Two weekends ago, before the Red Shirt protests came to a head, I took a taxi up to the Soi Ari neighborhood. Because of the political situation, most people were at home and what could have been a thirty-minute Skytrain ride or a forty-five minute taxi ride took me just fifteen minutes. Down a side soi is a cute little restaurant called Baan Mae Yui – Mother Yui’s House. It is located in an old house set in a nice garden area. The food is standard lunch fare – noodles, fried rice, etc. – but served in a nicer setting than you would get along the side of the street.
The dining area spills out through open doors into a covered patio. There is no air conditioning other than the natural breeze and dozens of fans, but with the green garden just outside, the restaurant always feels comfortable.
One highlight on their menu is the satay, the Southern Thai style grilled skewers of pork or chicken served with a rich peanut-based sauce and pickled cucumbers. The meat is basted with coconut milk, lending an extra rich flavor.
For lunch, I went with an odd choice – pan fried macaroni with tomato sauce. This was actually a childhood favorite of one of my dining companions. It has slices of sausage and onions mixed in and the sauce is a very sweet and vinegary (that is to say, “ketchup-y”) one. It was a lot of fun to eat although not the greatest culinary achievement.
It is places like Baan Mae Yui that make Bangkok neighborhoods so much fun. They date back decades and each have their own unique character. I should write about more of them.
christao408 
Macaroni and satay for lunch? Sounds adventurous! How much?
I have not eaten satay for a while. I need to get some now, hehe, it is all your “fault”, Chris. Yummy!
@CurryPuffy – Maybe 200 baht total including drink.@stevew918 – Yeah, yeah… blame the messenger.
I love satay!
one of my fave foods..pan-fried mac……
I gotta be in a certain mood for satay… everything else, I get really bad cravings for but for some reason, satay hits me every so often. Yay for comfort food though!
is this bad if I admit that macaroni or pasta with ketchupy sauce is one of my favourite things to have? I just love ketchup =)
I wish we had one of these restaurants in Toronto. Just sit back with some Tiger / Singha and a bunch of satays.
Wooh, tomato sauce and macaroni sounds awesome!
Cant imagine what u are going through, but good to see u enjoying food and in good spirits. Take care.
@arrian_strider – Thanks for your concern. Actually, life is back to normal now in Bangkok. Monday was the first day of full transportation services, everyone back to work, and the roads once again being jammed with traffic as school starts a new term. Other than a late-night curfew (11 pm to 4 am) that will likely be lifted soon, it feels like normal.@ElusiveWords – Actually, if eating just satay alone, I’d probably go to a street vendor. But their satay makes a nice accompaniment to other dishes.@Wangium – @lil_squirrel4ever – @iskrak – proof that there is a large fan base for pan fried mac with ketchupy sauce!@moolgishin – So how would you define a “satay mood”?@TheCheshireGrins – Yes, it is such a simple form of barbecue that it is hard to resist.
the last mac dish looks very interesting to try…too bad to hear of its downfall in the culinary achievement area….i wonder what would ‘save’ this dish….maybe some cheese?
Wow this brings back childhood memories. The school lunches in Taiwan would sometimes have the ketchup-y macaroni!
Yay!!! The food reviews are back! That must mean things are settling back to normal there once again… and that’s a good thing as Martha would say. 🙂
@Azriha – A bit of freshly grated Parmesan would make the day for this dish, definitely!@yang1815 – It is kind of pan-Asian “western” food. There is a local chain of Japanese spaghetti restaurants that are all like this.@marc11864 – We tried to avoid eating for as long as possible, but finally had to cave in. =D
Chris, I have tried my hand at Satay, but didn’t turn out as good as I would have liked. Now I see that the meat is basted in coconut milk. Do you have a recipe? May be I will try and make that when the group comes for xanga meet next week.
@christao408 – That’s like sweet and sour chicken here in the U.S.! 😀
@yang1815 – Exactly.@ZSA_MD – Here are two recipes – one completely authentic and one that is good but requires a little less prep work. I hope you’ll share some pictures of how they turn out!