oh master! oh! master, master!

The recent visit of Thai food master chef David Thompson drew greater support than any other highflying chef has ever done and hundreds of devotees have been turned away from his Australian dinners. Thompson and his long–term partner in business and life Tanongsak Yordwai are in Australia to launch and promote Thompson’s new book Thai Street Food. A punishing succession of interviews, launches, dinners and cooking classes Thompson sets the standard for what a guest chef is supposed to be. His constant presence in the kitchen during the preparation stage of his food, his gentle teasing of the regular and volunteer staff, close contact and the opportunity to learn from a master makes anything worthwhile. Thompson might be eccentric, but he is super intelligent, he remembers names, takes time to give each person individual attention and in the frantic scurry of the kitchen manages to charm everyone making even the most tedious and mundane tasks enjoyable and worthwhile. Even those conned into eating a scud, the tiny fiery green chilli who were left sweat pouring from their faces, choking with tears streaming from their eyes loved him even if they never quite trusted him again. They did enjoy watching Thompson eat one and cough and splutter for moments at the unexpected heat. Thompson and his partner Tanongsak are charming, good–natured and despite their longevity in the industry remain obsessed with food. The general public owes Thompson a lot for his obsessive nature and enduring passion for the food of Thailand. He has documented an oral cuisine that allows all obsessed cooks to share his passion. What chefs love most about Thompson’s recipe writing is that he doesn’t shirk the truth of a cuisine and never ever dumbs down the recipes for the sake of Western niceties in particular our culture’s obsession with refrigeration. He writes it how it is and you can choose to follow his instructions or ruin the recipe by imposing Western values to it.

left Tanongsak Yordwa, Shane Wilson and Sam Cromwel,l right David Thompson and Jordan Theordoris

Apart from the very strong Jolleys’ team led by chef and part owner Tony Carroll, sous chefs Adrian Semcesan and John Newton, Jordan Theordoris (Chef/Owner Aquacaf) controlled the kitchen and directed the volunteer team that included chefs Brent Kemble–Beech (Enotecca Restaurant), Shane Wilson (The Sebel Playford Restaurant), Adam Rocco (The River Torrens Café), Ben Russell (Red Ochre Restaurant), Rebecca Stubbs (Chloe’s Restaurant) and Adam Cromwell (Windy Point Restaurant). Theordoris worked for Thompson at Darley Street Thai for three years and kept the balance with the prep communication as Thompson rushed to do an interview, launch the really excellent Megachef fish sauce and oyster sauce, coped with television crews in the kitchen and in the way, and an endless list of interruptions, at the same time maintaining a friendly banter with the staff whilst keeping an eagle eye on the prep delivery. “Not fine enough! Not fine enough! Taste this, look at that, have you ever eaten this? Come and look at this! This is my special sauce with a secret ingredient. Can you taste it, tell me what it is!” Of course no one could, and some less well travelled paled at the truth, but this just made it all the more fascinating. Carroll, who, like this author is not noted for his patience but his cooking, was constantly dragged off site to find missing ingredients with Thompson there to identify them. In the side alley a charcoal barbecue was set up to create a true street food flavour.

left wall to wall chefs in Jolleys’ kitchen, right master class David Thompson, Adama Rocco and Ben Russell

Chefs stood for hours in the blazing 39°C sun charring shallots and turning and dipping the skewered mussels. The importance of each individual component was explained as was the definitive texture rather than tenderness that is fundamental in the Thai kitchen.
Sacks and sacks of coconuts were cracked and opened for fresh coconut milk, dozens discarded rotten and fermented and more brought in. For a whole day five people did nothing but harvest coconut meat and the next day the new volunteer crew smug that they had missed the already legendary coconuts soon realised it was the same thing all over again. Fresh to Thompson means fresh and whilst there are the inevitable bottled powders and potions of the Asian kitchens, the many strange new flavours (as a single ingredient) come together as a whole the combinations are powerful, intense and mysterious combinations of sweet, sour, bitter, salty and chilli hot.

Left david Thompson, right Tanongsak Yordwa

Tanongsak set himself in the peace and quiet and scorching, stifling heat of the upstairs kitchen and almost single handedly prepared the complex dessert for 120 people. Ingredient availability altered the original intention and mangostines were swapped for fresh lychees. The banana leaf unwrapped revealed a single rose petal and unfolded miraculous flavour combinations. Apart from the interesting salty and sweet, fruity and savoury flavour profile of the end of the meal it was the infusion of fragrant field roses into water for the rose scented ice that chilled and perfumed the dish. It was an unusual combination of richness (the coconut cream) sweetness (the sugar syrup) and corn and tapioca wrapped in a banana leaf, to the slightly salty sweet syrup that moistened the dish. Finished with a tiny sprinkle of deep–fried shallots this bizarre combination (for a Western palate) was soothing and comforting and as texturally interesting as it was in flavour profile. It was perfect after the assault of chilli and incomprehensible (to novice Westerners at least) flavour profiles and complexities of the other courses.
The canapés were sublime, each one as different from the other as they could possibly be. Ma Hor, a delicious thick textural mix of pork, prawn and chicken mince, bound together in a sticky crunchy tasty mess of fried garlic, shallots, roasted peanuts and palm sugar. Served on a sweet ripe pineapple chunk with a coriander and chilli garnish they were divine. In another season the mix is filled into slit mandarin segments with equal acclaim. Listing Mussel Satay is to depreciate the beauty and complexity of this wonderful dish. Marinated in a thick coconut, lemon grass chilli the complex marinade in which the mussels were first marinated, and then cooked and marinated and cooked again the flavour was amazing. They were exquisite. The Rocklobster Miang was subtle and sour with tamarind, with more soft than crunch and although the flavours were powerful they lapped and balmed the rocklobsters rather than masque it. Sitting in a curled betel leaf it was a mouthful of heaven. The last canapé the Chiang Mai Chilli relish with steamed quail eggs was mystifying, the simplicity of the plain steamed quail’s egg was complicated but not overpowered by the complex relish of char grilled shallots, scuds, garlic, red chillies, the smokiness unachievable without a real charcoal grill. The complexity of this food cannot be underestimated nor can the impossibility of serving it with absolute authenticity and not going bankrupt in the process. It is the food of poor people where there are many hands to cut and chop, and little money to buy the fuel that will cook it. Food is fermented rather than braised for 24 hours, nothing is wasted it is preserved. Trim went into the stock for the utterly amazing Tom Yum. The torn oyster mushrooms, the smoked cherry tomatoes, shredded boiled chicken, scuds, and lots of scuds. It is so fiery, so complex, so marvelously delicious we all wish were guests instead of kitchen slaves. We admire the process of getting to the end flavour. Chillies have been grilled, blistered and peeled, coriander roots have been scraped, kaffir lime leaves sliced to cotton threads and what we all love is that nothing is wasted, not the tomalley from the lobster or the prawn heads, everything has a place in the food. The use of tomatoes is interesting but we remind ourselves that the chilli and tomato so integral to Thai cuisine is a relatively new ingredient brought back to the old world by Columbus about 500 years ago and briefly amuse ourselves about what Thai food might have been without the chilli. We love it that Thompson has chosen a tom yum that has taken full advantage of the fantastic local cockles. There is nothing simple about this food it is more complex, more labour intensive than anything I have ever cooked before, even in a Michelin three star restaurant. By now the entire kitchen, with the exception of Jordan Theordoris has come to realise they know nothing about Thai food and know none of us will ever be able to eat Tom Yum again in Adelaide (or probably anywhere else) without feeling utterly cheated and disappointed.
Thompson is everywhere in the kitchen “:No not like that! Like this! Did I say to do it like that?” we all feel like idiots most of the time but love him for his obsession, his determination to get what he wants. We all just dig it! In all of this Tanongsak is Thompson’s anchor, and for all that Thompson jokes when Tanongsak goes for a walk along the river that he has really gone to look for a machine gun to kill us all, the uniqueness, the closeness of their relationship is ever present. Thompson is the fire and Tanongsak is the water but together they are the perfect ying and yang and we all enjoy Tanongsak’s mocking humour and rolling eyes. Some of us feel a little envy that they have both found such a complimentary meeting of minds and hearts. The salted beef ribs have been fermenting in fish sauce at room temperature for four days and was so beautifully and succinctly explained by Tanongsak, who asked “Do you eat salami?’ to the nodding unison of the kitchen, “well that’s a fermented meat, so what’s the difference?<”) What’s the difference indeed? The crunchy fish is another Thompson mysterious masterpiece, the Plaa Somm, the fermented fish is all at once crunchy and salty and fishy with cucumber and dill, raw shallot and lime.
The prawn curry is incredibly complex, rich and magical with lapping flavours and fiery hot without rice. Thompson keeps throwing in handfuls of paper–thin slithers of kaffir lime leaves into the curry and the plated curry is served with a slash of coconut cream and another handful of lime leaf. In the midst of this I knock over a liter of just squeezed limejuice and there is a frantic rush to the nearest supermarket to buy more limes at an astronomical price. I could kill myself for my clumsiness but Carroll’s team makes a quick recovery and rightly gives me as much shit as possible but there isn’t time to spend wallowing in my embarrassment.
For everyone who worked at the back it was intriguing, amazing, fascinating and an introduction to cooking techniques, flavours, combinations and end product that very few of us had any knowledge about. For those at the front, those lucky people who got a seat for the dinner it was an assault to their senses. Powerful exotic flavours, absolutely uncompromising chilli heat, great and compatible wines that were all, even the reds chilled, Primo Estate Colombard, Michael hall Chardonnay, Paracombe Wines Pinot Noir, Rockford Wines latest drop the Frugal Farm, Grenache Mataro that comes in at just 12% alcohol and loves a bit of chill. If you have never tried these wines you are missing out big time! Add to that a great selection of Coopers and Boags.

Thompson’s Books Thai Food and the new Thai Street Food are the bibles regardless of the shape of your eyes! click here to go to the reviews

from top to bottom
Jordan Theordoris, Rebecca Stubbs and Sam Cromwell delivering Thompson’s authentic Thai food, the cover of Thompson’s new book Thai Street Food, Jordan and Rebecca Stubbs and why the tea towel, the outside temperature was in the low 40Cs, wing beans waiting to be plated with the fermented fish, infusing the perfume of the roses into the water for the rose ice for the dessert, yet another master class, from the left, David Thomspon, Leong, John Newton, Tony Carroll and Adam Rocco, Rocklobster miang, and last the marinated, smoked and grilled mussels