Soup Name: Tom Yum Koong Soup

Restaurant: Somboon Seafood Restaurant (Bantadthong Branch)

Location: Bangkok, Thailand

Price: I’m sorry, I can’t remember because it was just so darn tasty (I’d estimate around 150 baht)

Serves:  About 8 small Chinese bowls worth

My rating:  4 out of 5 stars

I’ve started a new section on this site to review soups.  As a soup lover and drinker, it naturally extends to trying other people’s soups and then finding what I love about them and making it my own.  You actually learn a lot about making soups from tasting other people’s soups.  One thing I love about tasting other people’s soups is dissecting it.  Marveling at the ingredients they use and trying to taste the subtlety of hidden ingredients.  Like wines, you have to smell the soup first and then swirl it around in your mouth to taste the sweet, salt and other goodies inside.

For starters, finding this restaurant is an ADVENTURE.  If you haven’t been there before, be wary of the fake Samboon restaurants in Bangkok – they are everywhere!  And cab drivers are paid a grand commission for bringing customers to these fake restaurants.

So, my take on this Tom Yum Koong soup?

It’s delicious.  It isn’t overly spicy (like some Thai food) and it’s quiet sour (more than average), but I personally love the sourness of the soup.  Most tom yum koong soups are packed with lemon grass and this one is not short of these finely sliced lemon grass pieces that are deliciously fragrant.  It is also packed with fresh shrimp and loads of straw mushrooms (yum!).  One thing they could reduce is the amount of chili oil – I’d say about a quarter of the surface area of the soup is covered and while I know it adds to the amazing scent of the soup, not sure it was completely necessary.  OK, so maybe some people can say I’m wrong, but my soup theory is really light on oil and salt and natural as possible.  I personally have yet to make this soup, so give me a few weeks to gather the ingredients (I hear North Point wet mart carries fresh ingredients from South East Asia) and I’ll put my version and interpretation of this soup on the site when I’ve made it!

The soup comes in a large metal pot with a fire element underneath it.  Smashingly delicious!

The restaurant!  We finally found out on round #2 of cab drivers!