Safe for the usual party spreads and special meals offered at this last festive week of the year, I doubt any of it will top the best meals I’ve had this year. It just has to do with the reveling hungry masses coming out in full force. Kitchens all around are just barely coping and the last thing in thing on their minds are to take an extra minute to do that urgently needed dish a little better for you. I recall my best six this year in Asia.

1. Green Pepper Crab in Bangkok..it is not an easy spot to find, even for Bangkokians. Perhaps only golfers who’ve lost their way may stumble upon this humble set up 45 minutes outside the city. Among the many seafood dishes they offer is this green pepper crab whose “sauce” is actually the flavoured oil used to fry green peppercorns, kaffir lime leave, garlic, shrimp heads and crabs. The last thing you’ll want to resist is the luscious oils!

   Khra Khum Toom Restaurant

   Address 182 Soi Jes-sa-da-vi-thee, Rama 2 Road, Ma-ha-chai, Sa-mut-sa-korn 74000

   Telephone +869050626

   
   
   
   
   
2. Mee Rebus Tulang- the eatery is like a little kampong speckled with tables and chairs set under makeshift attap huts and mature trees on an undulating slope. The main draw in is the mee rebus with stewed bone marrow. To begin with, the mee rebus is unctuous, with a thick, beefy and smooth sauce. The bone marrow (tulang) just heightens the danger and yum factor. They are considerate, as if to gentrify things, they stick a straw into the marrow so you don’t have to knock it out like some caveman.

An unctuous sin you should not commit regularly- beefy mee rebus with bone marrow stew in Johor Bahru

3. Crispy Fish Skins with Achar- even culinary genius Ferran Adria could not resist popping into this little cze cha in the back lanes of Geylang. Boss Ah Meng is noted for his salted egg yolk prawns, the snake beans with crispy lotus root slices among many others. But what I adore is their fish skin crisps, which is common, you say, but he executes is so well the crispness holds and pairing it with achar (spicy pickled greens) is a brilliant touch.

   JB Meng Restaurant

   Address No 2, Lor 23 Geylang (inside coffeeshop)

   Opening Hours 5pm-3am daily

   
   
   
   

4. Northern Thai and fried duck beaks- this is a little nameless street side pushcart outside Bangkok that is impossible for me to find again unless I have kind minders. It t offer just a few northern style salad like Lap Moo (minced pork salad with toasted rice) and Jim Joom (sour and bitter hotpot). But the best beer snack I’ve had here is the deep fried duck beak- air dried, deep fried then grilled. I never knew it could come so light and crispy and easy to devour. I crunched down ten of those beakers.

polishing ten of this fried and grill duck beaks by the road with beer in Bangkok, is a cinch

5. Lemon Herb Pasta – it looks like a typical homely Italian escapade. A little packed, very warm, comfy and friendly and lots of chatter and banter in the air. They menu is round like a clock and offer a serious variety of pastas, antipastis, and pizzas. What blew me away was a nondescript ( I even forgot its fancy Italian name) pasta number 53. It was one of those walk-in-the-wildside moments- picking stuff I can’t fathom. I ended up at the bottom of the rainbow- the tagliatelle was spiked with a host of perfumed spices with herbs and it was lifted with lemon and olive oils. I did not care much for the toppings.

   Limoncello Restaurant

   Address 17 Sukhumvit Soi 11, Bangkok Thailand

   Telephone +662 6510707

   
   
   
   

6. Sultan Fish- Foodies here would probably remember this fish for it’s $1,200 price tag when an integrated resort restaurant charged an unsuspecting customer for it. But I was lucky enough to have a 60 Malaysian ringgit version just outside Ipoh(Malaysia) in Lenggong, a small and sleepy drive by town. The local coffeshop restaurant is like the main eatery and when available (on most days) they offer this Sultan fish (like a princely version of the Pating fish), done only in one style- steamed. They consider it a waste to do it any other style and they don’t even bother to de-scale the fish as it will desecrate its sweetness. Ranks way up there in my rating scale.