Every few months, a small part of quiet West 87th Street near the Los Angeles International Airport turns into a scene of nighttime street food. On these evenings, Ayara Thai – a family-owned restaurant that has been around for 19 years – sets up a makeshift kitchen on the street and puts tables out on their sidewalk and the street patio that was originally installed during the pandemic shutdown. Thai hotpot, barbecue and street food popups are among the special events Ayara Thai holds throughout the year, but there is one that is the most unique and perhaps the most popular: the kancha boat noodle.
Thai boat noodle is a noodle soup with a rich broth made from pork or beef, dark soy sauce, herbs, and typically thickened with cow or pig’s blood. Boat noodles date back to the 12th century – the dish got its name because it used to be served from boats on the canals (in small bowls that are easier and safer to handle on the swaying water). These days, the noodles can be found in restaurants, but the name stuck.
The boat noodles served on these nights at Ayara Thai are special not only because they are delicious, but because they contain another ingredient: cannabis and a side of CBD chili oil. While in modern Thailand kancha (the name, sometimes written as “ganja,” means marijuana in Thai) has only just been decriminalized in 2022, historically it was used as a cooking ingredient before it became illegal in 1934. Boat noodles, in particular, were said to traditionally contain cannabis. The use of “ganja leaves” was even mentioned in Thailand’s oldest cookbook, Mae Krua Hua Pa, published in 1908.
As it completes its second decade in business, operations at Ayara Thai have now been handed over to the original owners’ children. These days, the eldest daughter, Vanda Asapahu, is running the restaurant with the help of her siblings, Cathy and Peter. In the fall of 2019, the Asapahu family was thinking of doing a street food concept once a month in front of their restaurant, and Vanda suggested to their father that they should serve kancha boat noodles as their first event.
“We didn’t announce it that publicly, but we had a bunch of friends and regulars come out and try it, and it was a great success the first time we did it,” Asapahu recalled.
Ayara’s boat noodle broth is made with beef bones, daikon, pandan, galangal, curry powder, pickled garlic and more. There are about 30 ingredients that go into their broth. “This comes from my family’s trial and error at home,” said Asapahu. Beef blood is also used as a thickener towards the end. Of course, for the kancha boat noodles, the broth is also slowly cooked with cannabis buds that they had decarbed themselves (“decarbing,” or decarboxylation, is a process of heating that activates the cannabinoids). According to Asapahu, because the boat noodle soup is very herb-forward, the herb flavor is enhanced by the cannabis (which has been legal for recreational use in California since 2016).
After the slow-cooked broth is done, it is then poured over noodles (thin rice noodles are the most popular choice) and topped with ong choy, pork rinds, meatballs, braised beef, tri-tip slices, and sometimes tripe, liver and tendon. At Ayara Thai, it’s also served with a side of CBD chili oil, which helps to cut through the richness of the soup.
For Ayara’s boat noodles and the traditional boat noodles in the old days of Bangkok, cooking with cannabis was not about getting high. “Traditionally it’s used to tenderize the meat,” said Asapahu. “Cows are raised in Thailand as a laboring animal so [they’re] not as tender.” Cannabis leaves and roots also contain glutamic acid which adds an umami flavor to the food. The traditional cannabis dishes don’t contain enough THC to get people high, though – the cannabis was primarily added for flavor and you’d have to eat a boat load of boat noodles to feel its psychoactive effects.
“For us, it’s more to honor those traditions,” Asapahu said of Ayara’s kancha boat noodle pop-ups. “Often people think of cannabis food as stoner food but we wanted to share the story of it being a traditional holistic food as well. It’s supposed to be endorphin boosting for those who eat it, it wasn’t [traditionally made] to get stoned on it.”
Back in Thailand, people have embraced cannabis cooking again at restaurants like Ban Lao Reung, and some have even gone beyond tradition. Vanda Asapahu and her sister just returned from a trip to Thailand and saw it first-hand. “Right now Thailand has legalized cannabis and just this recent trip back to Thailand, I’ve seen it on everything,” said Asapahu, “From dishes that never had it like chive cakes to even a local 7-11 selling a low-dose Thai tea.”
Kancha boat noodle nights take place at Ayara Thai twice a year for two nights at a time. You can follow them on Instagram to get a heads up on the next one, which is slated to take place around 4/20. Special events aside, Ayara Thai is one of the best places to get Thai food in Los Angeles, serving up hits like khao soi, drunken noodles and pad thai which, in the right season, you can order with lobster. Worth noting: the name Ayara is taken from an elephant in a Thai children’s storybook and Ayara Thai’s shrimp and pork toasts are shaped like elephants. It’s another indication that the folks behind this restaurant know how to have fun.
Published on February 17, 2023
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