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Saturday, August 14, 2010

Ice Cream 555 Rachawong


BANGKOK AMAZING GOURMET
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The impossibly possible

Hiding in a shabby sub soi (alley) attached to an old school Chinese restaurant, Ice Cream 555 Rachawong is the Kingdom oldest home-made ice cream maker.

Going back to a little history. Some years ago, a young immigrant from China started the original shop of Ice Cream 555 Rachawong alongside the river of Chaophraya at Rachawong (now near Pier Rachawong) once served a numerous of prestigious customers in that era, including King Chulalongkorn or King Rama V. The brilliant young man later transformed his small ice cream parlor into a full restaurant business of Tiew-chew and Cantonese cuisine, named after his name, Lieo Lieng Seng.




After more than a century, the third generation of the Lieo family concentrates on the restaurant business in a low profile manner. Kind of "for foodies only"! Nevertheless the Rachawong 555 ice cream had been preserved.

According to the owner, today Rachawong 555 ice cream do not taste like those in 1890 when first introduced to the Siam people. Their recipes had been adjusted to the taste with a modern twist and refined texture. But the fundamental is intact, as use only the best ingredients.




After tasting all of the flavors, I confirm they are of premium grade.
(Okay give you a little idea, think of Haagen-Dazs, but freshly home-made without timely transportation!) Especially the coconut and durian flavor, a to-die-for kind if one loves these two tropical fruits. The chocolate is also flavorful and rich, while the coffee is aromatic and strong. Only the vanilla, not to my liking.



Ice Cream 555 Rachawong ****
at Lieo Lieng Seng CN Restaurant
802-804 Rama IV Road
Samyan, Bangkok 10500
Tel.: 02.234.5791

Open daily : lunch 11 am - 2:30 pm, dinner 5:30 - 11 pm
Pay : THB 50/60 per scoop

33 comments:

Anonymous said...

It is hard to guess with no hints at all.

in the sea said...

May I have the photo in larger size though I am not supposed to enter this guess game?

Fillet-O Fish said...

Hey TC, your so call hints, quite useless!

But I will still try my best.

The restaurant, an old Chinese restaurant? Let's say the food is shark fins.

Anonymous said...

This restaurant has Chinese name so it sells Chinese food. I also guess it is suckling pigs, TC loves it. I remember he can eat one pig by himself.

Paranoid Android said...

Chinese area, Chinese decor. One of the classics, maybe Fish Maw? Just a wild guess.

Thailand Club said...

thanks for the try, so far only Android's guess make sense, as the cost of this food for two is around THB 200, fish maw is in the list; although i really love suckling pigs, but this pigs cost THB 1,100 here, and shark fins soup definitely cost more than THB 200 a bowl, so both r out

anyway, guess right or wrong not important, fun is the participation

sorry Sea, i already expose this in ur itinerary, so u know what is it, i know u wanna guess too ..

Stella said...

So you mean we will eat this good this time with SEA?
OK, I will guess it is the Hainan chicken rice, or pig feet rice, or wonton noodle soup, so something costs $3 US each person.

in the sea said...

Silent is golden. :) Thanks TC for having the photo in bigger size as I thought "something" is "something". Well, in some restaurants they will serve some smaller portion and in Chinese we call it 例牌, which is about a quarter or 1/5th of a whole chicken or good enough for 2-3 people.

Yes, I agree that Android's guess is quite logical as to consider it on the price level. THB200 for 2 persons in a Bangkok restaurant which looks quite established....

Queen William said...

Pig feet? So scary!

I guess it is deep-fried snowy taro, taro ice cream, taro mousse, or ginkgo nuts in syrup ...

Tommy Leung said...

An old Chinese restaurant on Rama 4 Road, maybe Samyan area?

This one doesn't look like a noddle shop neither a chicken rice shop. It is more like a proper restaurant. From the outside look can tell when it was new this restaurant has class. It has curtain and even VIP room on the second floor. Like those old famous Chew Chiu or seafood one.

Say food at 2 hundred baht for 2 persons, I guess shall be an appetiser dish, or maybe the oyster eggs on the sizzling hot plate.

Unknown said...

Ok let me join the wild guess. Let say it is deep-fried wonton!

Anonymous said...

Tommy Leung has a good analysis.

Anonymous said...

Hey Mate, enjoying your blog from Sydney. Keep the post flowing :)

Thailand Club said...

wow in 2 days already more than 14 comments from at least 10 non-repeat readers, thanks for the support, so the fun is rolling out very soon ..

btw, someone just guess it right, surprise!

thanks @Anonymous 03:14, welcome to ur TH gourmet family

Eric said...

This look like soup or dessert something!

Anonymous said...

Close up of the wall?

Anonymous said...

Yes I think it is dessert too.
Some green beans soup.

Stella said...

Do you mean I guessed right? Or Paranoid? Or Tommy Leung?

Anonymous said...

I also think it is green bean soup and almond tea.

G.

in the sea said...

TC's camera really has a very high resolution, just like we use a microscope to see it. It can be stir fried egg white, steamed bun, moon cake, sponge cake, rice roll, shrimp dumpling, any dumpling or custard tart...etc. :)

Mickey Mouse said...

Sea, how come u didn't mention ice cream also as u already know what is this! hahaha :-)

Yai said...

Woo never think it is ice cream! But first time to hear home-made ice cream in a Chinese restaurant. It must be good since p'TC gave it 4 stars?

Stella said...

Wow this is totally out of whack.
I can never think of ice cream in this old fashion Chinese-look eatery.
And the white and green photos shown above really did fool us.
So seeing is not believing.

in the sea said...

Mr. Mouse, I tended to give some hints on not guessing what I listed, since TC claimed someone guessed it right. So those might just compare what I listed to the several guesses made, they know the difference and might check it out.

This should be some very classic ice cream. Finally, after Thong Kruen, there are more to come along for something classic.

Thailand Club said...

@Sea: taste (of ice cream) between TK and 555 r totally different, TK is our HK old school taste, but 555 .. u will know .. very soon! ooops pls make sure u consume lots of Haagen-Dazs (green tea, coffee, and chocolate) inflight and in Koh Samui and anywhere, so when come to 555, u can compare

Tommy said...

Premium grade in an old Chinese restaurant. This is incredible!

Stella said...

Good. That means "555" is in my good agenda this time then.
Let us fool Chris that we come here for Chinese night snack and ended up with a ice cream surprise.
I think Chris will like this good surprise.

in the sea said...

Ok, lets wait for the 555 ice cream. Ice cream of MO and ice cream of Hagen Daz and that of Thong Kruen have their own characteristics. Just like orange from CA, orange from Australia and orange from France. :)

in the sea said...

I had a re-read of the description. So the picture is that we will go to the factory of Hagen Daz and taste the freshly made ice cream, just like in the old days we went on a trip to the Tai Koo coca cola factory for getting a freshly made soda.

Thailand Club said...

@Sea: no la, u don't go to a Haagen-Dazs factory; but 555 ice cream can compare to Haazen-Dazs in texture and taste, less sweet instead, and freshly home-made ..

Stella said...

If there is any ice cream factory I would like to visit.

I always like to tour at food factory such as the Hershey choco factory in SF, the M&M in Vegas and the nut factory in Hawaii as they gave out lots of free samples.

If we can tour at the money making factory and get some free sample that is even better.

in the sea said...

Oops.. I mean the feeling is like go to a place where ice cream is freshly made out of the factory. My typing is getting slower than my brain thinking. :)

Queen William said...

Hehe my guess is correct!