings, served in a variety of flavours, are the main attraction. Start with a bowl of the signature Pok Pok wings, seasoned Thai-style with garlic, chili paste

Savelberg

Sway

New opening

The grilled turbot is also excellent, the beautifully moist fish coming with a cream of peas, asparagus and onions, topped off with a wild mushroom sauce. The turbot it-self is expertly prepared but the sauce here is particularly memorable.

Likewise, the slow-cooked candied chicken leg, served with celery, wild mushrooms, hazelnuts and smoked garlic sauce is an-other shining example of Savelberg’s ap-

SavelbergGF Oriental Residence, Wireless Rd02-252-8001facebook.com/savelbergth

SwayArena 10, Thonglor Soi 10 02-711-6052swaybkk.com

proach: taking traditional European fla-vours and ingredients and heightening them all with a modern twist.

and cilantro, before moving on to the In-dian Spice option, which come dusted in curry powder. Or try the Lemon Szechuan, the Dark Chocolate or the Sweet and Spicy Mango. As signature dishes go, these wings definitely warrant a return visit.

MANGO BITES


MANGO BITES

H ungry Hub was founded on the notion that today’s con-sumers want to be able to

search for local restaurants by loca-tion or cuisine and then make reser-vations at a restaurant all with the click of a button on their computer or mobile device.

The reality is, restaurants aren’t open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and that limits their ability to accept reservations when the potential guest is making dinner plans. Many restaurants use an archaic method of manually recording and track-ing guest reservations; with Hun-gry Hub, the reservations are made electronically and tracked in much the same way.

It’s more convenient and there is less room for error this way. By stream-lining this process, Hungry Hub is revolutionising the way diners and restaurateurs interact. It is the new standard in restaurant reservations in Thailand.

Members are important to Hungry Hub and they work very hard to bring them the most up-to-date in-formation available through social media facebook.com/HungryHub, instagram.com/hungryhub and twitter.com/HungryHub.

With every successful booking, members receive Hungry Points Rewards which are redeemable for cash. Service standards are among the highest in the industry because Hungry Hub listens to and acknowl-edge the individual needs of mem-bers.

With slightly over one month of soft launch, Hungry Hub has over 1,000 downloads for their app; more than 65 restaurants on the list and seat-ed more than 200 people through our booking engine. Initially they have focused on restaurants around Sukhumvit/Thonglor & Sathorn/Si-lom but are now expanding to Ari and soon to other areas by adding 20-30 restaurants a month.

Hungry Hub is Thailand’s premier online restaurant reservation service, available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

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Dan KohThrough his company Sea Truffles, Dan Koh has created a niche for himself as an import-er of high-quality seafood. With the demand for oysters now booming in Bangkok, Koh’s Irish Premium Oysters have been cropping up on menus all over the city.

“With the economics of Thailand getting bet-ter, with a growing middle class, many more people can afford this luxury item,” explains Koh, a Chinese-Korean who hails from Ha-waii.

“In America at the start of the 20th century, oysters were the cheapest protein. It was cheaper than chicken, beef and pork - in the northeastern port cities the vendors would sit on the docks, selling them like street food.

“Times change - refrigeration comes into the equation. You have trends and oysters have come back as a luxury item.”

Koh is also a devotee of organic sea urchins, or uni, which he sources from the waters near the Philippines.

“I’ve been eating uni for a long time - it’s hands-down my favourite kind of sashimi,” he says. “It’s expensive – it’s like foie gras of the ocean, so you pay for it wherever you go.

“Uni has some of the highest occurring natu-ral glutinates of any food in the world. These

glutinates are what trigger what’s called ‘umami’ - or ‘the fifth taste’. It means any food with naturally present glutinates is go-ing to be delicious.”

Koh is from Hawaii, so perhaps it’s no sur-prise that he also swears by tuna.

“High-quality tuna has no smell, and is a deep rich, vibrant colour and is very sweet,” he says.

