Hyde & Seek

485
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Cheerful and playful 

Thailand's first London-meets-New York-meets-Bangkok gastro bar - the Hyde & Seek, was arguably the best gastro bar in Krupthep Mahanakon (the City of Angels), when I reviewed her one year ago! Food wise, not as good today as her booze offered!

Hyde & Seek Gastro Bar ***
65/1 Athenee Residence 
Soi Ruamrudee
Lumpini, Bangkok 10330
Tel.: 02.168.5152

Open daily : 11 am - 1 am
Pay (food only for one): around THB 500 (there, booze is the hero anyway!) 

* To follow Bangkok closely, please 'friend' Thaisclub in Facebook!

Artur

400
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Art of meat

Artur Kluczewski, the person who is responsible for a few successful restaurants in Bangkok, now runs his own steakhouse in the heart of downtown Bangkok; yes, it is that talk-of-the-town Manhattan style steakhouse with a Parisian touch on Soi Tonson - the Artur. Someone called it a retro French restaurant that serves excellent New York style steak. Either way, Artur is the rare culinary gift to Bangkokians.

Just like most luxury restaurants will do a budget luncheon to keep epicures aware and to lure non-regulars to their dinner, Artur offers two lunch sets, a weight-watcher lunch set at THB 290++, and a 3-course business lunch set at THB 490++. Both are great value for money. And the food, impeccable!



Artur Restaurant ****1/4
G/F Bliston Suwan Park View
9 Soi Tonson
Ploenchit Road
Pathumwan, Bangkok 10330
Tel.: 02.658.6288

Open daily : lunch 11:30 am - 2pm, dinner 6 - 10 pm
Pay (food only for two): expect THB 6,000
(weekdays lunch set from THB 290++)

Cafe Primo by Sandy

390
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Farewell the cafe

Cafe Primo, owned by a food enthusiast dessert chef - Ms Sandy, also a Le Condon Bleu graduate, had fixed me many meals while I lived in the nearby neighborhood few years ago. Since I moved to another corner of the C.B.D., I now seldom eat at this pond-side restaurant. Until recently I picked up a rumor from my business source, that the landlord - the Crown Property Bureau, of whom Cafe Primo leased the land from, will summon that the land and the Cafe has to be vacant before the end of December (yes, this year). A couple of days ago I returned to see my old friend - Cafe Primo, and did the last supper for the cafe.



Cafe Primo by Sandy ***
Langsuan Soi 3
off Ploenchit Road
Pathumwan, Bangkok 10330
Tel.: 02.632.1637

Open daily : lunch 12 - 2:30 pm, dinner 5 - 10 pm
Pay (food only for two): around THB 700

yumcha @ Silk Road

382
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Drinking tea eating dim-sum

Chinese Cantonese yum-cha (drinking tea, and eating dim-sum, bite-sized food in small portions, usually served in a small bamboo steamer basket, or on a small plate), was listed as #7 of the World's 50 most delicious foods from readers' picks (2011) by CNNGo. So recently I have gone for yum-cha more often, to sample those highly rated Cantonese bite-sized dim-sum treats.

One restaurant I visited lately was the Silk Road, a small Chinese restaurant in the luxurious Plaza Athenee Hotel Bangkok. I eat at the Silk Road quite often for dinner, but for yum-cha (dim-sum lunch), this was my first time.

I found, that the barbecue pork bun (char siu bao) at Silk Road is a must try, above average, while the rest of the dim-sum being (just) average. Besides dim-sum, I also ordered the Peking roast duck three ways, THB 1,200++. Duck skin was so crispy and aromatic, fried duck meat in sweet and sour sauce was superb, while the congee with minced duck meat was disappointing and the chef put too much shredded ginger in it.



Cantonese yum-cha lunch ***
Silk Road Chinese Restaurant
Plaza Athenee Hotel Bangkok
(a Royal Meridien Hotel)
61 Wireless Road
Lumpini, Bangkok 10330
Tel.: 02.650.8800
Silk Road

Open daily : lunch 11:30 am - 2:30 pm, dinner 6 - 10:30 pm
Pay (a la carte dim-sum lunch for two): around THB 1,600
(All-you-can-eat dim-sum lunch is THB 950 net per person)

Smooth Curry

378
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As smooth as curry

Eating a Thai meal in a hotel's outlet may end up with disappointment in some cases, especially in those big names in five-star hotels. We pay more, and we deserve a better treat; but usually they are pale and bland without bright ambition and effort, as mentioned in the previous post.

