Monday 24 December 2012

S&P Simply Delicious @ Don Muang Airport, Bangkok

I had my flight back to Kuala Lumpur today and as Bangkok is well known for traffic jams, I arrived pretty early at the airport. Luckily I was flying Air Asia and it departed from Don Muang Airport and not Suwarnabhumi International Airport. Once I finished the chick in which was pretty fast, I had another 2 hours before flight time. I had missed breakfast this morning and my stomach was already raising the red flag. I walked around the International Departure Hall and most of the restaurants there were fast food and I wanted to try something local. Hence the only local restaurant there was this S&P Simply Delicious Restaurant.

The Restaurant At The Departure Lounge
This restaurant was one of the few that had decent seating places too. The others were more like bar counters except for Starbucks which had the usual couches but unfortunately they were taken up. Having decided for this restaurant, I came in and went through the menu.

Interior of the restaurant
The restaurant had a beautiful layout, cosy and space optimisation. The staffs were very friendly too and this guy spent time with me going through the menu assisting me with the food and explaining what they are.

Plain White Thai Rice
I ordered the Thai Massaman Curry which comes with rice. It looked good on the picture and I wanted something spicy too. Honestly I have never tried this dish before and this is my first time.

Thai Massaman Curry
It looks delicious. Okay with the first taste, I regretted ordering something that I did not know much about. I was looking for something of a curry base because I wanted something spicy but this curry was sweet, I mean really sweet. I believe the food was definitely up to its mark but it was not up to what I anticipated as I had anticipated the taste wrongly. It had great amounts of potatos which I love and chicken chunks. The portion was great and surely worth the price but sad that I did not enjoy it. Perhaps if I had been used to this taste and was expecting this, this dish surely would have swept me off my feet. Well, this could also be because of the stereotype that food in Thailand is always spicy. My mistake indeed. Should have clarified more. The bigger slap was yet to come and you would know why soon.

Sticky Rice with Durian

Well, I had already pre ordered the desert earlier. As I was expecting something extremely spicy, I was looking at a desert that was sweet and it turned out against me. Having had the main course that was sweet and against my anticipation, this desert was even sweeter. It was good no doubt. It was served hot, with fabulous sticky rice and thick durian flesh and milk, yet I was not able to enjoy it. All spoiled by my initial wrong order. However I will still vouch for them that this restaurant is good and serves quality food. The environment is excellent, cosy, comfortable and the food served is of high quality and great presentation. The price is also very reasonable and would not burn a hole in your wallet.  A strong recommendation to anyone flying off from this airport.

Address: Don Muang International Airport (DMK),
              Vibhavadi Rangsit Road, Si Kan, Don Mueang,
              Bangkok 10210, Thailand.

Opening Hours: 24 Hours 

Sunday 23 December 2012

Street Food @ Chinatown, Bangkok

If you are looking for street food in Bangkok, Chinatown is the place. I did not know of this place until today's visit. My friend who is a Thai met me at the hotel earlier today. As we were speaking, I suggested that we should go for street food for dinner and that is when he suggested me to go to Chinatown. We took a taxi from the hotel and arrived here in about 30 minutes.

Chinatown, Bangkok
Once we arrived here, I was surprised to such the vast expanse of stalls along the side walks. There were easily a few hundred stalls on both sides of the road.

Walking In Chinatown
Chinatown, Bangkok
Once we got off the taxi, we started walking along these stalls. My plan was to try a number of various street food here.

Variety of food

Juice Stall

More Food Options

More Food Options

More Food Options

Thai Durians

Food Everywhere

Great Variety
As you could see from the photos above, these were just a sample of the number of stalls and food options here.

Plain Flour Being Steamed

The Filling Being Cooked

The First Dish I Tried

Great Food
The above four photos shows the process of making this final dish. This is a simple dish and it was delicious. I was surprised to see how easily you could cook something delicious. I surely liked this.

Continuing My Hunt For Food
We walked on an tried a few more simple street food like the earlier one. Time to have a main dish.

Lovely Pepper Soup with Pork

A Family Run Stall

Various Pork Parts To Choose From

Yummy!!!

Wonderful dish!!!
This was my main course and I would highly recommend this. In fact I had two bowls here tonight. After the various street food earlier, I came across this stall which sells Pork in Hot Peppery Soup and Kuey Tiow. I placed my order, choose the parts that I wanted and picked my place. Within a few minutes, the dish was served. It was heavenly. Truly the best version of this dish that I have ever tried before. As mentioned earlier, I was not satisfied with one dish and helped myself to another bowl too. Absolutely heavenly.

Iced Sea Coconut Drink
The best option after gulping so much hot pepper soup is to try this drink. It is also sold in the same stall. A great one that goes well with the earlier dishes.

Dim Sum Stall

More Food Options

More Food Options
We walked around a little more munching some of these wonderful food and we were very full after some time. On the whole, this is a great place for you to have your dinner especially if you love stall hopping and am adventurous enough to try street food and the local delicacies.

Address: Chinatown, Thanon Charoen Krung,
               Samphanthawong, Bangkok, 
               10100 Thailand.

Open Hours: 1730 to pass midnight

Moulin @ Siam Discovery, Bangkok

I am spending the weekend in Bangkok on both work and leisure and today, I decided to visit Siam Discovery Mall in Bangkok. After going around and since it was lunch time, decided to head to the 6th Floor to walk around where there were a number of restaurants. After going through the entire floor, decided to head to Moulin.

