Manam

The problem with a lot of ethnic food here in Germany is that the cooks try to adapt it to the tastes of the German palate. Namely (often, not always): bland, salty, heavy, meaty. So once in awhile you come across a real AUTHENTIC place and you get really happy because the original flavors all burst out at you. And in such places, you don't care if you're sitting on a tiny little wooden stool in a tiny space with 10 chairs with your coat on the floor behind you. You are focused instead on the kitchen behind the counter where the cooks are chattering in their native language, sauteing the dishes on the spot, and pulling other amazing things out of ovens or steamers, etc. The menus are generally short and provided in the native language (and english/german), there is a secret special of the day that is not on the menu which they will offer to you if you are nice, and you find that when you leave the place, you want to keep it to yourself.

Yes, well, some people have big mouths. ;-)

I've been wishing for a great Thai place around where I work and finally there is one. Manam apparently opened up about 6 months ago. It's a hole in the wall (as my mother would call it), crushed into a little corner of a "hinterhof" (parking yard in this case) just off of Rosenheimerstrasse. The guys who work on the second floor in my building discovered it one day about a month ago and apparently have been keeping it a secret. But Ranjith came and grabbed me for lunch today and then we grabbed another 4 people and traipsed over to the little place, crossing our fingers that it wouldn't be crowded with the Thai lunch crowd that is apparently frequenting the place.

I had my favorites: a green papaya salad (didn't beat the amazing green papaya slad I had the last time I was in Singapore, but it was really really really good - although be careful if you don't LOVE garlic...) and some green curry with squid. We were all trading bites of each others' dishes and I can tell you the pad thai was great, as was the steamed fish with lemongrass and coconut that Ranjith ordered.

Looking forward to Monday next week - Mallorie and I agreed we'd go again.