We were actually planning to check out Madam Kwan’s much talked-about new outlet at Queensbay Mall today when we came across the one-month-old Penang outpost of Bangkok’s popular 𝗟𝗮𝗲𝗺 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗼𝗲𝗻 restaurant chain.
I’d been a customer of 𝗟𝗮𝗲𝗺 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗼𝗲𝗻 whenever I visited Bangkok for the past 4 decades. Founded by Athorn Wongweerathorn, and his wife, Naruemon Wongweerathorn, 𝗟𝗮𝗲𝗺 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗼𝗲𝗻 has more than two dozen branches in Bangkok, including those in top-end malls like Siam Paragon, Central World Plaza and EmQuartier.
Now, I don’t have to wait till my next visit to Bangkok to have 𝘱𝘶 𝘱𝘢𝘥 𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘨𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘦 (Thai stir-fried yellow curry with lump crabmeat)! Super-happy to be able to get it here now at 𝗟𝗮𝗲𝗺 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗼𝗲𝗻 Penang. Interestingly, the most popular curry powder brand used in Bangkok for this dish is Waugh’s, which is made in England.
What we had:
Deep-fried seabass with signature aromatic fish sauce (𝘱𝘭𝘢 𝘬𝘳𝘢 𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰𝘥 𝘯𝘢𝘮 𝘱𝘭𝘢 - ปลากระพงทอดนำ้ปลา). This dish was done to perfection - the fish-meat still moist inside, whilst the outer skin was crusty and tasty from being basted with a light fish sauce-palm sugar dressing.
Stir-fried crabmeat curry (𝘱𝘶 𝘱𝘢𝘥 𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘨𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘦 - ปูผัดผงกะหรี่) - one of my fave dishes of all time. The dish gets its richness from evaporated milk, and the light curry taste from English-made curry powder (Thais generally cannot accept Indian curry scent). The fresh crabmeat here was stupendous!
Creamy tom yum prawn soup (𝘵𝘰𝘮 𝘺𝘶𝘮 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘯𝘢𝘮 𝘬𝘩𝘰𝘯 - ต้มยำกุ้งนำ้ข้น) - not as creamy-rich as we’d expected. A fail.
Prawn cakes (𝘵𝘰𝘥 𝘮𝘶𝘯 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘯𝘨 - ทอดมันกุ้ง). Very average, and nowhere near the best ones we’d had in Penang, let alone Bangkok. Quite disappointed here. In Bangkok, Laem Charoen’s standards are generally held consistently high across all their branches. Looks like they could not do so here in Penang.
Green chicken curry (gaeng keaw wan gai - แกงเขียวหวานไก่) - this is actually the best-tasting Thai green curry I’d had in Penang!
Red beef curry (𝘨𝘢𝘦𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘯𝘦𝘶𝘢 - แกงเผ็ดเนื้อ) - average rendition. I won’t bother to order it again here.
Crispy morning glory salad, with sweet chili dip (𝘺𝘶𝘮 𝘱𝘢𝘬 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘬𝘳𝘰𝘣 - ยำผักบุ้งกรอบ)
Spicy basil chicken (𝘱𝘢𝘥 𝘬𝘢𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘸 𝘨𝘢𝘪 - ผัดกระเพราไก่) - a toned-down rendition here, with none of the heat nor the assertive spike of fish sauce one gets from this dish in Bangkok.
Thai omelette (𝘬𝘢𝘪 𝘫𝘦𝘰𝘸 - ไข่เจียว) - a simple but must-have Thai dish. Thai omelette involves cooking in copious amounts of hot oil, resulting in very fluffy egg omelette flavored with fish sauce.
Pad Thai (ผัดไทย) - no, just no.
Mango with sticky rice (𝘬𝘩𝘢𝘰 𝘯𝘪𝘢𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘮𝘶𝘢𝘯𝘨 - ข้าวเหนียวมะม่วง) - nowhere like the excellent renditions we get in Thailand. The sticky rice was also steamed and served plain, unlike the version in Thailand where sweetened & slightly salted thick coconut milk were stirred into the hot, cooked sticky rice and left to soak in. Very disappointed with the one we got here.
Thai iced milk tea (𝘤𝘩𝘢 𝘺𝘦𝘯 - ชาเย็น) - quite diluted and rather tasteless.
Overall, more misses than hits here. I might come back, but only for the crab curry and the signature deep-fried seabass. Guess the Laem Charoen brand doesn’t travel well outside Thailand.
Anyhoo, this is our last meal for this year. 𝙃𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙮 𝙉𝙚𝙬 𝙔𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙩𝙤 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙞𝙣 𝙃𝙪𝙣𝙜𝙧𝙮 𝙊𝙣𝙞𝙤𝙣, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙥𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙚𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙮𝙚𝙖𝙧!
Address
Laem Charoen Thai Seafood (Queensbay Mall)
2F-50, Queensbay Mall, 51, Persiaran Bayan Indah, 14300 Bayan Lepas, Penang, Malaysia
Tel: +604-646 3882
Opening hours: 11am to 10pm daily
