Surprise!!

Jon was lamenting a week before that he thought no one was gonna remember his birthday. Not that he feels it's terribly important an occasion to celebrate, he was just making an observation. Little did he know that his wife was sneakily prepping his friends to meet for a surprise dinner :)

Oh man, the logistics of the affair. Besides getting in touch with his pals, deciding on the venue and time, there was the baby logistics! Had to make sure my parents were also available to watch Asher that night, had to somehow pass Asher over to them, had to pack up all of Asher's things in secret and stealthily get them to the car. Doesn't sound like much in writing, but whew, it took quite a bit of planning and coordination.

To cut all the in between detours and diversions to avert his suspicions, we eventually ended up at Tawandang Microbrewery at Dempsey. Had heard good things about this restaurant and we've been wanting to try it.

We ordered plenty of food, the pork knuckles (x2), two types of thai style omelettes (x2), grilled squid, morning glory (otherwise known as kang kong :) ) (x2), two types of tom yum, three types of fried rice, pineapple rice, chicken with cashews, etc.

My take on the food? It's good, but not as spectacularly good as I was led to believe. In some ways it's like a glorified Thai zhi cha, and the prices reflected that elevated status. I was particularly disappointed by the omelettes. They were nowhere near as fluffy and tasty as the ones at the streetside stalls in Thailand. It was completely flat and very thin! The oil needs to be a lot hotter people!! This was a dish I remember loving when we visited Bangkok and I couldn't get enough of it when we were there.

The accompanying sauces were pretty good (esp the one with the grilled squid), but that's hardly reason enough to go visit a restaurant.

The beers were not bad, and I quite liked the light, fruity taste of the Weizen beer.









I think what was best about the restaurant were its staff. They were responsive and friendly. I was particularly struck by their camaraderie. At one point during the night when most of the customers were already served, almost all the waiters and waitresses gathered inside for a sing and dance session :) Line-dancing Thai style! It was great fun to watch, and I told Jon that if I wanted to become a waitress again I'd seriously consider working there!

Anyway, some pics from that night: