263
.Non-sleep comfort foodCafeteria style eateries Took Lae Dee (literally means cheap and good), attached to Foodland Supermarkets, serve millions of inexpensive and hot meals to diners and night owls around the clock, since 1985.
Took Lae Dee Restaurant ***
at Foodland Sukhumvit 16 branch
48 Column Tower
Soi 16 Sukhumvit Road
Klongtoey, Bangkok 10110
Tel.: 02.204.2177
(and at other Foodland Supermarkets, except Foodland Patpong branch, and Foodland Petchburi branch)
Open daily : 24 hours
Pay (food only for two): around THB 200
154
.Marina HKMarina HK offers Hong Kong style tea-house feast such as beef brisket, beef entrails, fish balls, wonton, Hainanese chicken, roasted duck, BBQ pork, noodles, congee, and single-dish menu just a few examples from the restaurant 24 hours menu.
Marina HK ***1/2Siam Square Soi 1Rama I RoadPratumwan, Bangkok 10330Open daily : 24 hours
Pay (food only): around THB 400 for two
23
.Failed to flyAt Bug and Bee Cafe, ordering took a timely process; the menu is extensive and informative, history of crepes and the uniqueness of Bug and Bee crepes were written on the menu, and it is customers' obligation to read the encyclopedia alike menu. Choices of crepes and dishes made of crepe noodles are a lot, they are fusion and they are innovation, but failed in cooking process with certain misfire. After ten minutes reading (the menu), I still couldn't launch my verdict on the order, so did my friends; luckily the cafe manager came to our rescue.
He suggested the cafe best selling drink - the mango marvel, consisting of fresh mango and passion fruits blended on a bed of sago (tapioca), to drink the mango juice and suck the sago was how I handled this drink; followed by peachy melo and kiwi cooler, they are funny drinks (taste funny I mean). For crepes, the manager recommended the crepe stuffed with curry crab, Sichuan crepe noodles with prawns, and crepe with grilled duck breast in cranberry ginger sauce. The curry crab (meat) was average, aroma with mild heat of curry married to little sweetness from the crepe, to make this dish eatable, but never remarkable; while the Sichuan prawns had a good recipe and heat but still far from the real Sichuan treat, the prawns, maybe I shall call it small shrimps, were full of frozen taste. The grilled duck breast in cranberry ginger sauce, was indeed few pieces of tough duck meat that would train my teeth, and the cranberry sauce was kind of weird in taste. Perhaps its kitchen is set up for experiment purpose but not to cook for diners!
My friends and I further sampled the seafood (crepe) lasagna, which was unique but not of my fond; and the phad-khee-maow crepe noodles with seafood (with thrifty seafood ingredients), a dish self-proclaimed to be the best phad-kee-maow (stir-fried drunken noodles with basil, garlic, young green pepper, chili and lots of chilies) in Bangkok. (Really? or the owners themselves are drunken 24/7!)
For desserts, I ordered the orange passion fruit crepe with ice cream, my friends opted for the cheesecake parfait with fresh mango (seasonal), Belgian waffle with ice cream, and the shop's signature deep-fried Shanghai date crepe. The cheesecake was a bit too sweet to my standard, but I am sure some people would love it; while the deep-fried Chinese date paste crepe cake was average.
Besides their fusion crepes menu, Bug and Bee also offers a small selections of Chinese fare; they are baked rice Hong Kong style, Cantonese congee, and Hong Kong fried rice. Moreover, there is a full set of all-day breakfast on duty. As mentioned earlier, the menu is BIG, so they are just a few to be named here, from the Bug and Bee's full 'experimental creations'; and the cons is, BIG menu doesn't mean they are good, though!
In order to be benefited from better health through slow eating, I didn't rush my meal at Bug and Bee; our drinks and food didn't arrive promptly after the order had been taken, that given us more time to browse the menu, learn the history of crepes, read a numerous of magazines displayed on two giant racks in the shop, chat to our neighboring table(s), and play with our notebook. Though the restaurant provides free snail-speed wifi service with password access; however, smooth connection is only by luck!
Bug and Bee Cafe **
18 Silom Road
Bangrak, Bangkok 10500
Tel.: 02.233.8118
Open daily : 24-hour (random shortened opening hours without prior notice)
Pay (food only for two): around THB 700
*(update on 2009-10-28 : Bug and Bees' Siam Paragon branch is now a history)
*(update on 2010-05-25 : Bug and Bee's MBK branch is now a history)
21.An Egyptian surprise On one evening, I was frustrated looking for an Ethiopia restaurant in Bangkok's Little Arabic, but due to wrong information from a new guide book (new guide book with copied old information?) published by an expat friend that the Ethiopia Restaurant had been closed for good without any update in his guide book, I was (almost) lost. Then instead I had better luck in the mini palace of an Egyptian Queen, as, Nefertiti where located in the same soi and I had a wonder night there with friends.
Egyptian food is not my expertise but I like gourmet from every corner of the world. Nefertiti offered the best naan bread I have ever sampled in Bangkok, and nice lamb and chicken dishes. On next visit I would bring along with a guru to show me how to enjoy an Egyptian meal properly.
