This yellow house is definitely up there when it comes to the best Southern Thai kitchens in the capital. Famous in the Thai media for its Chumporn recipes, there’s a diverse crowd of Bangkokians (including expats) and tourists coming here to give their tongues a trial by fire with some great Southern cooking. Without causing an all-out-war between the Southern provinces over who makes the best kaeng som, Malika’s kaeng som would be laughed at in Had Yai, with its incredibly sweet flavor. But that’s how Chumporn’s people flavor their curry. In that sense, Malika sticks to her roots, but some of her vegetables—white radish and cauliflower—are unusual. These odd veggies only make the soup’s sweetness more glaring, although it remains a tasty dish. The star of the show in this restaurant is the khanom jeen. The fresh noodles can be ordered with two of the best sauces we have yet to try in Bangkok—kaeng dai plaa and kaeng phed. The fish curry sauce is superbly spicy, and the coconut milk curry is decadently rich, without masking the freshness of the noodles. Another top dish is the khua kling. Get it with beef and never look back. The small dish is just bursting with flavor, from the spice of the fresh peppercorns to the aroma of the kaffir leaves. Sadly and shockingly, there is no mention of phad sataw on their menu, a sacrilege for this Southern kitchen—relax, it’s a printing mistake, the kitchen can and will dish it out on request. Like many restaurants, it comes with large onions (definitely not home-style) and incredibly plump beans (not diced). However, at Malika the beans are miraculously still fresh even after having been fried; supposedly a mere second on the pan suffices. For solid Southern dishes, Malika doesn’t miss a beat and proves to be one of Bangkok’s hottest spots for Southern cooking.
