BANGKOK AMAZING GOURMET
.BeirutBeirut is a well established Lebanese restaurant chain in Bangkok with branches on Silom Road (Silom 64 J-City) and Sukhumvit Road (Erawan Ploenchit Centre).
Beirut's hummus was aromatic and smooth, while the grilled chicken was tender and moist although CP frozen chicken was part of the ingredients, proven that with master culinary skill ingredients became secondary in a kitchen. The only disappointment was we found microwaved pita bread in a plastic bag.
Beirut Lebanese Restaurant ***1/2
G/Floor, Silom J-City
64 Silom Road
Bangrak, Bangkok 10500
Tel.: 02.632.7448
Open daily : 11am - 11pm
Pay (food only for two): THB 800
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