Since wasting almost an hour for a search of a restaurant that didn't exist, my friends and I were hungry, very hungry! Even without a guru, we immediately started the blind order from the menu, we ordered the hummus goat yoghurt (a dip made of ground chickpeas, sesame, olive oil and herbs with goat yoghurt), and the sesame mousse, together with some freshly baked naan bread. The naan bread was crunchy and smooth with a good taste of the wheat flour yield a redolent flavor with wood smoke aromas. The hummus goat yoghurt was simple but good while the sesame mousse was pretty bland.
Further we had the ground lamb kebabs with the meat marinated to please our appetite, the barbecue pomfret fish promoted an ugly overly burned look and somehow it was also less impressive in taste, the barbecue lamb leg was tasty and tender enough for us to keep asking for more naan to go with it, and the savory barbecue chicken was burned outside but tender inside with naturally sweet of the meat and aroma from the herbs, and it was the star of the night.
To clean the heavy (but welcoming) taste of the herbs I opted for a bowl of mutton soup. Oh, it was another treat of the night!
We concluded the dinner with two desserts, the om ali (warm naan bread pudding) and the mahalabia (egg white custard). They were not as impressive as the savory naan, hummus and the barbecue dishes.
For those who are fans of shisha, Nefertiti is the place for the smoke of the popular water pipes in this Little Arabic in Bangkok.
After the dinner we called the friend who didn't update his guide book for some honest genuine gourmet reviews in the future, instead of just paid advertorial.
Nefertiti Egyptian Restaurant ****
4/8 Sukhumvit Soi 3/1
off Sukhumvit Road
Klongtoey Nua, Bangkok 10110
Tel.: 02.655.3043
Open daily : 24 hours
Pay (food only for two): around THB 600
10
.Midnight eating pleasureI assume Bangkok has surpassed Singapore of ASEAN shopping paradise as shopping centers here are more creative tend to offer shoppers pampered services. Merchandise is diversified and creative, not just those boring brands we see everywhere. The only setback is the air-conditioning is always too cold (in any major shopping mall). We didn't shop for international brands but focus on those creative and unique local designer labels and home decor stuffs. However, we still couldn't resist the Lacoste sale with eight big bags carried back home. After a tired day we took a nap and moved the dinner to 11pm.
Where in Bangkok can still offer us with a decent dining near midnight? The answer is, the Green House at the 4-star Landmark Hotel. The Hotel has ten F&B outlets in the compound offering gourmet around the world. Green House is the hotel's coffee shop serving the hungry of us not only Western and Thai fare but the best keep secret in Green House is they also serve authentic and ho-mei (delicious) Cantonese light meal. It is a perfect match to have such a meal at late night as it is light.
The Chinese menu at the Green House is those family kind with a focus in bistro specialty and barbecued meat instead of some grand fare such as Peking duck (anyway Peking duck is not a Cantonese dish), shark fins soup, steamed live fish and braised abalone. Just some typical tea-room and street side dishes Hong Kong people eat around the corner in their everyday routine. We didn't want to eat too heavy that night, so we ordered four mains to accompany with rice and noodles. Our first order was barbecue honey glazed pork, the meat was tender and the taste is naturally sweet with hints of aroma from barbecue. Followed by soy sauce chicken, a highly recommended dish from me; just taste as good as we eat in Hong Kong I therefore wondered if the chef abandon the use of local soy sauce for Hong Kong one. Both dish has its sauce served separately. Came next were poach pak kwang-tung veggie with oyster sauce, fair but not outstanding; and stir-fried grouper fillet with Chinese celery, another dish got my thumbs up. The deep-fried fillet was fresh, crispy outside and flesh was soft, then stir-fried again with celery and other ingredients brought out the taste of celery and seafood sweetness in a good balance.
To accompany with the mains, we had rice roll noodle filled with barbecue pork, a dim-sum type food, the rice roll noodle here was not very thin but acceptable; noodle with braised beef brisket, chunk of meat was braised in its perfection and seasoned to exactly like those prepared in Hong Kong; noodle with wontons (dumplings Hong Kong), consisted of five big wontons with fresh whole shrimps; and noodle with braised pork knuckle, another dish that is outstanding. The Pork knuckle braised in broth for hours was tender and aromatic, seasoned with fermented bean curd (pink) paste, a secret weapon in Cantonese culinary.
Hainanese chicken rice in Green House served with three kind of sauces known as sweet soy sauce, ginger and chives oil, and sour chili sauce. There are not many places in Bangkok serve such marvelous sauce of the same quality, so we ordered one even we were quite full.
Judging that there are many sophisticated-looking locals out of a few tourists tucking into great mounds of good food here, I assumed that Green House already earned a reputation in causal dining among Bangkokkians. Green House also serves Western and Thai fare. I will review them in a separate post in the near future.
Green House Coffee Shop ***1/2
The Landmark Hotel
138 Sukhumvit Road
Klongtoey, Bangkok 10110
Tel.: 02.254.0404
Landmark dining
Open daily : around the clock (yes 24 hours)
Pay (food only for two): around THB 600
