Sour curry and cut-throat razors

I spent the early part of this afternoon having a cut throat razor held to my throat by an Algerian man in his early thirties called Aissa. A cursory survey of Google confirmed that if it's beard management in Bangkok (Steady...) you're interested in - and I was - then, there really is no alternative. After three days of slogging around Bangkok's streets with temperatures in the low thirties Celsius and high humidity, I managed to perfect the 'rough sleeping' look in record time.  Whilst I find that a beard provides a certain comfort factor in Northern European winters and attracts cats, the same does not apply in the sub tropics. On the Tuesday when I landed, I was Philip Moss. By Friday, I was Rasputin after a hard evening on the poisoned pastries with facial hair that seemed to be possessed. Emergency 'beard management' was needed and Istanbul Barber on the second floor of Terminal 21 on Sukhumvit was the place to go. Mr. Aissa was the man to see. With traditional Algerian charm and good manners, he set about trying to regain control of my face for me using nothing more than clippers a cut throat razor, a rock steady hand and nerves of steel, I have to say, he did a magnificent job at a very reasonable price. Highly recommended.  

A swift half hour slog up Sukhumvit to Soi 2 and lunch at the venerable Atlanta Hotel.  The restaurant remains unchanged from my last visit four years ago as do the staff. It's always nice see old friends.  The menu has been reduced post-covid from its once voluminous tour d'horizons of traditional Thai gastronomy but still manages the occasional curved ball like the sour fish curry fried rice. The menu helpfully informs us that sour fish curry may have a certain sentimental appeal to those in their nineties and centenarians as the 'taste of their childhood'. It goes on to say that  it has been 'voted the 12th most unpopular dish in Thailand in a recent survey' and that younger Thais 'wouldn't eat it even if it was turned into a pizza topping'!  The general impression given is the younger generation here would prefer tooth extraction sans anaesthetic to ordering this dish. Well, I love a challenge and immediately ordered the 'khao pad som nam pla' in question. The menu described it as mild but I've been had like that before and was braced for a chilli-shaped assault on my palate. What arrived was a delicious and rather homely dish of fried rice garnished with tomato and cucumber slices.  The first spoonful was anything but an assault. No chilli fireworks or aromatic waves of lemon grass or coriander. Here was a dish from a simpler, subtler and more confident era. There were earthy flavours in the spicing that balanced the sour marinade of the fish pieces. Not so much an historic reconstruction but more home cooking or comfort food in its best sense. It was both flavourful and satisfying. If I sound surprised, I really shouldn't be. Even with the reduced menu at The Atlanta, there is still much to recommend here. I'm particularly fond of the pandanus leaf tea sold in litre bottles. The taste of another bygone era (perhaps even 18th century) when refined sugar was hardly available for use in Thai cooking. Pounded coconut and efflorescence of the pandanus plant ('banana tree' to people like me) is added to provide a background sweetness to this livid green traditional beverage which rarely seen nowadays - another recommendation. The restaurant here is residents only but occasionally non guests are let in. The rooms at The Atlanta Hotel also happen to be excellent value for money, functional and comfortable with an efficient laundry and one of the oldest - and best-maintained - hotel swimming pools in the country! The Art Deco style reception of the hotel is a popular film set.