Grab Meal Review: Tonk Yum Ban Suan - "Peeled Tilapia on Rice (Delicious Sauce)", "Fried Pork Belly with Salt *Side Dish", and "Fried Shrimp with Garlic on Rice"

Ordered from:
Tonk Yum Ban Suan Branch Sukhumvit 18

Price breakdown (3 items):
Peeled Tilapia on Rice (Delicious Sauce) 89 Baht
Fried Pork Belly with Salt *Side Dish 148 Baht
Fried Shrimp with Garlic on Rice 96 Baht

Starting off I'd like to point out that the "side dish" mystery continues. This order, which includes a "*Side Dish" item, does not come with any side dish at all.

The only conclusion I can come to from this information is that side dish items are somehow themselves side dishes that for some reason cost more then the mains and give (at least approximately) the same amount of meat.

Now starting on the topic proper, the items:

The Peeled Tilapia is the same Tilapia from the miang but significantly deboned. It is not totally deboned, but it is enough for to be far more convenient. There is a downside to this, though, in that it does not come with the leafy greens that the miang order comes with, the deboning process means there is definitely slightly less meat then getting it whole, and also you only get one lot of fish instead of the miang's default two (you'd need a second order to make up for it). I feel like anyone who was worried about the boniness of Tilapia but wanted to try it anyway should order this instead, as the deboning is almost completely done for you when ordered in this style. Also in case it wasn't clear, just as with the miang tilapia, the taste is excellent (it is also less dry in this configuration due to the moisture of the rice).

The Garlic Shrimp is fried shrimp with light breading (not held on by egg, which is good for people like me who can't eat egg) and a mild garlicky taste (not enough to be spicy, but enough to be noticable). It is a perfectly fine order to go alongside something else, but was not destinctive enough to really stand out. Perfectly fine item for the price and I will likely be ordering it again.

The Pork Belly with salt is like the pork belly with fish sauce but with less distinct flavour. Unlike the picture, it is cut and fried in the same way as the pork belly with fish sauce, simply having its salt flavour come from salt directly, instead of via fish sauce. If you particularly don't like fish sauce I suppose this is fine, but I consider it a lesser item. This item is only available as a side dish variant and not as a "on rice" main.

A side note on the sauces. The "delicious sauce" of the tilapia is just peppers and chili in oil, while the other two items come with a often provided green herb sauce, which I have not tried (sorry).

Onto value now: keeping in mind that the peeled tilapia comes with one lot of fish while the miang comes with two, and that the miang is a little over twice as expensive, if you aren't interested in the leafy greens of the miang and think the convenience makes up for the small amount of lost meat, the peeled tilapia is a better deal then the already good deal of the miang tilapia and is absolutely worth having; the shrimp is perfectly good as a side but not nice enough to stand on its own, which is a fine place to be for the price; and the side dish versions of the meat items are not more worth ordering then the main dish versions, so there is already little reason to get the side dish exclusive With Salt variant even without factoring in taste.

Restuarant and item names in the title are written as provided by the Grab app with Thai to English translation on in settings.

This work is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

Attribute to review author "Nicolete Lovejoy".