Pratunam Market, Som Tum Nua and Takoyaki

Today he decided to check out the Pratunam Market. To borrow a phrase from Colin this place is a series of rabbit warrens that once inside can be difficult to find your way out. There are clothes, clothes and more clothes. We also visited another center across the road that was much easier to negotiate and also air conditioned which makes for a much more pleasant shopping experience. After a few hours wandering around in no particular direction we were very hungry but had no clue where we were. The best solution we could think of was to hail a tuk tuk and ask to be taken to a restaurant that I thought was pretty close by. I asked to be taken to Som Tum Nua which was again recommended in one of my guides as an excellent Isan establishment. 120 Baht and about 10 minutes later our tuk tuk driver dropped us out the front. This was probably top dollar for a short tuk tuk ride but by this stage we had lost our motivation to negotiate. The restaurant was very popular and had about 10-15 people waiting to get in. Despite the line up the waiter told us it would be 5 minutes and gave us a menu while we waited. I still hadn't had any larb this trip so that was a must order. We also had to get the Som Tum given that this was their specialty. We also ordered the deep fried fish salad which was fantastic. It was a whole fried fish topped with a green mango salad, we picked it clean. The Som Tum was also lovely and a bit different to the usual version as it also had Kanom Jeen noodles and some silky pork sausage very similar to one I have had at Vietnamese restaurants. The chicken larb was also great but not that spicy until I added some a the chilli dipping sauce they provided, after that it really had some kick. After paying the bill we headed for a taxi but couldn't help stopping at a nearby dessert shop. They had what looked like Takoyaki with three different fillings that I have no clue what they were. We ordered two of each and devoured them in the cab on the way home. We also ordered 2 each of some lovely coconut rice flour pancakes that I have made at home from David Thompson's That Street Food. There were two varieties and both were delicious and definitely tastier that my efforts.