Nur Wanita: A culinary heritage of Thailand

STEPPING into the restaurant, I was pleased to see a table free for my two friends and I to sit. It was a quarter past twelve in the afternoon and there were already many customers tucked into their meals. I had heard of this restaurant, and was once invited by my Thai friend to have a lunch at Nur Wanita, however had to decline the invitation due to a tight schedule I was running over the past few weeks. Now, I could not wait to see what the excitement was all about, and was determined to take my time going through their menu.

It was quite impressive. I first had a look at the list of drinks they had to offer; various teas and coffee, milk (fresh, "tarik", soya, honey and shakes), fruit juices and sodas. We decided, of course, to go with the iced Thai Milk Tea called "Cha Yen" and the iced Thai Milk Coffee, the "Oliang". I immediately took to liking the Cha Yen; it is a creamy tea beverage, a little on the sweet side (nothing a small request of less sweetener can't do) and it was like drinking caramel! The "Oliang" wasn't too bad either. Not being much of a coffee drinker, I could still appreciate the unique taste of Thai coffee. Thai coffee is said to have small amounts of sesame seeds, finely ground corn and soy beans to create that unique flavour from ordinary coffee. I also could not resist but to order fresh young coconut water. I thought it would help complete the authentic Thai meal we would be having.

Although there were dozens of dishes to choose from, we decided not to over do it when ordering. Previous experiences have left my comrades and I full to our stomach after biting and chewing more than we could swallow!

We started off with a unique salad none of us have tried before. "Yum Pak Boong Krob" is deep fried morning glory leaves tossed with pieces of chicken served with sauce made up of Thai herbs, chili, lime juice and prawn. We cleaned up the plate so fast that we were tempted to order a second helping. Lucky for us, our main course arrived shortly and soon we were forking at four main dishes we ordered earlier.

"Gaeng Hang-Le" is a dish that is served with either beef or chicken marinated in Hung Lay curry paste. This dish is a recipe by Nur Wanita but originates from Chiang Mai, Thailand. The meat is cooked in ginger slices, peanuts, garlic, sugar, tamarind juice and flavoured with fish sauce and is left to simmer till tender. In the past, this dish was considered to be a noble dish for special occasions like celebrations and welcoming parties.

The second main course was the Chiang Mai Steak. This is a western fusion dish. It is grilled beef steak cut into fillets and served with hot and sour dried chili sauce. The beef itself was tasty enough to eat it on its own. Next, we helped ourselves to the traditional favourite; Thai "Tom Yum". Being one of the most popular dishes in Thai cuisine, Nur Wanita serves this soup spicy and hot, leaving your tastebuds dancing with the lingering taste of lemon grass, galangal and Thai herbs. There are three choices of meat for the "Tom Yum"; we chose seafood over chicken and prawn.

The "Phu Cha" is also something you should try when dining here. It is steamed shredded crab meat with carrots, garlic, onion, Thai basil leaves stuffed back into its shell before deep frying, then served with rice and garnished with salad.

Being a fan of Thai salads, temptation won me over and I just had to have the papaya salad listed in Nur Wanita's menu as the "Malagor Som Tum". Crispy, green papaya shreds are mixed with lime juice, palm sugar, dried shrimp, crushed peanut, tomato and fish sauce all blended by using the traditional method of mortar and pestle.

It was definitely refreshing and spicy too!

Afterwards, we washed all the spices down with the traditional Thai Red Ruby, which is water chestnut and syrup drizzled over shaved ice. Nice and light! Just what was needed after a filling lunch. Feeling very full already, we still had the audacity to share amongst ourselves, the cake of the day; homemade chocolate cake.

That was the last that we could take, but was worth the stretch. The cake was moist and glazed with dark chocolate; ideal for "chocoholics" like myself.

In the end, we failed to not to stuff ourselves full, but the Thai cuisine served here at Nur Wanita was worth pushing the limits of space in our stomach for. The Brunei Times