Thai Retailing Roulette

Though it may be difficult to muster the enthusiasm to shuffle through a Thai grocery store after gorging yourself at Bangkok 54, I highly recommend that you walk around the corner after your next meal there to survey the wares of their food mart. Bangkok 54 actually owns and operates not one, but two grocery stores- the aforementioned one in Arlington and another in Alexandria.

The one in Arlington has a couple of aisles featuring an extensive array of exotic spices, canned goods, and beverages, as well as a modest table of prepared foods. Unfortunately, all of these prepared foods are idling at room temperature, which is an unappealing setting for meats and other perishables. Still, we figured the desserts might be immune to whatever ill effects come from festering in a Thai grocery store all day, so we took  a chance on a couple of their dessert items.

We were absolutely charmed by their Luk Chub, which are these incredibly detailed dessert miniatures that are modeled after various pieces of fruit. The strawberries are dappled with little indentations to imitate the seeds, the cherries seem to have actual cherry stems poking out, and the other fruits feature delicately cut paper leaves. The skin of each of these fruits is thin and rubbery, and yields to a tan colored center of lightly sweetened bean paste. The bean paste is largely bland, though there did seem to be the faintest hint of coconut, and a somewhat bitter aftertaste. Though the actual taste and texture is disappointing, you’ll still feel compelled to purchase a container of Luk Chub just to have them around to marvel at their exquisite detailing.

We also walked off with their Three Kings Rice dessert. We gave it some time in our fridge to cool to a more appropriate dessert temperature, and once we dug in we were surprised by its excellence. Three Kings Rice features a thick slab of eggy Thai custard resting on a bed of sticky rice and sprinkled with a handful of these sweet fibrous shreds of indeterminate origin. The latter item merely adds an additional texture, but is mostly superflous. The custard is extremely rich, and the texture is somewhere between creamy and gelatinous. It pairs wonderfully with the grains of sweet sticky rice, and the addition of the coconut milk elevates it to a heavenly level of decadence. It actually took us three days to eat it, as a little goes a long way.

And from the exotic beveraging department, I decided to finally sate my curiosity about the Aloe Vera drinks I often see in Asian food marts. I scored a can of Aloe Vera Drink with Honey. I wasn’t sure if this would be akin to drinking hand lotion, but that actually might have been preferable to the reality of this beverage. While the liquid in Aloe Vera Drink is clear, it’s clouded by the inclusion of bunches of fruit sacs that look like translucent pieces of barley. The honey flavoring is sickly sweet with a chalky aftertaste. And though the aloe vera fruit sacs are initially alarming, their pulpy texture and mild fruit sweetness are a brief respite from the sickly sweet honey flavor. Like bird's nest drink, this is yet another Asian beverage that is clearly not consumed for its taste, but rather for its supposed health benefits.

Check out Bangkok 54 Grocery Store at the following locations:

3837 Mount Vernon Ave.
Alexandria, VA
(703) 549-8488

2927 Columbia Pike
Arlington, VA
(703) 521-4207

—AC