I believe Bangkok is a familiar place to many. I’m sure many of you have at least one favorite place or dish to eat. My personal favorite dish, Goong chae nam pla, is sort of a Thai version ceviche. Raw prawns soaked in nam pla aka fish sauce, and often comes with an array of raw condiments such as lime juice, garlic, bird’s eye chili, coriander and sometimes lemongrass. I revisited the piquant dish from Laem Charoen Seafood, a Thai seafood restaurant that’s worth a visit if you are there. Here, they serve the condiments separately so you get to put it according to your fancy. I like to dip the prawns in the green chili sauce they serve to every table. At Laem Charoen, you should also try their deep fried fish. So crispy it felt like we were eating fish biscuit. You can pay a little more to have the special sauce to go with the fish but I prefer to just dip with the green chili sauce on the table and wash down with a glass of refreshing coconut freeze.
Greyhound café has made their way to Singapore at Paragon but it is still a must-visit for me when in Bangkok because the food is delicious and reasonably priced. The fried chicken wings are dangerously addictive. Their crabmeat fried rice with extra loads of crabmeat made us very happy. We also ordered the French onion soup, came unassuming with a serving of warm toasted buttery garlic bread. It’s wholesome and very flavorful. I could go for seconds if I have an extra stomach.
Sparkling Perrier poured over scoops of refreshing orange sorbet and bits of pomelo, we were literally drinking dessert.
Two things you should really try when in Bangkok. Fish maw soup and bird’s nest. I like the claypot fish maw soup at Hongmin Chinese Restaurant located at MBK. Silky smooth with generous serving of fish maw. Their steamed bird’s nest in young coconut was interesting. I love Thai coconut so this light and nourishing dessert was perfect for me. One vegetable dish that’s worth a mention is the water mimosa. Usually a simple sautéed with lots of baby garlic and chilies. You can easily find this dish in most restaurants and roadside stalls. I reckon even vegetable haters will enjoy this.
We took a cab to Asiatic on one of the nights. A market where you get your bargains and a few rows of interesting street food stalls. We queued for the pad thai, which was the best pad thai I had so far. And we had the immensely sweet and juicy baby pineapples which was in season.
During night falls, the lively Chinatown bustled with hawkers and enthusiastic hungry crowds. Here you can find the popular street foods like wanton noodles, fish maw soup, kuay chap which is basically flat rice noodles with tiny pieces of pig offal and slices of roasted pork belly swimming in hot peppery soup. The portions are usually small so it’s doable to try various dishes in a night.
Bangkok has no shortage of good desserts. Coffee Bean by Dao is a place to go for home-baked style cakes. They are best known for their cheesecakes. The Oreo cheesecake was decent. Only complaint was the chocolate ganache that covers the top of the cheesecake. Overwhelming. The cake did not taste like cookies and cream anymore. My favorite is the Toblerone cheesecake. The black coffee was surprisingly good. You can never go wrong with cheesecake and a cup of strong black coffee.
In the same area just few floors up is Audrey Café Des Fleurs. This is my favorite place for desserts so far. Go for the Milo Volcano Crepe cake. You must! They also have this interesting local dessert, smoky mango sticky rice. A very beautiful presentation with smoke effect. Very instagramable plate.
We randomly walked into PAUL for coffee and ended up having this. French-style banana split. Consist of chocolate moelleux, chocolate ice cream, hot fudge, sliced bananas, sliced almonds, whipped cream. Bliss.
We’ll be back sometime.
