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’ are called kà·nǒm. Here again the kitchen-astute Portuguese were influential. Probably the most popular type of kà·nǒm in Thailand are the bite-sized items wrapped in banana leaves, especially kôw đôm gà·tí and kôw đôm mát. Both consist of sticky rice grains steamed with gà·tí (coconut milk) inside a banana-leaf wrapper to form a solid, almost toffeelike, mass. Kôw đôm gà·tí also contains fresh grated coconut, while kôw đôm mát usually contains a few black beans or banana. ðà·gôh, a very simple but popular steamed sweet made from tapioca flour and coconut milk over a layer of sweetened seaweed gelatine, comes in small cups made from pandanus leaves. A similar blend, minus the gelatine and steamed in tiny porcelain cups, is called kà·nǒm tôo·ay (cup pastry). The best place to try many of these sweets is Bangkok’s open-air markets, such as Or Tor Kor Market or Nang Loeng Market, the latter particularly celebrated for its high-quality central Thai-style sweets.

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A WILD CAKE HUNT

Few Westerners, even those who’ve lived in Thailand for decades, seem to take to the hyper-sweet technicolour world of kǒrng wăhn and kà·nǒm (traditional Thai sweets and desserts). Luckily, in recent years Bangkok has seen an abundance of high-quality, domestically made Western-style cakes, ice creams and chocolates.

The best place to begin your search for the sweet is undoubtedly the basement of Siam Paragon. Within this expansive temple to indulgence, cake lovers will be delighted to find branches of the Oriental Hotel Shop, Face, Café le Nôtre, Vanilla Brasserie and It’s Happened to be a Closet. Gelaté, a gelato stall located in the supermarket, makes excellent Italian-style ice cream served in freshly made waffle cones.

Duc de Praslin (Map; 0 2258 3200; www.gallothai.com; ground fl, Fenix Tower, Soi 31, Th Sukhumvit; 8am-9pm), a Belgian-owned chocolatier, has opened several of its classy European cafes at various locations around town. As well as the spot-on bon-bons, try a hot cocoa, made with steaming milk and shards of rich chocolate in front of your eyes. Just up the road, the friendly ladies and GMM scriptwriters at Memay Café (Map; 0 2259 4821; www.memaycafe.com; 44/33-34 Soi 21, Th Sukhumvit; 10am-9pm Mon-Fri, 10am-6pm Sat; ) use the best-quality ingredients they can get their hands on to make authentic cakes and pastries, and there’s free wi-fi.

Nowadays even the Thais need their tiramisu and tartes. Ka-nom (Map; 0 2252 8520; 266/8 Soi 3, Siam Sq; 8.30am-8pm), a self-proclaimed 'fashion bakery', serves delicious kà·nǒm kài, a baked sweet similar to Portuguese egg tarts. Several purveyors of Western-style desserts can also be found along Th Phra Athit in Banglamphu. Anshada of Ann’s Sweet (Map; 0 868 891 383; 138 Th Phra Athit; 10am-10pm) makes some pretty fly cakes, and the decadent desserts at Baan Phra Arthit leave little to be desired.

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Coconut milk also features prominently in several soupier sweets with colourful names. In the enormously popular glôo·ay bòo·at chee (‘bananas ordaining as nuns’), banana chunks float in a white syrup of sweetened and slightly salted coconut milk. Boo·a loy (‘floating lotus’) consists of boiled sticky rice dumplings in a similar coconut sauce. Substitute red-dyed chunks of fresh water chestnut and you have táp tim gròrp (‘crispy rubies’).

Although foreigners don’t seem to immediately take to most Thai sweets, one dish few visitors have trouble with is ai đim gà·tí, Thai-style coconut ice cream. At more traditional shops, the ice cream is garnished with toppings such as kidney beans or sticky rice, and is a great snack on a sweltering Bangkok afternoon.

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PRACTICALITIES

Opening Hours

Restaurants serving Thai food are generally open from 10am to 8pm or 9pm, although some places are open later. Foreign-cuisine restaurants tend to keep only dinner and lunch hours (ie 11am to 2pm and 6pm to 10pm), although this varies. Thais are consummate eaters and are always within reach of a snack or a light meal, so meal times are quite flexible,