“I’m from Hawaii - so the best way to eat tuna is ahi poke. It’s fresh tuna, cut into cubes, then marinaded with garlic, ginger, sesame oil and soy sauce, a little bit of chili pepper. Just a light marinade – it’s so good.”

For more information, check out Facebook: Sea Truffle or contact Dan Koh at [email protected].

Foodie chat

MANGO BITES

Pub & Restaurant

Bangkok

DeutschesEck

Sukhumvit Soi 20, Rembrandt Tower Serviced Apartments, Klongtoey Bangkok 10110Tel.: +66 (2) 262 0263 Fax:+66 (2) 262 0264

[email protected] www.deutscheseckbangkok.com

“Deutsches Eck” is a guest-friendly oasis in the heart of Bangkok and a meeting point for everybody

Open daily 8am - 1amFree of charge parking and complementary WiFi

Sit at our spacious garden terrace or inside the air conditioned restaurant.

Watch the latest sports events like Bundesliga or Formula 1LIVE on our big TV screens


HEART DISEASE MYTHS:HEART DISEASE MYTHS AND MISCONCEPTIONS CAN BE LIFE THREATENING

Advances in science and technology over the past decade have allowed us to learn a lot and understand more about heart disease. But un-less you follow medical news closely, there is a chance you might have misconceptions about the risk factors for heart disease, or heart disease itself. We’ve compiled a list of the five most com-mon heart disease myths.

1. If you have heart disease, you need to take it easy.

Being diagnosed with heart disease may make some people hesitate to live an active lifestyle through fears that it could be harmful to their heart. In fact, being sedentary does more harm than good.

Exercise helps strengthen the heart muscle, im-proves overall health and well-being, and ensures the risk factors of heart disease including high blood pressure and diabetes are under control.

2. Higher blood pressure is normal as you get older.

Blood pressure tends to rise with age, but that doesn’t mean it is good for you. It happens be-

cause artery walls become stiff with age. Stiff ar-teries force the heart to pump harder. This sets up a vicious cycle.

Blood pounding against the artery walls dam-ages them over time. The overworked heart mus-cle becomes less effective and pumps harder to meet the body’s demands for blood.

This further damages the arteries and invites fat into the artery walls. This is how high blood pres-sure increases the risk of heart attack and stroke.

3. If you have heart disease, you should eat as little fat as possible.

It is true you should eat a diet low in saturated fat, partially hydrogenated fat, and trans fat. But not all fats are equal. The unsaturated fats in veg-etable oils and other foods are beneficial. In fact, eating fish high in omega-3 fatty acids can lower the risk of heart disease.

4. If you take a cholesterol-lowering drug, you can eat anything.

Cholesterol in the bloodstream comes from two sources – your liver makes some, and you get

some from certain foods. Consumption of food carelessly with hope that medication will take care of everything is generally a bad idea. Statins reduce the amount of cholesterol made by the liver, but not those from food you eat. That is why doctors always prescribe cholesterol-lowering medication together with careful diet selection and lifestyle modification, which proves to be most effective in controlling cholesterol and re-ducing heart disease risk.

5. Angioplasty and stenting or bypass surgery will “fix” your heart.

Angioplasty and bypass surgery can better your heart function and reduce chest pain as well as improve your quality of life. But they don’t stop the underlying disease –atherosclerosis.

Without correcting the problems that contrib-ute to atherosclerosis, arteries will continue to become clogged with fatty plaque, which may mean the return of angina or a heart attack. After undergoing angioplasty or bypass surgery, it is important to correct the problems that led to the need for the procedure, such as high cholesterol or blood pressure, a poor diet, smoking, or lack of exercise.


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2 locations: Sukhumvit 38 + Onnut Night Market • fb.com/JungleJuiceAsia

KEBABS + FROZEN COCKTAILS

mango metro magazine | bangkok | january 2015

Travel

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