Nut & Itchy in Bangkok (part 2)

Day 3 - Saphan Taksin, Siam Center, Platinum & Sukhumvit 33.

We began the day with a BTS ride to Saphan Taksin again, then a short walk to locate Thip Volcanic Mussels & Oysters. It's along one of the main roads near the river, Charoen Krung 50, before the Bangrak Robinson mall, and is a little shop which also sells fish ball noodles.

We ordered the mussels and oysters of course, and just as we suspected, it really was a lot like 'or chien'. But unlike its Malaysian counterpart, it's not just an oyster omelette. The batter dough is fried separately first, giving it alot of crispy bits, along with bean sprouts, mussels, the eggy omelette bit added to it, then a heap of oysters on top of that. Not bad.


Next stop, Chitlom. We wandered around Central Shopping Plaza but realised it was too schwanky for us plebeians. So was the fancy food court upstairs. It started to rain so we made our way to Siam Center & Siam Paragon nearby. A walkway actually linked the Chitlom BTS station to Siam.

Everything in Siam was expensive though, so we couldn't bring ourselves to buy anything. We went to check out the Siam Center Food For Fun food court, which was recommended on a few websites. It was spacious, modern and comfortable, but the food was only so-so. The food court at Platinum (we ate here the following day), was heaps better in terms of variety and price.

We hopped on a tuk-tuk to Platinum next, located in the Pratunam area on Petchaburi Rd. This new mall is right opposite Amari Watergate hotel. Oh my goodness. We went berserk. And it's probably where we spent the bulk of our cash. Clothes, accessories, shoes and bags, all in wholesale prices and air-conditioned comfort. Only snag was, you had to buy stuff in 3s to qualify for 'wholesale price'. We were here from 1pm - 8pm and walked till our feet could walk no more.

Finally, our starving tummies needed some attention. And we found it at Chokchai Steak House. From Asok BTS, it's quite a long walk. We didn't know this then, so we walked all the way to Sukhumvit 33, then a good 500-600m in, past the red light area of Soi Cowboy. The steakhouse was located at Prasanmit Plaza. It's a really nice place, and the steaks were amazing. And for the quality we were getting, a very good deal too.

The beef was dry aged (you could choose between 15 or 30 days), and came from their own farm, Farm Chokchai. You could even go there for a homestay, and learn how to make your own ice cream from their cow's milk. How cool is that? We didn't know about this earlier though, or we might have gone.

LY and I both ordered the 15-day dry aged prime rib, junior size (a smaller cut)... medium rare, of course. Anything less red and the cow would have died in vain. It came with some brown sauce, a baked potato with sour cream, onion and bacon bits, as well as some steamed veges (carrots, beans and radish). It was SO DAMN good. And at 280 baht, it's a freaking steal. You could also opt for the 30-day dry aged (double the price), and if beef is not your thing, they also have pork (chops, ribs, the works), chicken and even tuna steaks.

We finished off our meal with some coffee and their homemade ice-cream (rum and raisin) from their farm. Lovely lovely. A very satisfying meal indeed.

Day 4 - Platinum, Sukhumvit 34, Thipsamai & Chotechitr (Banglamphu)

Yes. More shopping at Platinum. The day before we covered the Basement floor right up to the 3rd floor and some of the 4th floor. Today we explored the 4th floor and had lunch at their food court on the 5th.

It's a fantastic food court. Great variety, lots of stuff you won't find in the schwankier places in Siam. Like this tau fu fa (soybean curd) in ginger tea. The tau fu fa here is served with crispy bits, something like mini yao char koay (crullers). The ginger tea was warming to the tummy. So comforting. Not to sweet. So delicious. I went back to the stall to try the herbal jelly (like our kwai ling gao) in ginger tea. It was okay. The ginger tea and tau fu fa combo was much nicer. Another interesting dessert was this grilled banana, which they flatten out on a skewer before serving. It was nice on its own. The dip that came with was kinda weird - a savoury tamarind-like sauce.


Tau fu fa with ginger tea, Herbal jelly with ginger tea, Grilled smacked bananas with weird tasting dip.

Oh, of course we had mains. LY tried the beef noodles here while I had the braised duck noodles. They tasted better than the ones at Siam Center's food court. We only had so many stomachs so we couldn't try everything here, but among the other stuff you could eat - braised pork knuckle and fried pork with rice, Thai-style economy rice, different types of noodles (fried/soup/with pork, chicken or seafood), fried oysters and mussles (like or chien), mango and papaya salads, a Halal section, Japanese, more Thai desserts, a stall selling milk products, bread and the list goes on.

After a while, everything in Platinum started to look like a blur to us, so we decided to leave. LY regretted not buying some toys she saw at one of the shops (really cute stuff), but it was a good thing she didn't or she wouldn't know where to pack them in her suitcase.

