our cooking tools.
Hopefully we don't turn into the chickens.
We're both kind of red in the face.
All right, man.
The moment of truth.
What is amazing to me is how perfectly golden that skin is.
We're moving on now to the green papaya salad.
Look at all these chilies.
It's almost unbearable pain, man.
Quite my tears.
Good morning, hope you're having an amazing day.
This is Mark Wiens.
I'm Sonny from the Best Ever Food Review Show.
I'm sorry, this is your show. but it is gonna be an awesome day hanging out with Sunny today.
So one of the most popular things to eat in Thailand is called , which is green papaya salad with grilled chicken.
But we are going to eat not your ordinary versions.
Of either.
So, we are on our way first to go eat grilled chicken.
And this is gonna be, it's a very unique, actually, it's very old, right Ying?
It's like a very, very old style that's almost impossible to find now.
I've never had it before.
It's about an hour drive outside, on the outskirts of Bangkok, towards Nakhon Pathom.
Or is it in Nakhon Pathom?
It's in Nakhon Pathom.
Okay, so it's gonna be about an hour drive.
Oh, immediately step out of the car.
You can hear the chicken, the roosters crowing to put the new chicken in the grill.
Oh, we gotta go.
Okay.
We got here in perfect time.
He just finished a batch, but that means he's gonna start a new batch.
And uncle is very friendly.
He's just arranging, well, we're getting kinda bathed in ash.
But he's preparing the, what is it?
It's almost like a tub. a tub of a grill or a smoker where he's gotta grill the chicken.
This is the main batch.
He's got another batch going over here.
Kinda like actually not even grilled. baked chicken in rice grass, smoked in rice grass.
But just the fact that the outside is ashy but the inside is still, I mean it looks really clean, right.
Yeah, it is.
So it's just gonna kind of steam up in there?
It's smoke and steam.
He takes the raw chicken, I think, which they've already been marinated in some spices and some juices, and then he takes a couple skewers, pokes them through and that's gonna kinda hold it together so that it holds up as he puts it upright onto a little pole sticking out of the ground.
Okay, so he says it takes about an hour to cook.
About an hour to smoke.
That sounds about right.
All the chickens are in their vertical positions, and then he's lidded all of them with those old oil drums.
And now he's just stuffing into this entire trough the dry rice grass which they're then gonna just light ignite and that's just gonna go up in a cloud of smoke, but release all of that flavor into your chicken.
Ying disappeared for a while.
What?
By the way, Sonny, we had to pre-order these chickens.
They're completely sold out.
You cannot just show up here and get a chicken.
They're all sold out, right Ying?
They're all sold out before they start selling.
But it's not like a rest.
Is there a restaurant somewhere?
It's only takeaway.
It's only takeaway, actually.
We're on the side of the road and there's like three big burning troughs and that's all that's here.
And they're selling out.
What's crazy is it's he's going to set this up.
He's going to set this on fire in a second.
But there's more grass right there and right there.
Like, it's all directly around and under this roof and next to this tarp.
Like I don't know how he keeps it contained right in here, because there's flammable stuff everywhere around here.
And it looks like this tarp has been through some tough days, though.
This is already uncovered, too.
Oh, okay.
Wait, that's it?
Just a match?
Just a lighter.
Wow, that is hot and it's coming fast.
It's moving down fast.
You can see how that fire, that fire just spread.
Hopefully we don't turn into the chickens, but we are kind of bathing in the smoke with them.
We're roasting a bit, just a little bit.
We're both kind of red in the face.
Yeah, totally.
Once the flame goes by, the remainder here, you can put your hand right next to it.
It's not hot at all.
The chicken is completely... Wow, that's a lot of smoke.
Power through, dude.
It's for the views.
This is like... Whoa.
Oh, that was like a tuklau.
But yeah, because the chickens were completely raw, it's not like this is the finishing process.
This has to cook the chickens all the way through.
Right.
Yeah, that takes a lot of heat and a lot of time.
Okay, let's move.
Yeah, let's move, okay.
So he'll clear the old ash, then he'll add more grass and then burn that again, probably a couple of times, because it takes about an hour to smoke and I guess that's enough heat.
That provides enough heat and smoke to cook the entire chickens.
He'll show us that whole process.
The first batch of rice grass has completely burned through.
So he's gonna re-add, re-stock it, re-fill it with rice grass.
I didn't know if I should say hay for dried rice grass.
I didn't know if it was a specific type of grass.
Sunny just looked it up thanks to Google.
We now know that.
Grass that has been mown or dried for use as fodder.
That's the definition of hay.
So we can call dried rice grass hay.
Absolutely.