Lucky that there is always an exception for the unfortunate. And I found Smooth Curry the savior in my taste-buds pleasure of eating Thai food in a five-star hotel.

Smooth Curry came to my attention when I (accidentally) discovered its once-in-a-year khao-chae (chilled rice soup in jasmine scented water) treat which happens to be one of best in the Kingdom. In theory, if a chef can do the rather complicated royal recipe khao-chae and the tidbits right, there is no reason that the chef couldn't cook a decent meal with a fine Thai twist.

I once invited a local friend, also a foodie, to eat at Smooth Curry; at first he doubted that we might enjoy a real Thai meal there, as he also lost faith in most hotel's Thai restaurants. After the meal, he booked a table for three weeks later, to sample more dishes with his friends. And he ended the 'introductory' meal with paying the bill as a gesture of thankfulness that I brought him to Smooth Curry.

The waitstaff at Smooth Curry will ask her customers if they want the food cooked the full scale spiciness or the tourist-palate-friendly mild version. So non-Thai visitors shall never find their tongue being burnt!


saeng-wa pla foo (deep-fried minced catfish with saeng-wa dips) THB 250++

amuse bouche (traditional Thai herbal drinks)
phla goong (herbal salad tossed with lemongrass and river prawn) THB 290++

hor mok talay (steamed curry souffle with seafood) THB 300++
yum pla salid (spicy salad with deep-fried salid fish) THB 250++

pla kapong sam rod (deep-fried local sea bass in sweet & spicy sauce) THB 550++

tom kha gai (chicken soup with Thai herbs and coconut cream) THB 250++
mussaman rue (Southern curry with beef in masaaman curry paste) THB 320++

chu chee goong (fried river prawn in chu-chee red curry sauce) THB 390++
phad pak fuk miew (stir-fried cayote leaves with fresh mushroom) THB 130++

khao-neaw mamuang (glutinous rice with ripe mango) THB 250++

Smooth Curry Thai Restaurant ***3/4
Plaza Athenee Hotel Bangkok
61 Wireless Road
Lumpini, Bangkok 10330
Tel.: 02.650.8800
Smooth Curry

Open daily : 6 - 11 pm
Pay (food only for two): around THB 2,000

Krua Nai Baan

BANGKOK AMAZING GOURMET
.

Welcome home

While I lived in the Soi Langsuan vicinity, I passed by Krua Nai Baan (Home Kitchen) quite often; but I have never sampled her food. Rumor spreads from some of my friends that this Thai cum seafood restaurant is expensive and lack of culinary passion, thus a place to accommodate tourists and bad-taste diners!

I puzzled. For years I see Krua Nai Baan is always full house; seven days a week, whether it is full moon nights or rainy days, the restaurant is always packed. So I decided to ignore those big-mouths' advise. Proven that we shouldn't listen to rumors, and eating is believing.

Funny that fusion French restaurant La Table de Tee (on Soi Saladaeng) didn't serve amuse-bouche (at least on my previous visit she didn't!), but a Thai restaurant - Krua Nai Baan does. Oops not only food is of satisfactory old-school quality, but service is also (almost) impeccable kind.


yum sam krob THB 80 (spicy salad with crispy fish maw in shredded raw mango)
yum ta-kai THB 80 (lemongrass herbal Thai salad with prawn)

chu-chee goong klam THB 450 (medium size river prawn in chu-chee curry sauce)
pla gao tord sam ros THB 700 (deep-fried live grouper in spicy 3-taste sauce)

live grouper (deep-fried) in spicy three-taste sauce

gaeng liang THB 150 (vegetable curry soup with pumpkin and prawn)

phad pak yod mara THB 80 (stir-fried bitter gourd stem and leaves)
icy cantaloupe on bed of sago with coconut milk THB 50

Krua Nai Baan Thai & Seafood Restaurant ***1/2
94 Soi Langsuan, Ploenchit Road
Prathumwan, Bangkok 10330
Tel.: 02.253.1888

Open daily : 11 am - 11 pm
Pay (food only for two): around THB 900

Man Ho

BANGKOK AMAZING GOURMET
.

Feast of a roller roaster ride

Man Ho Chinese Restaurant in J.W. Marriott Bangkok is fun to dine in, for a decade, more than forty times of visit, eating there is equal to the excitement of a roller coaster ride, up and down, and down and up - I mean the quality of her food served!

A revisit yesterday, my friends and I enjoy the meal three times much much much better than the previous visit. So lucky! So I will treasure this hard to have happy palate memory at Man Ho for a while until my next adventure to the Restaurant.

