Search This Blog

Thursday, June 12, 2008

yumcha @ Emporia


86
.

yum cha
Emporia 猷茜樓 @ the Emporium Suites

I had an appointment with one of my associates, a Sukhumvit guru, at the Emporium Shopping Mall for dim sum lunch. He kept asking did I mean the Imperial Queen's Park Hotel or the nearby Novotel as within the shopping mall there shall be no decent Chinese eatery. Well my Sukhumvit guru was half wrong and half correct only have to blame local media low attention to the Emporia, a Chinese restaurant in the Emporium Building occupying on the hotel wing. I walked him to the entrance for the Emporium Suites, a serviced apartment cum hotel, through Starbucks Coffee on 2nd floor of the shopping mall to the Emporium's office lobby. There we took the hotel lift to the EL floor, only to sample Emporia's all-you-can-eat dim sum lunch in this luxury version of the city's hole-in-the-wall.

The Emporia is run by the Bangkok Club, a Bangkok Bank's private club for fellow tycoons of which membership by invitation only (of course), has one of Bangkok's top Chinese eateries head by Chef Fong from Hong Kong. When the Emporium Suites decided to put an exquisite Chinese restaurant in the hotel property to replace the unwelcome coffee shop, they had Bangkok Club's Ivory Palace
(a Cantonese restaurant) to help building a solid foundation for the Club sponsored Emporia Chinese Restaurant in the Emporium Suites. Five years have passed, although the Emporia doesn't fly high, but it does well in her low profile presentation.

Emporia, with modern interior featuring contemporary Asian in green, brown and gold color scheme, it is surrounding elegant and quiet, with a sense of tranquility and style rarely found in a downtown Chinese restaurant.


During lunch, both a la carte and all-you-can-eat (Baht 499++) dim sum were offered. We picked the all-you-can-eat dim sum offer. Started with a bowl of soup (with choices), followed by hau-gar (dumplings of shrimp and bamboo shoot wrapped in a thin rice starch sheet) and siu-mai (dumplings of pork and shrimp fillings wrapped in a thin kansui flour wrapper), a must. Also delighted were the lo-bak-go (pan-fried daikon radish cakes), though less impressive than
fu-pae-gheun (deep-fried bean curd sheet wrapper in shrimp paste fillings). I also took the cheong-fun (steamed rice roll filled with BBQ pork), steamed fish fillet, and the e-fu noodles. They were steamed-to-order and kept my mouth busy most of the time.



No one would describe the food as outstanding, but it is good having Cantonese yum cha near the cloud with the hustle and bustle Sukhumvit Road beneath. In terms of service, you can expect no less attention from Emporia's service staff compared to what you could get at a five-star hotel, but without any trace of pretentious. This is an excellent place to entertain visiting guests, or even dine-with-a-view alone to cheer up the mood.

All in all, Emporia's all-you-can-eat Dim Sum Lunch at Baht 499++ is a venue for value-for-money fare and is recommended if you are in and around the Emporium Shopping Mall. Stunning panorama view is complimentary from the restaurant.


Emporia Chinese Restaurant 猷茜樓 ***1/2

EL Floor (25/F), the Emporium Suites
622 Sukhumvit Road
Klong Toey, Bangkok 10110
Tel.: 02.664.9999 ext.1608

Open daily : lunch 11 am - 2:30 pm, dinner 6 - 10pm

Pay (food only for two): lunch around THB 1,300, dinner around THB 2,500
.

58 comments:

Stella said...

Congratulations. Something new coming.

Anonymous said...

I don't know there si Emporia for dim sum. Look forward to it. I only know Emporium(a shopping center) in Bangkok.

Yai said...

good to eat some dim sum in the blog

Thailand Club said...

The Emporia is at the hotel's (Emporium Suites) EF floor, sharing the same premises with the Emporium Mall. Access to Emporia from the hotel, not from the shopping center. View is superb, food is so-so.

in the sea said...

Good to know that. I don't know how the restaurants choose their food sources. Most of the Chinese foods should be some very fresh ingredients. Say dim sum, if the pork is not a fresh cut from the butcher table (the pig was done in the dusk time and sent right away to the butcher table in early morning, then the taste will be different. If the shrimp is a river one, it's different again. So these 2 main things in the famous "Siu Mai" are not the right stuff, no matter how good the chef is, then it's already a 50% discount. I am surprised with Crystal Jade in Siam Paragon for doing that up to the standard, or even above average. Besides, I found out a common mistake most buffett style dim sum restaurants. They keep those steamed stuff for being steamed for a long time. How can it be good? Dim sum (and many other food) should be made fresh to the order. Unlike those busy restaurants, they may have those steamed stuff for being steamed. However, the flow of the order will have those steamed stuff consumed in just 5-15 minutes. Then the chefs keep on making the fresh ones. That's why we often care about the people flow of the restaurants. It tells the food flow is smooth and fast too so that the food is fresh to some extent if they buy fresh food.

