Newley Purnell

If you’re in America’s Pacific Northwest and you like Southeast Asian food — specifically Thai cuisine — then you’ve got to make your way to Pok Pok Whiskey Soda Lounge. That’s the name of Andy Ricker’s restaurant in Portland, Oregon. I haven’t been there, but it sounds like my kind of place: simple, savory Thai food served in a casual atmosphere.

Pok Pok isn’t a conventional Thai restaurant like you’d usually find in the US. It’s a “food garden” with indoor and outdoor seating. And the menu doesn’t include Thai staples that are common in the West, like pad thai and green chicken curry, but rather regional food from Thailand’s north and northeast. Pok Pok was voted The Oregonian’s 2007 restaurant of the year. (Click here for a YouTube video tour of Pok Pok compliments of the Oregonian.)

Owner Andy Ricker — who learned about Thai cuisine during his travels here — was recently interviewed by Lynne Rossetto Kasper for the excellent Splendid Table radio show. You can find the episode here, and here’s a direct link to the mp3.

The segment starts at 14 min., 40 sec. and goes to about 24 min.

(Thanks to Austin Bush — an Oregonian who knows a thing or two about Thai food himself — for the link.)

If you ask me, dining on an authentic krapow moo kai dao — stir fried pork with chili, basil, and a fried egg — can be a near-religious experience. I firmly believe that a fiery som tam (papaya salad) is one of the world’s greatest dishes. A well-executed gaeng keow wan gai (green chicken curry) has moved me, in times past, to the brink of tears. In short, I can’t get enough of Thai food.

But as an American living in Asia, not only do I appreciate creatively-conceived Western junk food, but I also harbor intense cravings, from time to time, for hamburgers. My god, hamburgers.

Over the past couple of years, I’ve sampled burgers at some of Bangkok’s most popular pubs, in addition a few speciality restaurants that claim to serve “Bangkok’s best burgers.” But I’ve been, by and large, underwhelmed. I’m a minimalist, favoring simple burgers like those served at Five Guys, on the east coast of the US, and by Dick’s in Seattle.

Enter Triple O’s by White Spot, a franchise based in Vancouver, BC. (Yes, Canada.) The joint opened in Bangkok about a year ago — the ones in Hong Kong are popular among foreigners — but I’d yet to visit the establishment, as it’s hidden in the rafters of Central World Plaza.

Having heard of Triple O’s from A (via S, who heard of it through R and J), I was pleased to find a tasty and fresh — though not needlessly gargantuan — patty, a toasted bun, and fresh toppings that included lettuce, tomatoes, and cheddar cheese. I also found the famed Triple O sauce to be a nice touch. The fries were pretty good, too. I’ve heard grumblings that Triple O patties can be thin and lifeless, but mine was substantial. Highly recommended — if you ever get sick of Thai food, that is.

Triple O’s by White Spot
Central Food Hall, Central World Plaza, 7th floor
Telephone: 02 613 1640

For further reading, I suggest “Searching for Bagnkok’s Best Burgers” (written, as best I can tell, before Triple O’s came to town, though the author is knowledgeable and thorough).

I’m back in Bangkok. My marathon return trip included a car ride, a taxi trip, a four-hour Amtrak ride, 21 hours of flights aboard Singapore Airlines, and nine hours of waiting for planes in airports that steadily improved as I journeyed east: JFK, Frankfurt, and then Singapore.

I may write more, in future dispatches, about my month at home in the US. But for now, let me just say to the friends, family, and colleagues I saw: ole uncle Newley is happy to have caught up with you.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got some eating to do. First up, I shall attempt to consume my body weight in krapow moo (pictured above) with extra fish sauce. I’ve really missed the food here in Bangkok.