The BF’s plans were derailed thanks to our flight’s delay. Instead of arriving in Bangkok just in time for our first Thai lunch before checking into our hotel, we arrived in front of our hotel, exhausted and famished.
The first thing that greeted me after I exited the taxi was the picture of a chubby man with his thumb up over a roast suckling pig, going for 1500 baht. The image burnt into my brains.
We checked in after what seemed like a really long day. While I oohed and aahed over my BF’s brilliant choice of hotel (Shanghai Mansion), at the back of my mind I had only one goal…to convince him to eat a whole suckling pig with yours truly.
“The restaurant next door serves a whole suckling pig for 1500 baht. Lets do it?”
“Okay.”
And that…is why he’s the love of my life.
The restaurant is called “China Town Scala Shark Fins Restaurant”. There were dried shark fins all over the place but we weren’t there for the fins. We probably shouldn’t have supported a restaurant that sell shark fins anyway but it didn’t cross our minds then.
# – China Town Scala Shark Fins Restaurant.
I was surprised to see a bunch of Malaysian girls around my age at another table having individual claypots of shark fins. Stupid girls. Yes, I judge them.
Anyway, besides the pig, we also ordered a bunch of other dishes. In hindsight, we probably shouldn’t have. There were afterall, only two of us :P
# – Really fresh fried kangkung (water convolvulus). Crisp and tender, yums!
# – Crabmeat fried rice. Eggy with sweetness of crabmeat coming through, pretty good.
# – Cold jellyfish with sesame. Wasn’t bad, I’ve had better.
We hoovered up the rice, vegetables and jellyfish like it’s our first day out of prison. Finally the pig made its grand appearance.
# – Applause, please.
# – That glee in the eye.
The way the roast suckling pig was served was actually quite unfamiliar to me. There were only crispy skins and honestly we felt a bit confused because if it’s just pork skins, there really was not much to eat!
# – Suckling pork skin with bread and pickled cucumbers.
We realised that the flesh was still attached to the carcass so we started hacking at it with a fork. Little did we know that our innocent activity soon started a sort of commotion. One of the waiting staff who was observing us came to us in a hurry and with the very little grasp of English she had, kept saying, “no cook”, “no cook” while her hands kept making this sawing motion.
We were baffled but soon deducted that the chef would pop by in a bit to professionally slice off the flesh. We stopped eating altogether because we thought we had wanted to save the crispy skins to be eaten with the meat. 15 very boring minutes later….the same waiting staff got one of her colleagues with better grasp of English to talk to us.
“You eat skin first, meat now not cook yet. After finish, we take pig back in to cut and cook. You want cook what style?”
We felt like dumbasses :P
But you got to give it to Thai customer service. They do try their best there.
In the end, we settled on garlic and pepper to be cooked with the rest of the pig. It was a fine decision because it was delicious….and huge.
# – Our now chopped up garlic pepper suckling pig.
# – The BF and his pile of bones.
# – And that…was my expression for the rest of the day.
Yes, it was an absolutely splendid day.
China Town Scala Shark Fins Restaurant
483-5 Yaowarat Road,
Sampantawong,
Bangkok 10100
Tel: +66 (0) 2623 0183-5
Website