Michelin-Star Patongo

When we were on our e-scooter tour recently, our guide took us for a brief stop at the Patonggo Cafe, a Michelin-starred restaurant in Bangkok's Old Town neighborhood specializing in creating funky modern twists on a very traditional Thai-Chinese breakfast food.

a very special patongo snack

What is patong? Well, according to a post that I wrote on my other blog, The World of Street Food (one of my favorite side projects!):

"Pa tong go is made from dough which is left to rise for several hours (although unlike some types of dough, it must be made fresh every day). The dough is rolled into an X shape and deep-fried in a big wok of hot oil. Pa tong go is sometimes called a "Chinese donut" or a "Thai donut", though it's more of a fry bread. It's most popular as an early morning snack with the city's Chinese-Thai population, and you can find it all throughout Chinatown. This morning, however, I picked up a bag of pa tong go from a local shop on my street.

Pa tong go is crispy on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside, and delightfully oily. It's certainly not a health food and no good if you're on a diet! It's purely a junk food, and that's what makes it so very good."

patongo for sale

Our guide surprised us with a stop at Patonggo Cafe, which won a coveted Michelin Star in 2019 for the owner's modern artisanal take on a fusion-style patongo dish.

Patongo is usually served hot and fresh, sometimes with a drizzle of sweetened condensed milk on top and a cup of fresh soy milk on the side. To start off, we ordered a very typical tray of patongo. What makes the patongo here different from normal is how they grill the patongo for a few moments after it comes out of the fryer. This keeps it crispy on the outside, and gets rid of most of the extra oil.

traditional patongo with sweetened condensed milk

Then it was time for the crazier stuff, the dishes that won Patonggo Cafe its Michelin star and put this famous little shophouse restaurant on the Bangkok food map!

Unsure of exactly what to order, we let the restaurant's owner pick for us, choosing for us the three dishes that won him his star (with a couple of glasses of Thai iced tea on the side, of course). The shop owner tried to get us to enjoy the patongo in what he insisted was the "proper" way - by skewering a piece on a fork, dunking it in the tea, and swishing it around a bit. This was a little too much for us, but we enjoyed the three dishes we ordered just fine without the extra step!

a patongo feast with Thai iced tea

First up was a sweet dessert-type dish. A few pieces of patongo were drizzled in pandan custard, chocolate sauce, and sweetened condensed milk. The dish was then topped with shredded coconut and foy tong (an old-fashioned Thai dessert made from egg yolk and sugar).

dessert patongo with foy tong, pandan paste, chocolate, condensed milk, and coconut

Next was the shop's most famous dish! This one had the patongo topped with shredded red pork (Thai-style barbecue pork) and cilantro, and drizzled in condensed milk.

It might sound odd, but the savory pork and cilantro really complimented the sweet patongo and milk. It's hard to explain, but the flavors actually meshed really well. And they ought to, I guess, since this is a Michelin-star dish, after all!

patongo with shredded red pork, chili sauce, and cilantro

Finally, a spicy fish salad dish made up of veggies, cilantro, a spicy vinegar dressing, and flaky white fish atop patongo. Again, the sweet, crispy patongo really worked (surprisingly) well as a vessel for the spicy Thai-style salad!

spicy fish salad patongo

I'm all about food adventures. Sometimes, something might sound odd, but may very well end up being delicious.

I guess the Patonggo Cafe follows that same philosophy. On paper, these dishes probably shouldn't work, but when you taste them, all of the flavors combine perfectly! It may sound strange, but it's really good!