Nom yen

Nom yen, literally "cold milk" in Thai, is a bright pink sweet milk drink built on sala syrup — a rose-scented cordial named for the sala (salak or snake fruit) but flavoured mainly by fragrant essence and a vivid pink colouring rather than by much real fruit. The syrup is stirred into cold or evaporated milk over crushed ice, turning a soft, opaque candy-pink, and drunk ice-cold as a sweet, creamy cooler. It is a fixture of Thai street stalls, school canteens and old-style coffee shops, sold alongside its darker cousins Thai iced tea and iced coffee. Cheap, cheerful and unmistakably pink, it is comfort in a plastic bag — sweeter and lighter than a milkshake, and prized above all for being thoroughly, refreshingly cold.