On Nut women's clothing market stalls

Tonight we headed out to the On Nut night market, a small group of stalls selling mostly women's clothes. On the edge of the market was a line of food vendors. We simply paid for what we wanted from each one then carried the dishes over to a table, where a beer guy served us some ice cold Leo. Strangely, most of the tables were occupied by sweaty old men and their Thai girlfriends, or TGF (the acronym local city forums seem to use). There was also an acoustic band strumming some Eric Clapton, John Denver, and Thai songs.

Here's what we ate:

We got two sticks of each type (beef, pork, and chicken hearts). They were a bit cold and we probably should have told them to put them back on the grill for a while. However, the flavor was good with a tinge of caramelization and a hint of sweetness. The pork and beef were fatty enough to keep the meat moist. The dipping sauce was sweet, and T said it tasted like South African fruit chutney. She also said the beef tasted like biltong... a little taste from home after J's NYC brunch!

Verdict: T= Too cold, but liked the big, chewy chicken hearts/J: I've had better sticks.

This was a summer roll filled with ground pork, carrots, cabbage and other crunchy veggies. The rice noodle wrapping was a little too thin to hold the ingredients so it easily fell apart. There were no herbs or strong tasting leaves among the veggies and the pork was not heavily seasoned, so the overall taste was rather neutral. However, the addition of some sweet dark soy imparted some flavor.

Verdict: T= Bland/ J= Like something you would find at cheap Vietnamese restaurants anywhere around the world.

This salt baked fish (maybe a snapper??) was really meaty and super simple to debone -- when we removed the spine it looked like Garfield was dining with us. The flesh was mild in taste but firm and juicy, likely because of the salt baking technique, however, it also made the skin inedible. It came with two sauces: lime juice mixed with a habanero-tasting pepper and a simple concoction of palm sugar dissolved in fish sauce with toasted peanuts.

Verdict: T= Very meaty, but lacking in flavor. I like snakefish better!/ J= I like me some fish and lime juice sauce! Mmmmmm...