Next we headed off for some alcoholic ice-cream at Almatery. Taking the BTS to Phrom Phrong station, it was quite a walk down Sukhumvit 34, which reminded me very much of Mont Kiara. Lots of nice apartments with a few boutique retail shops in between. One such retail area is Camp Davis, which had a Starbucks and another recommended place to eat Yum & Tum. But we were here for the ice cream.

If you want to try Amaltery the next time you're in Bangkok, they are moving end of this month to Urban Kitchen in Erawan on Ploenchit Rd. It's very near the Chitlom BTS, in one of the fancy plazas. Oh, back to the ice cream. They had lots of yummy flavours such as Margarita, Long Island Tea, Midori Sour, Blue Vodka, Banana Daiquiri, Chocolate and Cherry Brandy, just to name a few I can remember. We had the Margarita, Long Island Tea, Midori Sour and Banana Daiquiri. Super lovely! Especially after that long walk in!


Hic! Hic! Hic!

It was almost evening by that time, and we wanted to try our luck with Thipsamai. While we're in Banglamphu again, we could also go to Chotechitr, another highly recommended authentic Thai restaurant.

We took the BTS to Saphan Taksin again, and hopped on a river ferry to Chang pier. Along the way, we saw Wat Arun, the famed Temple of Dawn, by the river. When we got to the pier, we walked into the old city, and saw some nice old buildings, a university and huge, gleaming temple complex. It grew dark as we approached Thipsamai, and to our relief, it was OPEN! :D


Thipsamai's blazing woks; Pad Thai cooking.

Thipsamai (yes, they have a website!) is apparently the place to go for Pad Thai, Nam Song (orange juice) and frozen coconut juice. We ordered 2 different types of Pad Thai and the two recommended drinks. The pad thai was yummy, generous with the egg and dried prawns, chives and sprouts (25 or 30 baht depending on type of noodles). You could add prawns or order some different version for 60 baht.


Thipsamai Pad Thai; Nam Song; Frozen Coconut Juice.

We were kinda stuffed by then, but didn't want to come back to this part of Bangkok (Banglamphu is so far away), so we braved our to Chotechitr next, hoping our stomach's digestive system would work fast.


Chotechitr, in a quiet little part of town.

Chotechitr is a small, charming little place in Phraeng Phuton, a little lane off Tanao Road near the Democracy Monument. It's very easy to miss if you just happen to pass by. Famous for their banana flower salad, many a foreign and local journalist have sung praises about it, as evident in the newspaper cut-outs displayed on the wall.


Chotechitr - note the little fella at our table; Banana flower salad.

The salad was quite different, with a smokey chilli and peanuty flavoured sauce. We also ordered a fish tom yam (tom yam pla) and a green curry chicken. The tomyam didn't quite taste like tom yam as we know it. The clear soup was flavourful, but more from the fermented soy beans they used. It was spicy from the chili padi, and sour from lime, but not the tom yam that we're used to. Very different.


Tom Yam Pla; Green Curry Chicken.

The green curry was a little sweet for our taste buds, but the whole meal tasted very home made. We were already stuffed from pad thai earlier, so we ended up taking away the left overs (we had quite a bit) and having it for breakfast the next day.


Two carpets; The sleeping Chotechitr Chihuahua.

Oh, the owner had two mascots of her own. Her very friendly shih tzu. And her little sleeping chihuahua under her table.

And just in case you think the only pictures I took were of food, here are some non-foodie ones. Hehe!


Wat Arun by the Chao Phraya, The old royal theatre in Banglamphu.

Day 5 - Chatuchak & Siam Paragon

We spent the whole day at Chatuchak Market. Doggie treats and chewies were cheap there. And it was quite disturbing to see very young puppies for sale (too young to be away from their mothers). Shopped and walked and shopped some more and we were finally shopped out. So we headed to Siam Paragon to buy edible souvenirs (tamarind candy, instant noodles, chips) to bring home. We had dinner at the food court there, but it was so-so. I guess the more expensive the place, the more so-so the food becomes.

We ended the night with another 2-hour massage, and had beer in our room with chips. Bliss. We were so tired we abandoned the plan to hang out at Sky Bar in Sirocco. It's in Silom and would require us to travel to Saphan Taksin (the other end of the train line) again. We were put off by the travelling time and distance. Next time lah.

Day 6 - Going home

At Burger King in Suvarnabhumi Airport.
OH MY GAWD!!



Don't worry. I didn't have the Triple Whopper.
I had the double cheeseburger with bacon. PORK bacon. Sigh.

It was good fun eh, chaboh?
Now... to recover from post holiday blues :(

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