This Coral Gables Thai spot will take you on a tour of cuisine of the Mekong River

Tiger Woods’ mom loves the food at Malakor Thai Isaan restaurant. Tiger orders the sushi. Malakor means “green papaya” and it is the key ingredient in the restaurant’s signature salad. Isaan dishes are the most popular throughout Thailand. They came with workers from the huge northeast region that have deep ties to neighboring Laos across the Mekong River. Owner Nooporn “Noopy” Areerak is from Yasothon Province where his family farmed rice.

Start With These Dishes

Try grilled sai krok, fermented pork and rice sausages that are spicy, garlicky and slightly sour eaten with raw ginger slivers and peanuts. Nam pork ribs are also fermented but deep-fried. Crispy money bags are a royal Thai snack made by stuffing eggroll skins with a mash of sweet potato and peas tied into a pouch and fried served with sweet and sour sauce.

The reason to eat here is the Isaan-style green papaya salad. Papayas are native to Mexico and came to Thailand in the 16th century. They were deemed better for the salad than unripe mangoes because they produced longer crisper shreds. The version here comes with a cracked black rice paddy crab claw on top. The crabs are preserved in a pungent solution of fish sauce, sugar, garlic and chile and one sucks out the creamy salty-sweet interior. Be sure and get a small basket of sticky rice to roll into balls with your fingers to pop in your mouth with the salad.

Share These Dishes

Laab is a Lao-style ground chicken salad seasoned with roasted rice powder, mint, scallion and chile in a soy, palm sugar and fish sauce with lime for acidity. Kao peik Isaan brings rice noodle soup with pork dumplings, scallions and fried shallots. Lao and Isaan Thai curries do not use coconut milk and are complex in flavor, yet simple. Try Isaan bamboo curry in fragrant green broth. It is made with the juice of bai yanang leaves from a jungle vine that is slightly bitter and adds body to the lemon grass and chile-hot broth. Another Isaan curry is gaeng om offered with chicken or pork. The broth is perfumed with lemongrass, galangal, ginger, shallots and lemon basil. Small seedy green Thai eggplants bob along with slices of slippery king trumpet mushroom, chunks of pumpkin, carrot slices and peppers. It is the essence of northeastern Thailand and Laos. Naturally it is hot.

Save Room For Dessert

Get sticky mango rice. A clump of glutinous rice is sprinkled in toasted sesame seeds and anointed in a palm sugar and coconut syrup to eat with slices of ripe mango.

If You Go:

Place: Malakor Thai Isaan

Address: 90 Miracle Mile, Coral Gables

Contact: 786-558-4862

Hours: Monday-Thursday 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m., Friday and Saturday noon-11 p.m., Sunday 4 p.m.-10 p.m.

Prices: Appetizers/salads $5-$17, noodles $10-$16, fried rice$10-$15, Isaan curries $16

This story was originally published March 10, 2020 at 11:17 AM.