Nai Uan Yen Ta Fo was OK

Post by Chiefeater Luke Soon

Meal at Nai Uan Yen Ta Fo. Yen Ta Fo (เย็นตาโฟ) is a distinctively pink noodle dish in Thailand; the distinctively pink hues comes from the fermented soybean paste (something like gochujang?) The paste gives a lightly sweet, almost flowery essence to the broth. This is a long standing establishment in Bangkok serving serves Yentafo.

With yentafo, it’s really the broth – fermented soybean, chillies, vinegar, fish sauce, and pepper in just the right amounts combined to form the backbone of the base flavours. I used to think yentafo was yongtaufoo (YTF, geddit?) in Thai but was firmly corrected by Thai colleagues 2 decades ago – in fact I had my first bowl before a client presentation (one that I will never forget!)

Yentafo is actually chunks of pork, fish balls (Thai fishballs comes in spherical and elliptical shapes), slices of squid, fried tofu, slices of water morning glory, rectangles of coagulated (pork/ duck) blood, and a big crispy chip, etc.

This detail about yentafo reminds me of the ‘larzha’ or cart noodles from Hong Kong – another firm favourite of mine. A bowl of yentafo is about 40 baht, most range between 30 to 40 baht. This one is supposedly ‘popular’. For me, this was 6.5/10.

I reminisce the small bowl of yentafo I had 2 decades ago at Praram3 (near Bank of Ayudhya). Oh, most Thais eat their lunches in small lanes packed with all kinds of stalls peddling food. closest thing I can think of = pasar malam. That was a 7.5, or maybe bcos I was really hungry.

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