PERB MUE or eating with one’s fingers has long been considered a major lapse of etiquette all over the globe though in some nations, India for example, the opposite is true with the use of silverware frowned upon for eating certain foods. Times are however changing and the UK’s Debretts Guide, considered the last bastion of dining etiquette, has recently given the nod to using the hands even in a restaurant, declaring that table manners “are no longer about adhering to a rigid, and outdated, code of conduct”.
The ruling can also be applied to Thai foods and at Ruen Mallika on Sukhumvit Soi 22, a restaurant famed for its royal Thai cuisine, you’re actively encouraged to use your fingers just like in the days when perb mue was part and parcel of the traditional culture.
“My mother, Mallika, wanted to offer finger dining back when we opened 12 years ago but the time wasn’t right,” says Chayaphol Leeraphante.
“Today, we’re ready to bring back the traditional Thai culture so that both tourists and locals can enjoy a classic dining experience. And as our restaurant is a 200-year-old, teak stilt house surrounded by a peaceful garden, Ruen Mallika is the perfect place to travel back to the past.”
Tucked away in a small sub-soi off the main thoroughfare, the restaurant is itself a piece of the past with antiques filling the sitting area and staff dressed in period-style uniforms. You can opt to sit in the relaxed garden or lean back against triangular cushions at low tables inside the house. The finger dining menu comes as a set for a minimum of two persons and costs Bt1,500 per person.
But while using fingers is acceptable, eating with the hands is an art.
“Young people, expats and tourists are not accustomed to eating with fingers, so we offer instruction through a short video in three languages – Thai, English and Japanese – on a tablet computer. Our staffs are also there to assist. Thais ate with their fingers until the reign of King Mongkut or King Rama IV.
“Perb mue traditionally involves only the thumb, index finger and middle finger and the food should never reach as high as the knuckle. However, it was not limited to just those three fingers. Noted historian Sombat Plynoi says in his book that eating with five fingers was also considered polite. What’s more important is that you never pick up more food than that will comfortably fit inside your mouth,” says Chayaphol.
The perb mue menu offers more than 100 dishes from which to choose with the set consisting of two appetisers, soup, a curry dish, nam prik and a spicy salad, two choices of meat (chicken, pork or beef), one item of fish/seafood, stir-fried vegetables and dessert. Refillable steamed rice, sticky rice or rice noodles and drinks are included and diners are given a napkin and a coconut shell filled with water, tealeaves and a lemon slice to wash their fingers between courses.
“We normally choose dishes that are not too soft and easy to break into bite-sized pieces. We use newly picked rice because the grains sticks together and are easier to grip,” Chayaphol adds.
Many of the herbs, spices, vegetables and fruits are organically grown in Ruen Mallika’s own plantations in Lob Buri and Chachoengsao. The food is served on celadon ceramic ware and beautifully presented with carved vegetables and fruits.
Recommended appetisers include the Chun Cheu Boossaba –a mix of butterfly pea, cowslip creeper, seabania, damask rose, hibiscus and rubiaceae flowers lightly battered and deep-fried until crispy and the Miang Krathong Thong – a version of miang kham but with the herbs packed into crispy pastry cups rather than wrapped in leaves.
Spoons are provided for the soup, which includes Khai Toon (steamed egg topped with minced pork, shrimp and a 100-year-old egg), Tom Kha Pla Salid (hot-and-sour coconut cream soup with tamarind leaves topped with crispy dried fish), and Tom Yum Goong.
Among the curries on offer are Gaeng Lueng, a Southern-style, hot-and-sour soup with pickled bamboo shoots and shrimps and Gaeng Khua Hoi Khom – pond snail in sauteed red curry.
I especially enjoyed the Nam Prik Kapi – a bowl of assorted vegetables with a small mortar at the centre filled with shrimp paste sauce and fried whole mackerel on the side as well as the Yum Cha-Om, a spicy seafood salad on a bed of crispy fried cha-om leaves.
The next dishes include Gai Hor Bai Toei (fried chicken wrapped in pandan leaf), Kha Moo Kob (deep-fried pork knuckle with Southern-style fish curry sauce), and Hor Mok Khanom Thuay (steamed cakes of spicy minced fish and crabmeat in cups). Also tempting are Pla Kapong Lui Suan Pholamai (deep-fried sea bass with spicy fruit salad), Khai Kem Pad Prik Khing (stir-fried salted eggs with red chilli paste), and Pad Hed Eringi (stir-fried eringi mushroom with black pepper).
TASTY TREATS
>>> The perb mue course is available at Ruen Mallika’s Sukhumvit Soi 22 branch for Bt1,500 per person for both lunch and dinner.
>>> The restaurant is open daily from noon to 11pm. Call (02) 663 3211 or visit www.RuenMallika.com.