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Kosher Shop & Bakery
Rob Kutner
223 Soi Sai Nam Thip 2Sukhumvit Soi 22Bangkok, Thailand
Tel. (011) 662-663-8719Open Mon.-Fri.: 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
Though perhaps better known for its pad thai than its poppy seed bagels, Bangkok has actually had a kosher bakery since 1993. But even the most elite brigades of post-Israeli-army-backpackers roaming the city may never find it.
Lubavitcher rabbi/emissary Yosef Kantor manages the shop and oversees its kashrut, while wife Nechama oversees its cuisine. Holding down the fort when we arrived, though, was friendly, English-speaking Thai local Uwi. The tiny shop sells religious items (Kiddush wine, dreidels), imports from Israel (canned olives and flavored syrup), kosher American goods (Quaker Oats, Heinz ketchup), and rabbinically approved Asian food products (coconut milk, rice noodles).
The kitchen in back is where fellow local and master baker Chai (pronounced like the tea drink, not the Hebrew pendant) follows the rebbitzen�s recipes to produce oatmeal cookies, chocolate rugelach, and challot that could all hold their own in the Middle East or Lower East Side (and, at less than 50 cents for a half-size Kiddush challah, are quite a deal).
Since Kantor opened the place not as a commercial business, but a non-profit supplier for local community needs, it�s not located on a main drag. Instead, it�s nestled deep within Bangkok�s complex system of alleys and sub-alleys. We spent about half an hour looking for it before breaking down and calling Uwi, who motorbiked out to hand us a map. Call ahead and have a map faxed to you, or arrange with whoever answers the phone to be met at one of the hotels (Imperial Queens Park, Jade Pavilion, Sheraton Grande) on nearby thoroughfare Sukhumwit Soi 22.
Good Taste
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