Uncle has handed over the lighter to us.
The cooking utensils right here.
This is the, this is like a lot of, it's a lot of, what is it?
Responsibility.
We have a lot of responsibility in our hands.
So right from the corner.
Yeah, it just takes a little bit and then it, yeah, that's it.
As we wait for that chicken to finish roasting or smoking, we're just gonna come over.
They actually sell the chicken in the front at the sort of the main road.
Is that good?
Yeah.
It's satisfying the urges for now.
Crunchy and a little bit like, has like a little sweet glaze to it.
I agree with that.
That's good.
Do I open that gong?
Typically what they would do is they would bring the chickens from, because they don't have the chickens at the same place where they distribute the chickens, because it's so smoky.
Yeah, people would get smoked out, they would get black lung and there would be lawsuits.
It would be a big issue.
So what they typically do is bring the chickens here.
This is where they chop them up.
They put them into the styrofoam boxes.
They give you your sauces.
Chop up your chicken and then this is where you pick it up.
But since we are planning to eat the chicken directly from the the bed directly from the trough.
Ying was extraordinarily smart.
She got the empty box with the banana leaf, with the sauces and konnyaku sticky rice, which is also a necessary component.
Now we're gonna go back to the grill and we're gonna go eat.
Okay, it's ready.
Okay, it's ready.
We gotta go.
Let's go.
Let's move.
We gotta go now.
He's gonna lift the lids kind of delicately so that not too much ash spreads.
But that's just incredible.
I love the contrast because it's so black, and then just that golden chicken.
It looks like it's back in a nest.
So he cinches the wings, picks it up super easy, and hangs it on the shed.
Yeah.
After he lifts it out of the nest, he hangs it up here kind of on the shed.
And you can just see how golden, how beautiful that skin is.
But then he wipes it with a little sponge to get that kind of extra ash off.
They smell unbelievable.
You can really smell the aroma of lemongrass.
And my arm is just getting dripped all over with chicken juice.
I'm gonna lick my arm.
Oh, wow.
Hold on, let me lick your arm.
Dude, you gotta try my arm.
Are you shooting?
Yep.
Oh, hey guys.
Are these stuffed?
If they are stuffed, it's only like lemongrass and herbs, I believe.
I looked in the hole.
In the cavity here.
I believe that is lemongrass inside.
Look at the yoga, the contortionist moves that's going on here.
They put the legs back into the body cavity.
I've never seen that before.
Is that a common thing here?
Yeah, they do that quite often, just to hold the chicken together.
What?
So that they don't flop around and then the drumstick would fall off.
So are the feet, the whole feet gonna be in there?
Yeah, the feet are stuffed in the cavity.
When do we eat though?
Right now, we're eating him.
This is ours.
Unhook this guy.
Yes, dude.
And this is like right out of the smoker.
Set this into our tray.
Head up or head down?
Okay.
Look at that.
I'm just amazed at the skin and how beautifully golden, crunchy, perfect it looks.
Should we just double drumstick it?
Let's just pull from either side.
Yeah, it's hot.
Let's just pull the drumstick on either side.
Lift up the foot.
Oh, there it is, the whole foot.
Oh wow, that just completely like, oh, that just falls off.
And here we go.
Super easy.
Just like pulls out.
Oh man.
Even the foot, it's just.
The foot comes right off.
Look at that.
The moment of truth.
Let's do it.
All right, here we go.
Oh, wow.
That's ridiculous.
And it's unbelievably tender.
It's salty on the outside.
Did he put something on it?
Yeah, yeah, so it was all marinated in probably soy sauce and coriander root.
Yeah, it was just so soft.
That texture is unbelievably juicy and soft.
Mmm.
It's so soft.
That's like a two-biter drumstick.
All these fatty parts have just kind of melted into the meat.
Yeah, you're right about that.
It really is unbelievable.
That's over the top.
Yeah, I mean, there's a reason he's sold out every day, right?
This is exactly it.
Like the bone is just completely clean.
Okay, next up, let's try the sauce.
You can see like a puddle of juices as you put your finger in there.
Oh, look how juicy, even the, oh wow.
Okay, that's hot.
But that's so juicy, even the breast.
This is the real test, you know, because the thigh is always the thigh on drumsticks is always juicy.
But the breast can be very dry.
Grab a chunk of it.
It feels incredibly juicy.
You could probably squeeze it like a towel and juices would come out.
Here we go.
Yeah, that looks nice.
This is the classic chicken dipping sauce here.
Oh, wow.
The breast is juicy.
A little bit more firm, but still super juicy for breast meat.
The sauce is kind of tangy, a little bit spicy, kind of sweet at the same time.
