Street Food Sampling - Songkran

This was during one of my visits to my mother's house in Las Pinas, within southern Metro Manila.  When I was growing up here, the town (now a city) used to be just made up of several residential subdivisions or villages - quiet and suburban.  It no longer can be called suburbia, certainly.  It hasn't been for quite some time actually.  The same thing can be said about BF Homes in Paranaque, even though it has been a self-sustaining subdivision since the late 1970s. 

The hub of commercial activity there used to be just the President's Avenue, but over the years, residences along Aguirre Avenue have little by little been converted to varying business establishments, and the most attractive of them all are the different cafes and restaurants which offer in itself a buffet of cuisines - from Japanese, to Irish, to Italian, 

Spanish, Chinese and of course Filipino along with the sturdy standby Tropical Hut Hamburger.  BF Paranaque can be said to have it all.

For our part (me, my mom and brother), we sought out Songkran, a restaurant that specializes in Thai street food.  The exterior of the restaurant itself elicits tranquility.  A terrace with outdoor tables and chairs surrounds the structure giving the diner a choice of whether to stay outdoors or indoors.

Inside was cooler though on that particular day, with ceiling fans and a hint of airconditioning with sturdy wooden tables and comfortable chairs.  Floor to ceiling windows make you enjoy the greenery outside.

The menu presented a wide variety of dishes which you would normally see offered for sale on a typical busy Bangkok street.  But for now, we settled ourselves with just a few of them.  The lemongrass and mint tea came highly recommended, and they really weren't kidding.  It was thirst-quenching and the subtle sweetness will not make you gag.  There were other cool Thai drinks on offer but will probably try them some other time.  I was definitely hooked on this one.

 

 

Thereafter, we asked for the Catfish Salad which one should always get whenever you're in a Thai restaurant.  The fish was delectably crunchy, never oily and balanced with the fish sauce and vinegar dressing that was cradled within the folds of salad greens and peanuts.

 

 

The green chicken curry was a welcome onslaught of flavors.  More subtle than the red curry, but leaves you with a clean savory taste, especially when paired with aromatic Jasmine rice that help set off the spices.

 

 

We also tried out the Fish Fillet with Caramel Sauce.  It took some time, but it was worth the wait.  The fish was crispy and reminiscent of toasted fishballs, and the caramel sauce was oozing liquid gold. An upscale salute to our very own "tusok-tusok" fishball which our very own manongs sell at every street corner here.

 

 

Thai food always seeks balance and every dish we tried woke our taste buds to every nuance of flavors.  For three dishes and 3 cups of rice with drinks, the Php938.00 bill was reasonable.  We left sated but not gluttoned.  With this experience, we were certainly coaxed to come back and try the other dishes.

Songkran
249 Aguirre Avenue
BF Homes Paranaque
+63 2 8292963