Siam Paragon Nom Noms (Bangkok, Thailand)

The basement of Siam Paragon in Bangkok will make anybody drool. There are tons of fantastic small restaurant and dessert spots as well as several stalls that sells traditional Thai snacks. Coel and I dedicated one afternoon to exploring the different snacks and foods in this foodie wonderland. Here are some of the pictures

Thai sausages. I had the chili and Thai basil one

Fried glutinous rice balls with peanut and fried taro with sesame

Cakes filled with taro, red bean, custard

Grilled Thai sausage

Chinese pancakes filled with red bean

Omelet curry. I had this last time I was here.

Thai crepes filed with colored shredded coconut

Liquid nitrogen ice cream

My passion fruit liquid nitrogen ice cream

 

Bangkok Street Food Part 1

On my last trip to Bangkok I blogged about the street food and there is no way I can be here again and not do the same. Bangkok has one of the best variety of street food vendors I have seen in all my travels around Asia. On my last trip to Bangkok I only ate at about two or three actual restaurants and ate everything else from the vendors. Having lived as an expat in Asia for a great deal of my life and being half Indonesian, eating street food snacks reminds me of my childhood and makes me happy. I gotta eat up because I sure can't get this stuff back in Edmonton.

Coconut ice cream with corn and candied pumpkin at
Chatuchak Market

Making fried fish cake things

FAV FOOD #1 Fried fish with chili sauce

I don't know what these are called but I grew up eating this
in Indonesia. Its used in their ice desserts. Water chestnut with some sort
of jelly around it. Kind of like the bubbles in bubble tea.



Green tea soft serve



Pancake! So good drizzled with condensed milk



Coel's favorite. Fried glutinous rice balls filled with pumpkin





My dad's steamed corn with condensed milk



MY FAV #2: Thai iced coffee

Fried fish balls on a stick

Pad Thai (I actually really don't like pad Thai)

Bangkok Food Courts (Central World, Central Chitlom, MBK)

Central World food court on the top floor of Central World in Bangkok is one of my favorite food courts in the city. Unlike back home in Canada, food courts in Thailand are filled with an variety of local and regional foods and designed in a very practical and effective manner.

At Central World and LOFT at Central Chitlom you receive a pass when you enter that acts like a credit card. When you order your food from whichever stall they charge the pass and when you leave the food court you pay whats charged on the pass. This eliminates the lines and stress of paying at each of the food stalls. At MBK you pre purchase coupons at a booth which you use to pay for your food with and any left over coupons can be traded back for cash. At Siam Paragon you pre pay for a pass and the vendors deduct the food cost. You then return the pass and they return any money still left on the card.

While most people may not understand the appeal at eating at a food court when your in Thailand since there are so many other options available, I personally think its the best way to get an idea and taste of all the different Thai foods available. Perhaps you have to see one to understand what I'm talking about (I'll post a picture later). But if you find yourself in Bangkok for the first time hit up one of the food courts at any one of the large malls and you'll find stalls after stalls of tasty food from all over Thailand. Don't forget the Thai dessert stalls!

Tom Yam soup, pork omelet over rice

Omelet over rice with chicken karage and curry sauce

Popular Thai dish: fried oyster omelet



Spring roll with shredded egg and tamarind sauce

Noodles with bbq pork from MBK food court

Shrimp sui mai and bbq steam buns from MBK

Ice dessert with coconut milk from MBK

Thailand Bound

HELLO THAILAND

I am back again and armed with my camera and appetite

Agenda:

• Bangkok (Chatuchak Market, Grand Palace, Jim Thompson House, Chao Phraya River and dinner cruise, Vimnemek Teak Mansion, Siam Paragon/Square, Platinum, MBK)
• Ko Tao (snorkeling trip around the island, Siree beach
• Ko Samui (Lamai, Chaweng, Bo Put fisherman's village, waterfall, Grandmother Grandfather rock, mummified monk, Big Buddha)

Socrates (St. Albert)

Massive triple decker club house and a Reuben

 

Socrates Restaurant is a cute little diner type restaurant up in St. Albert that specializes in breakfast but also has a great simple lunch menu with some yummy sandwiches. This time around I ordered the Reuben (deli sliced corned beef, sauerkraut, swizz, mayo, on rye bread and topped with pickles). Coel had the Club Sandwich which was a big fat triple decker sandwich filled with the usual club sandwich items (tomato, cheddar, turkey (processed unfortunately), mayo, bacon, lettuce). All sandwiches come with choice of fries, house salad or Cesar salad. Both sandwiches were about 10$ each and in our opinion well worth it simple because of the size. We weren't very impressed with the salad though so we'll skip that next time (Kraft packaged dressing, bagged salad).

 

I haven't seen the breakfast menu but from what I heard Socrates has one of the best breakfast menus in town. Their lunch menu consists of pizzas, pastas, mac and cheese, sandwiches, steak, some salads, and typical diner type appetizers. Their pastas sound really good so I'm tempted to try one next time. Baked mac and cheese anyone? As for their sandwiches, they have quite a selection which includes a Dever sandwich (basically a Denver omelet sandwich), Philly cheese steak, some other sandwich on dark rye with corned beef (real beef, not that canned stuff ew), and several others.

 

The restaurant itself is pretty cute and its clearly gone through renovations from its original interior. There are big wide windows around the whole restaurant which keeps the place nice and bright and I'm sure its a lot nicer in the summer than it is in the winter (looking out onto the dirty winter roads and such).

 

I'll be back. Just not for their coffee (almost 3$ for coffee???) and salad.

 

Ricky's Grill (South Edmonton Common)

Breakfast at Ricky's....to be continued

Opps I did it again

Champagne mouse with pomegranate gelee topped with pomegranate seeds and a mini ginger macaron
+
Winter Tart

 

I know how sick all my followers must be of all my lovely Duchess Bakeshop pictures but I could not resist posting the most recent photos of what this amazing shop has to offer. Coel and I were there early this Saturday to beat the line up and stock up on goodies before hordes of my follow Edmontonians did the same. There was so much, as usual, that I wanted to try. *Drool*

We eventually settled on the Winter Tart, Champagne Mouse, and our Duchess staple, the brioche pepin.

 

Ah...my day was made. However, I must return again next weekend to try all the other wonderful treats I missed out on this weekend. I am also looking forward to eventually trying one of their sandwiches or quiches. They looks so good. I saw that they also had a lunch deal for 12$ that included either a slice of quiche or sandwich, soup, and a hot beverage. Very good deal if you ask me. I also saw a blue cheese and asparagus bread pudding which I am curious to try.

 

For those looking for hostess gifts or something to bring to a Christmas gathering, I strongly suggest you stop by and pick up a package of their mini meringues which are only five dollars and something cents. They are currently offering them in chocolate, candy cane, and coconut.