219
.Cholesterol combat carnival Dinner buffets at Rain Tree Cafe of the Plaza Athenee Hotel Bangkok are the talk-of-the-town kind in the city, especially her weekend dinner seafood buffet and Sunday brunch.
The bountiful seafood buffet may be too rich for my cholesterol control; but, who cares!
Just to name a few, in the buffet show-off are freshly baked sourdough and bread, hearty mushroom soup and tumyumgoong, organic greens from the salad bar, fish roe caviar, canapes, Japanese sashimi and sushi, chilled seafood bar consisting of fresh oysters, Canadian lobster, Alaskan king crab legs and river prawns, barbecue station with choices of meat and seafood such as Aussie rib eye steak, rack of lamb, snow fish, Maine lobster tails and foie gras, live station of Thai, Chinese and Italian specialties, cheese varieties, fruits and desserts.
Don't forget your Combizym!
The Rain Tree Cafe ****
Plaza Athenee Hotel Bangkok
(a Royal Meridien Hotel)
10 Wireless Road
Lumpini, Bangkok 10330
Tel.: 02.650.8800
Rain Tree
Open daily : 5:30 am - 11:30 pm; Dinner buffet 6 - 10 pm
Pay (food only for two): around THB 3,000 (a la carte),
weekend dinner seafood buffet THB 1,680++ per person
218
.A friend away from homeThere is a restaurant, food is okay although not distinctive, when price factor taken into account there wins the top prize as a good family restaurant in the area.
There I spent many afternoon alone or with associates while I did my first luxury condo project in Bangkok, there I spent countless lunch while I resided on Soi Langsuan, there I started my travel business by signing my first agency contact with the Centre Point Apartments Group, and most important is there I found memory of smile and chatting with friends, including p'Ning.
There, the Coffee Shop at Centre Point Serviced Apartments Langsuan, a revisit to her last night was like seeing an old friend being known for decades, so warm!
1. spicy glass-noodle Thai salad (yum wunsen)
2. red curry with beef
3. fried flat rice noodles in gravy (rad-na)
4. stir-fried kale with crispy pork
5. pan-fried sea bass with white sauce
6. pork cutlet on Japanese rice (ka-tsu don)
The Coffee Shop **1/2
Centre Point Serviced Apartments, Langsuan
60 Soi 1, Langsuan Road
Lumpini, Bangkok 10330
Tel.: 02.657.2400
Centre Point
Open daily : 6 am - 10 pm
Pay (food only for two): around THB 500
*Mon - Fri super-value lunch set at around THB 150 per set
214
.Heat in your walletCafe Chilli, a mall-attached Thai restaurant delivers earthy Issan delicacies in Siam Paragon, for the deep pocket high-so diners and tourists. Food quality and taste do not justify with the bill I paid.
If Kum Poon @ Cental World Plaza is still there (CWP were burnt by red-rioters on 19-May), I wouldn't have revisited Cafe Chilli yesterday.
Cafe Chilli **
Ground floor, Siam Paragon
991 Rama I Road
Prathumwan, Bangkok 10330
Tel.: 02.610.9877
Cafe Chilli
Open daily : 11 am - 9:30 pm
Pay (food only for two): around THB 2,000
213
.Gone with the blast
A few nice restaurants only available at Central World Plaza (except Nara Thai) still in my memory. Will they be back?
212
.Oyster king arrives to BangkokAmerican biologist turned international seafood distributor Bill Marinelli opens his own restaurant in Bangkok, on the back yard of the Kingdom's main financial district, Narathiwas-Rajanagarin Road (a.k.a. New Sathorn Road).
At Bill's Oyster Bar and Seafood Restaurant we sample the same seafood and quality of those Bangkok's 5-star hotels are on offer, only price tagged in half.
Seafood and oysters shipped (from around the world) to the restaurant twice a week, on Tuesday and Friday. The seafood platter at THB 2,000 is a treat, consisting of six fresh oysters of the day, portion of Alaskan king crab legs, scallop ceviche, portion of Dungeness crab, little neck clams, Skookum clams, mussels, tiger prawns and more.
Beef eaters, sorry, Oyster Bar does not serve food that doesn't swim.
Oyster Bar and Seafood Restaurant ***1/2
395 Soi 24 Narathiwas-Rajanagarin Road
opposite Chatrium Residence (formerly Oakwood City Residence)
Yannawa, Bangkok 10120
Tel.: 02.212.4809
Oyster Bar
Open daily (except Monday): 6 - 11 pm (Sunday 10 pm)
Weekend brunch available between 12 - 3 pm (THB 1,680++)
Pay (food only for two): around THB 2,500 (incl. fresh oysters)
210
.Hero in a meringue specialty shop!I don't eat meringue often. To me, eating meringue is like eating baked sugar in bulk. Besides, I don't enjoy its chewy texture.
I like mousse. To me, eating mousse is like eating the combine of foam and air bubbles, it is playful. Most important is that mousse will not hurt my teeth.
At Mousses & Meringues, my favorite item is neither meringue (of course) nor mousse, it is her strawberry short cake, only available during weekends.
Once try, you could not get away from her, never!
Mousses & Meringues ****
Sukhumvit main branch
245 Soi Sawasdee
Sukhumvit Road Soi 31
Wattana, Bangkok 10110
Tel.: 02.662.1290
Open daily : 10 am - 7:00 pm
Pay (food only for two): around THB 220
Also branches at J-Avenue Thonglo (Mousses and Berry, Thonglo Soi 15) and Crystal Park Mall Praditmanutham Road
209
.The drowning of chickens
On the radar of many guide books including the Lonely Planet, Boon Tong Kiat (a.k.a. Singapore Chicken Rice) earns credit for its Singapore style Hainanese chicken rice of which the chicken had a firm but tender texture. It was!
I didn't visit this once marvelous small eatery for a while (seven years perhaps) after the departure of both of its Singaporean partners. Until recently, I switch my hang-out pleasure back to upper Sukhumvit area without a choice as long as I am off-limits to downtown Bangkok due to those 'red-shirts' (ooops now they are no-color-shirts) chaos; somehow I revisit Boon Tong Kiat.
This chicken rice shop just doesn't cook chicken and BBQ pork right following the Singapore recipe anymore!
Boon Tong Kiat Chicken Rice Restaurant 滿堂吉 ***
440/5 Soi Thonglo
Sukhumvit Road Soi 55
Wattana, Bangkok 10110
Tel.: 02.390.2508
Open daily : 10 am - 9 pm
Pay (food only for two): around THB 150