I'm just gonna have this.
Look at this, all this skin.
It's like a little bit crispy right here, but the rest is just really soft.
I think it just gets kind of sweltering inside of that box.
It gets juiced.
Wait, camera back up.
Oh, fatty, juicy skin.
In a few moments, this chicken will just be bone.
I could eat like two of these.
Which is this sauce?
More looks like the Thai seafood sauce, which is garlic, chilies, lime juice.
Really good too.
Like less of a more of a refreshing chili sauce, as opposed to the other sauce which is more of a smoky, I think, more of a dry chili taste to it.
The skin bites are unbelievable.
One of the signs of a successful chicken eating experience is looking at your fingers.
And mine are glistening to the max.
The chicken is some of the juiciest you will ever have.
This is the type of chicken that, once you start eating it, you will not stop eating until all there's left is bone.
Until it's just that.
A carcass.
And we're not stopping.
The wings are incredible.
And, of course conyao, sticky rice, which I almost forgot about because the chicken is so good, but you gotta have conyao.
And you can kind of ball it up, dip it in the sauce as well.
So good.
And that completes our chicken. and sticky rice.
Cheers, man, this is a lot of fun.
For sure.
And the chicken is so unbelievably good.
We're gonna move on now to eat som tam, which is the green papaya salad.
It would be very common to accompany green papaya salad with the grilled chicken, but we're gonna move on to a different place to eat green papaya salad.
Let's do it.
Let's go.
Should we bring the camera, though?
Oh, in fact, we gotta bring the camera and the entire basket.
Because we've got Ying ordered a couple more chickens here to bring home to take away.
Okay, anyway, we're moving on now to the green papaya salad.
Location two.
What do I do with this?
But I think we'll give them back the basket.
That was a little bit of a drive, but we made it.
We are here next to eat Thai green papaya salad.
But you said this one's extreme-ish, in a way.
So it looks extreme, but it's actually not like a food challenge, you know?
This is just a normal dish, a normal preparation, but it is pretty hardcore.
It's good, very, very good.
The restaurant is called Som Tam Je Gai.
They also, not only do they have green papaya salad, but they also have a type of grilled chicken.
Yeah.
It's a type of chicken from a certain region, place in Thailand.
These are some of my favorite types of grilled chickens in Thailand, because of their texture, because of their flavor, because of the way the unique grilling of them.
We come here right at the peak of lunch.
The restaurant is packed.
It's not spicy.
It's not spicy.
It's not spicy.
It's not spicy.
It's not spicy.
It's not spicy.
It's not spicy.
On my t-shirt, it says , which means not spicy, not eating.
But she just mentioned to me , which means not spicy, not selling.
That's what she told me.
So she said if it's not spicy, she's not selling it.
We're in the right spot, dude.
Look, this man can tolerate spice.
I can pretend like I can tolerate spice.
I'm gonna do my best.
I still like it nonetheless.
Okay, 30 chilies in the plate.
Cool.
30?
Here's the slogan.
That means.
Sap is like, oh, here it goes in the fish sauce.
Sap means delicious, but it's more than delicious.
It's like a well-rounded mouth pleasure feeling.
Oh.
Table one.
Sonny is delivering our plate now.
Table one.
Nice.
You know, the most beautiful things in nature are always... No, hold on.
The most dangerous things in nature are always the most beautiful and vivid and vibrant and bright.
It's beautiful and dangerous.
A small mountain of fermented fish sauce and chilies.
So many ingredients in here.
There's at least 20 ingredients probably in here.
Oh, we got another one too.
There's a whole nother tray.
Ying ordered that one too.
Oh, dude, that one is with the shells and chilies.
Oh man, I totally didn't even know Ying was ordering this.
Awesome.
Oh, another ingredient in here is which are those little seeds?
Those little seeds which are white popinac se.
Eds?
There's so much going on in here.
All right, cheers.
Cheers.
Oh wow.
That is an explosion of like fermented crunch and heat in your mouth.
Oh, that is hot.
Oh yeah.
So, Before I can't talk anymore, The one thing I do like is Is it fermented fish paste?
The dressing?
Yeah.
Fermented fish sauce?
Yeah.
Fermented fish sauce can be a lot for some people, even for me.
But actually, spice is the one thing that can neutralize that flavor.
Oh, that's Vietnamese sausage, actually.
Oh!
You know the... Yeah, it's the Thai version of Vietnamese sausage.
I just love it.
And to me, it's like, this is the dish that it touches on taste buds you didn't even think you had.
It just, it's more almost than your mouth can handle.
And that's what's so awesome about it.
I agree with that.
But not more than I can handle.
