Pork Leg on Rice (Khao Ka Moo) - sounds crazy, but it is awesome
I know the first time that a friend of mine told me that we were going to their favorite stewed pork leg restaurant my reaction was "you have a favorite pork leg restaurant?"
I guess it just never occurred to me that anyone would eat that, let alone look forward to it. This was many years ago when I was still a recent international traveler and had never really experienced food options outside of USA supermarkets. I am relatively certain that for the most part they don't even sell that there.
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Obviously this is not the entire pork leg, but just pieces of it. However, they do have it hanging up in the glass display box if you are an expert and want to investigate the quality of their stewed pork leg before ordering. It is normally served with some greens of various kinds (I think these are morning glory...but don't hold me to that) and some sort of picked vegetable (again, i'm not really sure what it is but it doesn't mater because the pickling overpowers the taste of whatever the vegetable is.)
The end result is just delightful. The pork is super-tender and the juices from it mix with the other flavors on the plate just wonderfully. The little bowl there is a spicy sauce and there is a reason why they give you so little of it: If you use too much of it, it will completely overpower the other flavors in your spoon. The egg is there because I dunno... but i ate it
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Normally the places that sell this sort of fare don't look like much and will normally have folding tables with plastic chairs around them but this actually is just fine with me. The absence of expensive furniture means that the food will be super-cheap (this plate was just over $1.)
It wasn't a huge portion and for me anyway would be considered more of a snack than a meal. However, after NINJA SCHOOL i needed something to eat from all that exercise.
While these places exist all over the country (a bit less in the Muslim south) I will provide the coordinates of this particular place HERE.
If you are ever in Chiang Mai you will almost certainly be staying near the city center in the moat area, so this place will not be a long walk for you.
If you don't get Khao Ka Moo here, get it somewhere, because even though it sounds strange you really should give a try. Unless you have some sort of hangup towards pork, I can all but guarantee you will enjoy it.
I can't believe it is only $1 for that. You can seriously live and eat well if you know where to eat. I love my pork and wish we had more choices like what you have there. Any restaurant looking like that here we would skip as you would most likely die of food poisoning. That type of place seems normal there though.
you'd be surprised how little food poisoning actually comes from the food. There are several nurses in my extended family and they have all agreed that normally it is the handling of the food, rather than the food itself. I have been food poisoned about 3 times in Thailand and the worst one was from Pizza Company chicken wings... a massive corporation that likely has extremely strict chicken purchasing standards....
I agree and that is why I am worried eating at places like that here. Hygiene would be the worry and how clean the establishment is. I went to a cheap butcher a few years back who was advertising Fillet steak at ridiculous prices. It was vacuum packed so thought nothing of it. I returned again and caught them vacuum packaging the steak and you wouldn't be the wiser if you hadn't seen it. The one piece of meat you wouldn't have recognized it as meat ,as there were flies covering the entire piece. I haven't been back since.
yikes. I would have thought in your country that the sanitation regulations would be off the charts!
Doesn't sound crazy at all to me, but I travel and eat all over the place. To be honest, the food that I end up liking the most when I travel around are the simple dishes like these.
I will have to be sure and try some Khao Ka Moo the next time I'm on that side of the world!
I know what you mean. Pork leg doesn't look like something you would put in your mouth. But at one bite, I was hooked. It's a bit like chicken feet (yup, another crazy item), but chewier.
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lol, the chicken feet. I just couldn't do that one. I have tried it but the fact that you are supposed to eat the bones and all was just to strange for me.
I spit out the bones. Was I supposed to eat the bones too?
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Some of the Thais that I know eat the bones. I wonder how good that is for your body, eating bones and all. :)
More calcium, maybe? My dog loves chewing bones, and the vet told me it's good for her bones.
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I spit out the bones. Was I supposed to eat the bones too?
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That’s really nice and nutritious! Very good value too!
Enjoying all the simple things in life!
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Wow nice
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Pork leg and Pork feet, whichever tastes good. Yummy!