Fillet-O Fish said...

Shang Palace is also good

Anonymous said...

Although Dim Sum in Bangkok is not as good as those in HK(compared with same high-end grade). Howeer, it is good enough for people from Europe, Autralia,US, Taiwan and China.
If HK is the best for dim sum, Thailand shall be 2nd or 3rd place.

Yai said...

I agree Crystal Jade Restaurant in Siam Paragon has good dim sum. Many Chinese and high-so locals eat there.

Unknown said...

i like cheung-fun, most CN restaurants in Bangkok just don't do it right, esp. those old-style CN restaurants

Crystal Jade, Mei Jiang, and Shang Palace are good (if China House doesn't play fusion, it should be included in the 'good' list)

Stella said...

To me, Shang Palace and Crystal Jade are the best. These 2 top all the dim sum places in LA.
In fact, Dim Sum in LA is not bad at all, as commented by many gourmets from HK. But dim sum in BKK is still better than those in LA.
So if HK dim sum is number 1, BKK dim sum should be number 2. This is my point here.

in the sea said...

Can't say HK has the best dim sum. I have been to Guang Zhou several times and tried the local famous restaurants. The pork in Guang Zhou is way too different from HK. Pork and chicken are the main base for dim sum, like making stock or put as one of the ingredients. I read an article about the dim sum culture. Why HK is so famous for dim sum and then it influenced the other places in the big chinese communities overseas, is due to the 50's large migration of the Guang Zhou people rushing into Hong Kong. Most of them are educated and professional people including of course all those skillful chefs. As in a new place (i.e. HK), they need to develop further more and to make their living. That's how the stories went until today. It's almost the same some very good Shanghai and FuJian chefs flee to Taiwan in the 50's. Yes, I found out the Shanghai food in Taiwan and Hong Kong are even better than the restaurants in Shanghai. So when we eat, we can also learn about some historical background, and appreciate the hard time suffered by our ascendants.

Another place good for dim sum may be Vancouver as there are lots of chefs migrating over there. However, due to the restricted importation of certain Chinese ingredients some of the dim sums in North America may not be the same.

Back to Guang Zhou, the origin of all the nice Cantonese food and dim sum, I do still find a lot of nice food there. However, most HK people has some prejudice against some Chinese stuff. They wouldn't feel like trying. Learned from Maria's cousin in a town on the out skirt of Guang Zhou that people there has their own farm for fish/livestock...etc. The use the traditional way of raising those livestock. The ducks there have "double york" eggs - I tried that and it's awesome! So we shouldn't see one scandalous thing from China and take the whole China as it's everywhere the same.

in the sea said...

By the way, I watched an interview on a TV special in UK (forgot if it's BBC or CNN but should be some big TV station). The title is "Cantonese will fade out as HK was handed over to China". In the special, some HK people were interviewed and told that they needed to learn about Mandarin. In the school classes, kids were taught Mandarin. Then those so-called professionals about the HK affairs commented "sooner or later Cantonese will longer be popular and die out..". I really wanted to ring that station up and tell them "there are around 200 million Cantonese people in the Canton province. Most of them speak Cantonese. How can this dialect disappear when just a place of HK is back to China. How come Cantonese wouldn't die out when it was under the British control. How come people don't just speak English? Sometimes there are still some people of narrow mind. However, there are yet many people who believe that.

Anonymous said...

B499 for all you can eat is a good deal. I like those steam dumplings and chinese hamburgers (my HK friend told me it's CHA SI BAO in Cantonese). Spring roll is my favorite too. I will try it next time when I go to Bangkok. Thank you.

Thailand Club said...

ok ok, u guys like Crystal Jade so much, i will write her review soon

Stella said...

I agreed with "Sea"'s latest 2 comments. Yes, how can Cantonese fade out just because HK returns to China while they did not even fade out under Bristish time? That CNN report was ignorant.
Regarding dim sum is Canton is not as popular as HK, I think one reason might be we still think food in China not as clean as those in HK. At least most US people still think that way.
Just like before we visited Thailand, we cannot imagine Thailand can be so clean and modern and delicious and gorgeous. 8 out of 10 US people who visited BKK/Thailand are impressed.

in the sea said...

