BKK Work Trip, March 2012: Home Sweet Home

 

Arrival in BKK @ Renaissance Bangkok Hotel

Coffee Beans by Daos & Banana Prata

La Tavola

Bangkok Street Shots

Another Hound Cafe 

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I do enjoy traveling. As often as I say work trips are always different from personal trips,  I'm extremely grateful that I landed myself in a job that allowed me to travel :) Counting my blessings that I'll be able to venture into more regions soon! Before we usher in the weekend, here is the final post of BKK work trip.

 

After a hearty lunch at Another Hound Cafe, I met up with Roger at Black Canyon Coffee (Platinum Mall) for a quick coffee session before I head to the airport.

 

He had extended his trip to rest & relax for a couple more days in BKK.

 

My 2nd glass of thai ice tea within 2 hours. You can probably tell that this is my standard drink in Thailand. Thai ice tea tasted differently across Thailand as well, depending on the type of sugar/milk used.

 

In Thai restaurants, thai ice tea is served in a tall glass. When sold from street & market stalls, it is more typically poured over crushed ice in a transparent bag or tall plastic cups. To me, it doesn't matter as long as it's good! 

Black Canyon Coffee

Platinum Mall, Ground Floor

 

 On the way to the airport. I normally leave for the airport 3 hours before actual flight time, as we all know of BKK's horrific traffic jam. I tend to leave slightly earlier if my flight is on Friday evening, as the traffic jam starts early for many of the city dwellers will leave work earlier to begin their drive back to their home town.

Taking the highway, passing by the 1st toll.

 

 Baiyoke Tower with its recognizable "Joy is BMW" advertisement from afar.

 

 Some of the car-shoots that I took along the way.

Traffic starting to build up. Sometimes, I even see policemen on the highway directing the traffic to ease congestion. It was smooth traffic to the airport after we passed the 2nd toll. In fact, I fell asleep at the back of the car & the driver woke me up when he asked which airline I'm taking. 

 

One of the airports that I normally frequent, besides Changi Airport & KLIA.

Waiting for check-in only to be notified that the flight will be delayed :(  

 

With the delay in flight, that technically meant that I had close to 3.5 hours to burn in the airport. I walked around the main hall area, took a few "touristy" pictures like the above. Time checked - only 30 min had passed.

 

Headed for a meal to satisfy my mama-mee craving, watched some drama till I had to conserve my battery for the way home. Time checked - 1 hour passed. 

 

Straight to Chanel for some retail therapy. Had to force brainwash myself not to buy anything as we'll be heading to Europe in a couple of weeks.

 

Walked into duty-free & checked out a couple of items. Tried on several scents for my new perfume, but they just don't seem to fit my taste. Walked out empty-handed too. Time checked - 45 min had passed.

 

Strolled my way to departure gate for the flight. 

Home sweet home, soon!

Junior Chefs @ Work II - May edition

We've been cooking our meals for the past month & I'm proud to say that supermarkets are fast becoming my new hangout places! Nv did I realise that cooking is so much fun, seeing your creations taking shape. Well, I'm self-declared Chef Leecher's most capable assistant! The jobs & responsibilities of an assistant include:

1. Decide what dishes to cook for the week

2. Go marketing for the necessary ingredients.

3. Prepare the required ingredients - washed, sliced, diced etc

4. Make sure the required condiments are laid out properly beside the stove.

5. Call the Chef to step into the kitchen to cook.

6. Wash up the dishes while Chef Leecher is cooking.

7. Cook enough rice for 2 pax (This is something that Chef Leecher sucks at)

8. Take pictures of the food once ready.

Let me share some of the dishes that we have cooked in the month of May  :) 

 

Roast pork with tomatoes & vegetables. I had mine in a wrap while Leecher polished off the rest on the plate.

Leecher attempting a tomato omelette. I had to remind him that he is not Gordon Ramsey and shouldn't attempt to flip the egg in the air!

 A simple meal of tomatoes with eggs, steamed fish cake & vegetables.

Leecher was too hungry and started first before I could snap the pic. 

 

Ingredients for fried rice.  

The fun part was mixing everything into the dish. 

 

Tasted not bad for our first attempt! 

A simple dinner of chicken (marinated and contributed from mummy dearest!) cooked in gravy with corn & carrots & steamed ngoh hiang.

Vegetables with mushroom & grilled teriyaki salmon with garlic.

We normally have 2 dishes for dinner & that is sufficient for the 2 of us.

Baked teriyaki salmon with mushroom & steamed eggs with minced pork. 

