Chachawan - Yummy Isaan Food in Sheung Wan

I have been hoping to eat at Chachawan forever.  I heard all good things from friends.  They are perpetually packed.  All signs have been promising ever since they opened their doors.

But their no reservation policy is challenging at the best of times, which meant I had it on my Hong Kong bucket list, but never really managed to make it.  This weekend, however, we finally did it!  

A Thai restaurant specializing in Isaan food (very spicy!) on Hollywood Road next to 208 Duocento Otto (another beloved restaurant), Chachawan is quite unique in Hong Kong, both for its cuisine (Isaan is quite niche) and its quality.  

I admit I was also intrigued because my sister had spent a year in Ubon Ratchathani eating Isaan food.  I had visited her a couple of times there and loved everything we ate (see old posts here and here...).  So naturally I wanted to see if something closer to home would still be capable of bringing me some of that special Isaan spice!

I love how unabashedly they embrace tartness and spice in their preparation of food.  Everything sings and pops off of the tongue and leaves your mouth reeling from the ricochet of flavor.  If your taste buds are feeling drowsy or uninspired, bring them to Chachawan.

I knew I had some sexy spicy times ahead of me, so I opted for a cold mildly sweet longan drink.  I loved the swirly paper straw.

We started with plump, briny clams steamed with cilantro, basil, lemongrass and various other herbs, paired with a zesty and incredibly alluring green sauce.  The green sauce had a little heat to it.  Maybe some ground up jalapenos with a dash of some chili pepper seeds?  OH. my goodness.   Delicious.

Next we chose the smoky eggplant tossed with mint leaves and green onions and grilled tiger prawns (these tiger prawns were humongous), all paired with an egg.  This one was very, very spicy.  Do not let the innocent (non-red) color deceive you.  This dish made my entire tongue twinge and I believe at one point I physically waved my hand in front of my tongue hoping for some respite.  The shrimp was also very fresh and I vastly enjoyed pulling out all the shrimp brains and roe (too vivid of a picture?).  My only complaint is that the shrimp may have been grilled a touch too long.  The tail pieces were a bit too dry.

The next dish we got was the pork collar.  The dipping sauce was also addictive.  It was a massive portion (bonus points to Chachawan for that as well - their portion sizes are quite large by Hong Kong standards) but we had no trouble polishing this off right away.  The cucumber slices at the bottom were also really nice and provided a light, crispy counterpart to the heavier meat.

They give you two complimentary slices of green mango at the end of the meal, paired with a tamarind dipping powder (the orange) and a lemongrass dipping powder (the green).  I vastly preferred the tamarind (no surprise there as tamarind is one of my top flavors of all time) but I love green mango so much I could have eaten twenty slices of this plain.

 I could not resist getting the coconut ice cream with shaved slivers of fresh young coconut.  I am such a coconut purist/addict that I would have happily picked out all the peanuts and corn, but I managed to refrain from doing that this time around.

 Come here, you won't regret it!