He first went to Bangkok for the cheap dentistry, but found the city so conducive to work that he stuck around. We conducted the interview over dinner at The Local, a quiet one-storey Thai restaurant round the corner from his flat, and it was there that I had my first massaman curry, at the grand old age of 28. “Massaman is not meant to be spicy,” says Sirachai Kularbwong, the chef at Singburi in Leytonstone, east London – quite possibly the UK’s best Thai restaurant. The point is to taste the subtle fragrances and spices that went into the dish.” For shop-bought paste, he recommends the Mae Ploy brand. Since that night in Bangkok my bastardised massaman has become a fixture at home: a one-pot, one-hour doddle.

Source: The Guardian January 04, 2021 06:31 UTC