Man Ho Chinese Restaurant ***1/4
J.W. Marriott Hotel Bangkok
4 Sukhumvit Road (at Sukhumvit Soi 2)
Klongtoey, Bangkok 10110
Tel.: 02.656.7700
Man Ho

Open daily : lunch 11 am - 2:30 pm, 6 - 10 pm
Pay (food only for two): expect THB 2,500

Circle

178
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California Dreaming

A friend from the West coast asked if there is any Californian cuisine available in Bangkok. CA? East meets west fusion twist in harmony!

Where in Bangkok we can find the likes of Mixed Sashimi, Pan-fried Goose Liver with Apple and Balsamic Vinaigrette, Fried Wonton Dumplings with Ginger Sesame Dressing, Angel Hair Pasta with Chiangmai Sausage, Grill Rib Eye Steak in Chipotle Chili Gravy and Deep Fried Grouper with Ponzu Sauce in one restaurant?

In Circle we found the answer.

The Asparagus Cream Soup, Baht 90++, thick and rich, a nostalgic taste so familiar with my old-school student lunch set at ABC Cafe. Came forward is the Spaghetti with Prawn and Ebiko in Vodka Sauce, Baht 250++. The dish is no more taste familiar to student lunch, pasta were cooked to al dente, sauce has layers of texture, a dish I may return for more. The miss is Circle shouldn't use CP frozen prawn as ingredients, who cares for a merely Baht 30 more in the bill. If we want something cheap, the noodle hawker outside the restaurant may serve such purpose.

Main course, the waitstaff recommended the Baht 320++ Crispy Half Chicken with double blanched Garlic Butter Sauce. The chicken claimed to follow the recipe of California celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck appears tender and flavorful, though compare to the Michelin two-star Spago in Beverly Hills our Crispy Chicken is definitely another story. But Circle only asked for $11, fair enough!

To round up the pleasant dinner, Home-made Green Tea Ice cream (Baht 120++) is the only choice of the night.

Service? Dee ma ma although a bit slow in reaction, but truly polite and the Siam-smile kind.

Circle California Fusion Cuisine ***1/2
20/27 Ruam Rudee Village
Soi Ruam Rudee, Ploenchit Road
Lumpini, Bangkok 10330
Tel.: 02.650.8047
Circle

Open daily : Lunch 11:30 am - 2:30 pm; Dinner 5:30 - 11:30 pm
Pay (food only for two): around THB 1,200

New York Steakhouse

112

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New York Steakhouse @ JW Marriott Hotel

From media reviews and advertorials, New York Steakhouse had been rated Bangkok's best steakhouse for few years, so does the hotel's Japanese restaurant Tsu-Nami. (Good PR job!)

But, they aren't.

Food at New York Steakhouse was decent but not outstanding. Of course we paid a handsome price so the quality shall be with certain guarantee. However, quality of steak did not match with the restaurant's top status and chef culinary skill just didn't live up to expectations. Service was way too 'professional' lacking of those natural touch of Thais hospitality, pretentious instead.

Although I don't crown New York Steakhouse the best in Bangkok, but a visit doesn't hurt our appetite either. The menu is big and coverage is more aggressive than any other top-notch hotel's steakhouse. With Marriott Gold Card (if you have one!) your meal is always free when dining with a friend.

New York Steakhouse ***

2nd Floor, JW Marriott Hotel

4 Sukhumvit Road (at Sukhumvit Soi 2)

Ploenchit, Bangkok 10110

Tel.: 02.656.7700
New York Steakhouse

Open daily 18:00 - 23:00 dinner only
Pay (food only): expect THB 8,000 for two

Christmas Eve

106
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Christmas Eve dinner
Bacchus

A feast of Italian/Japanese fusion X'mas Eve dinner in Bacchus.


* pictures on courtesy of Mr. Tony King

Our 5-course dinner:
1. Lobster Salad Wasabi Dressing
(/Crab Meat Avocado on Endive)
2. Lentil Soup
(/Spaghetti with Porcini and Mushrooms)
3. Christmas Roasted Ham
(/Grilled Black Cod)
* Lemongrass Sorbet
4. Season's Greetings Turkey Cranberry Sauce
(/Braised Oxtail in Beer with Dark Soy Sauce)
5. Celebration Cake
* Limoncello
* Coffee or tea
Baht 1,766 ($52) + Red Wine

Bacchus Wine Bar and Restaurant ***
Ruam Rudee Village
20/6-7 Soi Ruam Rudee
Ploenchit, Bangkok 10330
Tel.: 02-650 8986
http://www.bacchus.tv/index/introduction.php