IT’S Thai food that we are familiar with and like at E San Thai Kitchen in Ara Damansara, Petaling Jaya.

The restaurant has been around for about 12 years, and I have visited it twice in the early years.

What sticks in my mind is the salt baked fish that I have had there. I’m so happy to be served this again at E San, having made an order in advance for the grilled fish as it’s listed on the menu.

We were presented with jenahak or silver snapper weighing about 1kg, accompanied by two sauces.

The fish had been baked in salt for 25 minutes and it emerged moist and naturally sweet, with a little of the salt infused in the meat.

I enjoyed the fish, which flaked off easily from the main bone, on its own or dipped in the two sauces – a tangy peanut one and a chilli sauce.

It goes well too with a nam prik dip (fermented shrimp and chilli). The salt baked jenahak was RM88; a siakap would be RM52 or more.

The appetiser of prawns and squid with cabbage tossed in a sweet, sour and spicy peanut dressing refreshed our palate.

Fish sauce, lime juice, oyster sauce, Thai soy sauce and chilli made up this dressing thick with crunchy peanuts.

I’m always a little wary of the searing heat of chilli in tom yam at some Thai restaurants. But the mixed seafood tom yam (RM22) here was mellow and pleasing.

Sweet, sour and hot came together in a good balance in the red broth fragrant with lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves.

I would have preferred a fluffier cha om omelette (RM18) but this satisfied my craving for the fern-like, pungent leaf shoots of cha om, also known as tropical acacia.

The fried egg salad (RM15), on the other hand, had a fluffy fried egg topped with spring onions, coriander and onions finished in a sweet dressing.

I had the best som tam or papaya salad (RM15) here, with perfectly balanced flavours. The julienned unripe papaya had a slight crunch and was juicy. I liked how it was presented shaped like a pineapple.

I thought I caught a whiff of Worcestershire sauce in the fried black pepper beef (RM33), which was tangy and spicy. But the sauce coating the tender beef slices was made up of BBQ sauce, lime juice and black pepper. The beef was good.

I was so happy to encounter again the pumpkin custard (RM8), long gone from most Thai restaurant menus.

There was this lovely aroma of the kaya-like custard in the pumpkin as this was brought out. It was sublime, the chilled custard blending with the sweet pumpkin that tasted almost like sweet potato.

Isan is in northeastern Thailand, with its very own cuisine. The grilled fish and somtam are Isan dishes, as are sun dried beef and minced chicken or beef salad on the menu of E San Thai Kitchen.

The restaurant is pork-free. It is located at G-G-5 Jalan PJU 1A/3, Taipan 2, Ara Damansara, 47301 Petaling Jaya, tel: 012 327 0122. – March 12, 2022.

* Eu Hooi-Khaw has been writing about food for the longest time, covering all aspects, from restaurant reviews to cooking and recipes, as well as the healthy side of it. She has written for major newspapers and magazines, published the cookbook Fresh Ingredients, and also writes for her website hooikhawandsu.com.