Tata ~ our cooking adventures in the month of May. Stay tuned next month for our creations in June :) 

Kim's Family Korean Restaurant

 One of the rare times the uni gang met up for dinner on a weekday night. We drove all the way from work to Bt Timah area, braving the horrendous traffic jam, all in the name of Korean food.

 I have long heard about Kim's Family Korean Restaurant. When we were in the area previously, Leecher was busy checking out their menu & was planning for a trip back. So, here we are!

 

Find a spot on the wall and feel free to write anything. 

 

Simple utensils placed on the dining table. 

 The 12 banchans that were mentioned on every food blog that I chanced upon. There were more misses than hits, as A LOT of dishes were extremely salty. Even Leecher, who normally has a higher tolerance level for salt felt the same way. Disappointing start. In fact, I hardly find an entry that posted a bad review on this restaurant. I did have my reservations about raving for this place, when all we encountered were bad food & bad service.  We wanted to refill 2 banchans & after countless requests, only 1 banchan came. I have lost count of the number of times that I had to repeat my request to 3 different people who happened to walk past our table.

This was taken before our mood went downhill.

We ordered the recommended spicy seafood hotpot. When it came, it was just plain water with seafood and topped with lots of chilli powder (or some red powder, seasoning perhaps?). So we left it to cook & stir it occasionally. Once it was cooked, the broth tasted yucky & reeked of seafood smell. The smell is akin to you visiting the wet market and walking towards the wet section. Plus, it wasn't spicy. I need to rant about the noodles too, so please bear with me! When placing orders, I asked if they could add maggi mee into the hotpot. The waitress replied that they serve glass noodles in the hotpot, but I can top up $5 to add extra maggi mee. Since I love ramen, I went ahead with the extra charges. When the hot pot came, it came served in maggi mee! Not only that - the extra noodles that I paid for came in another bowl, cooked. By the time the hotpot was cooked, my noodles were soggy :(

We ordered a set of BBQ set to share as well. The waitress above proceeded to BBQ it for us. After she put the meat on the BBQ grill, she left the table. No indication if she will be coming back to finish the BBQ or are we supposed to do it on our own. We were left clueless for a few minutes before we decided to BBQ it ourselves. Our request for more lettuce, again, went unheard 4 times before it finally arrived. We finished our meal asap & all of us were thankful to step out of this space. In a nutshell, I don't think I'll ever head back to Kim's Family Korean restaurant, for they made me feel like an outsider intruding within their premises.   

Kim's Family Korean Restaurant

17 Lorong Kilat

#01-06 Singapore 598139

Tel: 64650535

BKK Work Trip, March 2012: Another Hound Cafe

 

Related entries for this trip:

Arrival in BKK @ Renaissance Bangkok Hotel

Coffee Beans by Daos & Banana Prata

La Tavola

Bangkok Street Shots

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I settled at Another Hound Cafe (by Greyhound) for lunch. Following the success of Greyhound Cafe, they created a sister brand, Another Hound Cafe with the concept of Chic & Glam Asian - Italian dining twist. 

"Half breed usually produces an amazing result, more beautiful in unexpected ways. The same applied with our menu of italian delicacy with spicy thai twists. Both are very tasty, full of herbs and spices. When mixed together in an artful way, it created an amazing taste and aroma like you have never tried before."

I was able to get a table quickly, but a party of 6 that arrived after me had to wait for 15 min before they could enter the cafe. 

 

 Sweet Hound, which is a dessert bar conceptualized to hit the sweet spot of any sweet tooth's tastebuds. This is located just next to the cafe, where you can indulge in your favourite desserts. 

 

They have a couple of seasonal menus, eg: Summer Special, Special Menu that cater to the months/occasion.  

 

I had a table by the corner, so I couldn't get a nice picture of the interior :( Well, food came along pretty fast, so I was all ready to tuck in! 

 

Thai Iced Tea to start :) This came with tea ice-cubes, which I'm grateful for to quench my thirst in the humid weather. 

I ordered items from the "Special Menu", so I'm not sure if these items will be featured in their main menus. Started my lunch with Tamarind Fried Chicken with root chips (THB180). Wow, this was rather spicy though it looked like plain fried chicken. 

Dory Fish with Thai Herb (THB520). Served on a pool of cabbage, the dory was the only thing I ate, lol! In my defense (besides the fact that I don't like my veggies), these cabbages actually tasted raw.

 "Tan hai aroi na", loosely translated into Bon Appetite.

Another Hound Cafe & Sweet Hound Cafe

Siam Paragon, 1st Floor

Tel: 66 0 2129 4409 10

Opening Hours: 11am till 10pm (daily)