Moulin at Siam Discovery
The place was quite vacant at this time of the day. I chose a seat quite close to the open air area but of course there was a glass partition to keep off the heat.

Me at the restaurant
Once there, I was given two sets of menus. One being the ala carte and the other being the set menu. The set menu did indeed seem very cheap so I chose one of the items in the set menu.

Lunch Set Menu
This is the Lunch Set Menu and I chose the Spicy Grilled Chicken with Butter Fried Rice. At 189 Bahts, this was quite a deal. The other ala carte items were around 400 - 700 Bahts each.

Interior of the restaurant
I was told that this place is quite packed at nights. However during this time there was just a few of us and quite a number of waiters.

The Interior of the Restaurant
One thing that surprised me was that thought there were only a handful of us, it did take a very long time for even the drinks to arrive. It seems that the cooking is done elsewhere and is brought here.

Thai Branded Coca Cola
After a 20 minutes wait, my drink arrives. Still there is no sign of the food.

Spicy Grilled Chicken with Butter Fried Rice at 189 Baht
Okay. After waiting for a total of 40 minutes, my food arrives. Guess it, it is absolutely tiny portion. I can finish this in just three bites.

Closer Look At The Dish
I just could not believe that the portion size is so small. No wonder the set meal was very cheap. I believe the ala carte would have been a decent size. I observed that from the dishes that other patrons ordered. Taste wise, it was good. No complaints on the taste but what use is that when it does not satisfy your hunger.

French Fries @ 300 Baht
I had to pick up the Ala Carte menu and order another side dish to satisfy my hunger, perhaps something high in carbs would be good. Thats why I ordered the above French Fries and it came after waiting for another 20 minutes.

Locally Made Heinz
You may be wondering why I took the photographs of the sauce bottles. I find their taste to be more authentic and pure. We do not get such pure Tomato Sauces in Malaysia, even the Heinz. It surely deserves a word of mention.

Special Set Lunch Options
Besides the standard set lunch menu, they also have another special set lunch menu which is just bundling with some soups and coffee. On the whole, I find this restaurant to be expensive as if I have dined in Kuala Lumpur, it would cost perhaps only two thirds of what it had cost me here. However, later I was advised by my friend that the cost of food in Bangkok is expensive.

In a nutshell, this is an okay place to have a meal, especially when you are with a hug group of friends. The environment is good and cosy but the tab is a little high. Food is good but not the best.

Address: Siam Discovery, Mood Dining 6A Floor,
               Rama I Road, Bangkok, Thailand.

Telephone: +66 2 658 0024

Opening Hours: 1000 - 2200 Daily

Website: https://www.facebook.com/moulinsquare


Thursday 20 December 2012

Mum's Place @ Damansara Perdana

This outlet is one of my favourite outlets in Damansara Perdana, especially when it comes to Nyonya Food. It is located right behind The Place in Damansara Perdana but is well visible when you get to that street. I have been dining here for many years and this time, when my Global CEO and APAC CEO were down in Malaysia, I decided to take the whole team to this place. I had made the reservation the previous night as I specifically needed a long table to seat around 13 people.

The owner of this place was previously a banker from Seremban. A Malay gentleman, who had initially set up a high end furniture store at this very same location and as business was down, decided to convert it into a restaurant. The food is extremely good here and to some extent can be very spicy. It is a Halal restaurant but draft beer is served in house.

The items that I have ordered for the day are all items which I have tried and approved of its quality and taste in the past. Now coming to the food for the day.

Cencaru Fish with Chilly Paste and Petai
The above dish is an extremely spicy dish. What I did was instead of ordering a fish each, I ordered smalled portions so that everyone could taste more items and if anything was needed, then of course we could always add on. Let me add a note that it is a little pricey here but still manageable for occasional splurges. This dish is highly recommended.

Portuguese Devil Curry
  Another highly recommended dish at this place. This is not too spicy, mildly spiced with a little sweetness in it and a thick gravy.

Otak Otak...a local Malaysian Dish
The Otak Otak here is also quite good. It is skinned hence leaving you with little work and you don't have to get your fingers messy.

Spicy Mutton Curry with Potato's
This is one of my favorites here too. But I honestly always feel that the portion is too small for the price...perhaps because I am a mutton lover...hehehe

Butter Prawns
This was okay but not the best that I have tried. I have tried better ones in some Chinese restaurants. This was a little soggy though.

Steamed Eggs
This again was average. You can get better ones outside unless you find it difficult to have in a Halal restaurant, then it is fine to have it here.

Grilled Brinjals with Pepper
This was good and is a repetitive dish every time I come here.

Chinese Style Mixed Vegetables
I would rate this dish average too. The sauces did not seep in well into the food and it seemed a little raw at times.

Sweet & Sour Garoupa Fish
This dish was excellent but a little expensive.

A bottle of lovely wine

Another excellent Australian Wine
Well, the food alone was never complete if not for these lovely wines as we had some ardent wine drinkers at the table. Of course, we purchased these outside and were allowed to bring it in without any corkage charges.

All The Plates Cleaned
Everyone was happy with the food that night as you can see it was cleared. The total bill for the food came to RM 600+....okay for 13 pax I guess.I would always recommend that if it is a big group, call a day ahead and book your place.

Address: 33-1 Jalan PJU 8/5A, Bandar Damansara Perdana,
               47820 Petaling Jaya, Selangor.

Tel: +603 7727 8443

Opening Hours: 1130 - 2230

Web: www.mumsplace.com.my