Nope, Mr. Thailand Club, I don't think you shall write Crystal Jade soon, and rather think you should still write about this Emporia. I think most of the people already knew about Crystal Jade and trusted in their food quality. Just myself and the others expressed some comments here about dim sum. Besides, we trust your professional findings no matter it's good or bad. Most of the restaurants I know are referred to by you. Just like what Stella quoted - I was also one of the ignorant people who had prejudice on certain things. From the song "One Night in Bangkok" and the movies, Bangkok was just a place for night life before 1997. However, in May 1997 on my first visit, it proved I was so wrong! In October, I brought my friends to BKK and impressed with what I tried and saw. Then in every 2-3 months I brought different groups of friends and families. Now they could go to BKK by themselves without me, although my sisters still enjoy with my company. So we shall look forward to more other restaurants you would introduce. Just now this blog got a lot of reader flow that it might have taken you some time to respond to. Besides, right now you are busy with your important project which I am so curious about, if you would introduce something in this blog.

Thailand Club said...

thanks in-the-sea, ur compliment make my face turns red, i am just a little more than a guinea pig :)

Anonymous said...

Yes, agree with Mr. Sea. Thailand Club should introduce more about Bangkok. That's why we are here browsing this blog and also know more than a blog. I really enjoy reading this blog. I am surprised with what Mr. Sea wrote on his experience in Bangkok. I think people can easily get influenced by something, like he got influenced by the song "One Night in Bangkok". I think Mr. Sea likes music very much. I browsed the lyrics of this song and it just described Bangkok as a stinking town with lots of bars. The songwriter used Yul Brynner to stand for the King for avoid being sued. Now do you still like this song?

Anonymous said...

Mr. Sea, important project? What is that?

Anonymous said...

What project is that? Is that a food tasting project or a tour project? Can we join?

Anonymous said...

I think we are giving Mr. Thailand Club too much pressure. For the important project, please tell us when the time is right. We should not intrude someone's business. This blog is for the unseen gourmet for interesting places told by Thailand Club. So we need to respect what Thailand Club wrote here. So no need to ask what the important project is. If Thailand Club thinks it is ok to tell, then he will tell.

Thailand Club said...

hey, i don't know which important project they were talking about, i hv hotel project, land searching for my customers, V.VIP tour and project on my first book, every project to me is important, even just a 2-pax small group, the couple r vip to me and they r important project as well

Anonymous said...

I agree with Anonymous 10:08 pm. Yes Thai Club, Please don't feel pressured to answer every single question from us. And you don't need to answer about your important project. Especially when you mentioned you have so many important projects so you'd better not elaborate here. Save this until you open another blog called "the untold important projects".
From,
200-lb guy

Anonymous said...

By the way, this all-you-can-eat dim sum place is good for me.
From,
200-lb guy.

in the sea said...

All right, let's look forward to what this Emporia will bring to us.

Thailand Club said...

har, the Thailand Untold Important Projects? hahaha :)

Stella said...

Chris said he wants to try this all-you-can-eat dim sum as there is no such thing here in LA.

Stella said...

Yes, what a good "untold important project". Mr. Blogger, please don't feel obligated to entertain us everyday here when you are taking care of your big project and the VIP tour this coming weekend. You will be excused for 7 to 10days. I don't expect you to update any blog during this period.

in the sea said...

ok, finally saw some photos. They look pretty good! I will try it some time later for sure.

in the sea said...

To anonymous 9:13pm, there are songs with some lyrics which I may have different feelings after certain period of time. I can say for most of the fast beat songs in the 80's and 90's I don't feel like having a listen to them. So about this song "One Night in Bangkok", if you study more about the lyrics, it's about the mind game of the people playing chess and relating that to the chaotic and mirage things some people may have experienced in a hustling city as Bangkok. There have been in fact a lot of movies (even local Thai ones) describing Bangkok as a big tank of trashy, greedy and realistic people. To some extent it is true but it is also true in every other city, not just Bangkok. It's just up to what we wanna see. Like some people who indulge in SPA so much, all they can see in Bangkok, is Oriental SPA, Banyan Tree SPA...etc. Some people who are into shopping, know only Siam Center, Siam Paragon, Central World...etc. For us, we are now talking about food in Bangkok. Just like on my blog, I even didn't know how long it would take from Khao San to Siam Center, until Thailand Club pointed that out to me.

Stella said...