I'm doing just fine over here.
I do love the flavor.
I'm not gonna lie.
It is the unique pleasure and pain happening at the same time here.
Here's even more sausage.
I got some chilies in this one.
These pork rinds soak up all these juices so beautifully.
She kind of chuckled at Sunny.
She's laughing at me.
She knows exactly what's going on here.
Man, I'm sweating, I'm crying, I'm choking, but it tastes great.
Don't get me wrong, it's really good.
Look at all these chilies.
How do you do this?
It's almost unbearable pain, man.
Why do you ask?
Do I look that fun?
I swear to God it's delicious but this is one of the most painful meals I've ever tried to eat.
Yes.
I've only had like five bites so far.
This is hilarious man.
I used to be like I can hang if I ate with more greens I could hang.
It's not gonna be that bad, but dude, you're the spice lord.
Respect.
You got this, like, no competition.
You are sweating though.
I'm sweating and crying.
That is something.
Wow, I'm feeling it now.
He's drinking the water.
The man has a limit.
What is this?
That is fire.
That is a naam.
That is fermented sausage.
Oh, I'm a broken man, Mark Wiens.
Dude, this is intense.
Are you going to have some sausage too?
Yes, I am.
Or something else?
Okay, let's do it.
The wife has given me some tissue.
That means it's time to wipe my tears.
Well dude, should we try some grilled chicken?
Sure.
Sonny just jumped out of his chair to go buy ice cream.
He's got ice cream.
This guy's a genius.
There's syrup on there.
I don't care.
I just need something cold.
Dog, that was brutal.
Fun.
Fun, but wow.
That is some intense heat.
The ice cream is a lifesaver.
He's a genius.
Sonny's over there eating ice cream.
And you're having more chilies.
That was like four chilies.
Oh, dude.
And I got a whole piece of lime, a lime peel on that bite.
Whoa.
It just blows my taste buds how many flavors you can experience all in one mouthful, and it's just unbelievable.
You're right, he makes so many different kinds of ice cream in one little cup.
Is that what you're talking about?
Let's try the grilled chicken for now.
Alright, so a completely different type of grilled chicken.
What is that?
That's like the whole wing thigh combo.
So I'll grab this drum.
It's juicy and oily all the way through.
Yeah, it's not tough at all.
I've been hiding my tissues under here.
That's my technique.
Okay, thank you.
Another one of their specialties here is hoi na, which is this type of shell.
And grab yourself a skewer.
I'll grab this guy. and poke in your skewer and like pry out the shell.
Oh, so much juice.
Oh, this is a hoi chay rich, am I covering?
No, it's not a hoi chay rich.
Oh, look at that, it just keeps on coming.
All right guys, what you gotta do is just kind of coax it out.
You gotta be nice to it, otherwise it'll break in half.
I'll give it a little shaky shake.
Oh, it's really in there, it's quite firm.
A splash.
A splash.
Really delicious.
Man, and softer than so many snails I've had.
A little bit of an earthy taste, but then that's kind of balanced by the fishy marinade.
Oh, so that's if you get the whole one.
It looks like that and from my understanding, this is part of the digestive tract right here.
And look at those little, look at those little balls done.
Can you see that?
Those are the eggs.
We'll just give it a little pinch.
Hey yeah, now it's gone.
The balls are gone.
You always know it's fresh when it's a little bit gritty, a little bit of sand in there.
An amazing meal, an amazing day.
Any big chili, any whole chilies in my tooth?
I don't even know what would you call it.
This was both a day of tradition, not food challenge, but extreme.
What would you say today?
What was the...
The sum summing word to hold it together.
It's push to the edge of normal.
Push to the edge of normal.
Like this is still how people are eating but it can kind of feel extreme if you're not used to it.
For me it's been a blast getting to hang out with you two different days in Bangkok, seeing Thai food through your perspective and just seeing you know we both do shows about food, but we both have a really different approach.
So seeing the way you approach it and your love for food and your passion has been a ton of fun.
Thank you.
Thank you.
And I want to say a huge thank you to Sunny.
And like I was saying, we got two days to hang out, so we also filmed a video for his channel.
So definitely, the link will be in the description box.
Go check out his video on his channel.
We eat blood noodles and he shows me how to eat a giant water bug.
That was a lot of fun.
Best ever food review show.
And yeah, links will all be in the description box.
So go check out, go subscribe to Sunny and go check out the other video on his channel that we did together, because that was a lot of fun.
But today was, yeah, amazing as well.
Thank you, Sunny.
I'm gonna get another ice cream.
Cheers.
Oh, he's still there.
Yeah.
Thank goodness.
Cool.
What a day.