To Anonymous 9:13 pm,
Do you know what business Mr. Sea is in? He can give us lecture about song and music all night long.
Yes I agree with Sea in his latest comment. We cannot "put one stick and hit the whole boat". Or "take one sentence to represent the whole book".
Before my trip to Thailand, I kind of picture it is a dirty and under-developed country with outdated set ups. After my trip I regard this place full of nice and friendly people, with delicious, high quality and inexpensive food, as well as modern and super clean shopping malls....Then I found out LA is in fact the under-developed city after all.
So a frog at the bottom of the well cannot see much of the real world until he jumps out of the well.

Stella said...

This place looks so yum yum. I have to go here next time.
From,
Piggy

Anonymous said...

So this is like $16 US per person. I think it is cheap for big eater.

Thailand Club said...

also u get a panorama view, for free

Anonymous said...

All-you-can-eat dim sum with good view for $16US is a good deal. Thanks Mr. Blogger for introducing this to us.

in the sea said...

Haha, Stella, again, there are still something I don't know for certain, like the urban music, rap, heavy metal music in the States, the elegant orchestra music from Vienna and even the local Thai music....etc. The world is really so big and diverse. That's why we should be prepared to explore at all times. We should often treat ourselves as students everyday, and shouldn't be contented with just something we think it's already enough for us.

Thailand Club said...

right, i am still a student in the gastronomy world

Anonymous said...

You guys have been describing Bangkok like a city of everything, and talking about lots of different things from food to music. Also, some of you are really humble by saying to be a student at all times. It's enjoyable to read this blog with all of the comments.

Stella said...

To Anonymous 8:18 pm,
You are right. Bangkok is the city with everything, from East to West. It is like another HK(but with cheaper cost of living while the same quality of living). This blog really tells a lot about Thailand. And the comments from the readers add the spice into this blog. That is why I am addicted to reading this blog everyday.

in the sea said...

Thanks Anonymous 8:18pm. We are just a group of ordinary people talking about everything on top of the food. This is perhaps the Chinese culture. In my kid's time, dinner is the time for the whole family to chat with each other. So we often relate dinner to sharing our feeling and thoughts.

Anonymous said...

Yes, "eating" is a social and family event for Chinese. I think this is actually universal.

Thailand Club said...

yes, food is an appreciation, we enjoy them more through sharing, if we don't share, it may be bland, just as ur life

Stella said...

You are very right Thailand Club.
The food tastes better when you eat with friends.
This blog is better when we share with each other so everyone gets the benefit.
Life is about sharing.

Fillet-O Fish said...

Right, so we will gather in Bangkok to have a gala dinner!

in the sea said...

That's something really warm! Cheers!

Yai said...

Count me in please!

Stella said...

Yes I would like to meet with Fish Burger and Yai.

Anonymous said...

I keep asking Stella to bring me to Thailand next time.
From,
Linda

in the sea said...

I often go to Bangkok by myself and never feel bored or alone. In fact, taking a journey by oneself is very enjoyable and no need to wait for this or that, or care what to eat with the others. Try to go there by yourself and you will know what I mean. Word can never tell. Besides, Bangkok is very safe to travel alone.

Anonymous said...

You must be a guy Mr. In-the-Sea.
I like to join Stella's tour and I know she ate good food with good price. And she also had a tall tour guide and body guard.

in the sea said...

Haha, if you look at the photo in some other postings, there are quite a few tall guys on that tour. Cheers.

Stella said...

Hi Sea,
You are inviting trouble. Pretty soon you will be chosen.
Linda,
Please go travel with your own guy.
All those tall, short, fat, thin, white-meat and dark-meat guys in the blog pictures are all occupied with their own friends and girl friendssssss. You have to take a long number like waiting to eat in a popular restaurant. And I am always in front of you.

Anonymous said...

It seems the blogger and also other guys in the pictures are in tour business then.
Would like to book them next time.
Don't worry, I am a old guy.

Thailand Club said...

nope, only i am in the travel business

the rest of them nope

in the sea said...

Har... we are put on the sampler - being targeted for some purposes? I am already chosen for so many purposes and I don't know who I am now. Why don't people put their attention to some other things like learning playing guitar or playing basket ball...etc. or like this blog, tasting food if they don't feel like any sports.

Just being friendly doesn't mean anything.

We are just a bunch of simple people who just enjoy life in a simple way.

Stella said...

Yes I agree with Sea.
Everyone needs to have some engagement, hobby or interest to occupy his(her) time in a meaningful way. Otherwise at least take some classes, or do some charity work like going to Si Chuan.

Anonymous said...

The view is so spectacle, shall be in my must visit list to Bangkok.

/William

Anonymous said...

Nice panorama view