Chanthaburi

Just traveled to Chanthaburi for a vacation. My group stayed in Cabin Creek Home stay with a convenient location next to a creek as the name suggest. I would recommend this place for a lazy vacation day in nature surroundings.

Watkhaobanchob are located close to Cabin creek and the place is close to Pratoosawan which translates literally to “Heaven’s Gate” The place is just amazing for a slow and relaxing walk in nature.

Ended my trip with Buffet style seafood. Shrimp, Crab and Fried Sea bass are just fresh and taste amazing.

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PARADAi

Bangkok Phra Nakorn area consists of numerous hidden gems of interesting places. As above photos suggest, I’ve just visited National museum next to Thammasat University. I would personally recommend 2-3 hours for a visit for an enjoyable strolling.

Then my group went to a recently opened chocolate specialist place called “Paradai”. The name are originated from a supplier of Cocoa in Nakhon Si Thammarat Province in southern part of Thailand. The word means family and harmony in Thai language and it also rhyme with Paradise in English as the staff informed me.

Paradai open from 9:00-18:00 and close on Tuesday. Three months old as the day I visited. Some system are still balancing however, I’m certain that the quality of Cocoa is worth waiting.

Variety of Bon bons, chocolate truffles pricing from 35 THB – 50 THB. Chocolate bar with 58% Milk Chocolate and 75% Dark chocolate with 250 THB price.

I have ordered nearly all Bon Bons they could provide that day with a cup of Marshmallow Hot Chocolate and a guest star “Jin-Kun” from Hokkaido >_< Hot chocolate with generous amount of cocoa is one of the best way to start my exciting day. The taste are not too bitter or too sweet.

Sainumpueng orange cream cheese – Sweet & Sour Sainumpueng orange with creamy cheese flavor just to kick start my appetite.

Chompooparn (Raspberry & Roselle) – Moderate amount of acidity and sourness with decent amount of cocoa.

(Nilratt) Matcha & Sencha – Not insanely sweet like majority of matcha products in Thailand with decent of of Tea aroma.

Surakarni (Thai milk tea) – Perfect combination of Thai milk tea with balance sweetness and aroma of milk tea with enjoyable cocoa.

Wiroon Hok (Galangal & Yuzu) – My friends clearly doesn’t like this one since Yuzu and Galagal are not a familiar choice for sweet in Thailand. I personally like Yuzu in sweet recipe since it could brings out insane amount of goodness from boring sweet aspect by adding fresh acidic aroma. Personally recommend this for more adventurous flavor. Galangal also have some warm aspect and I would love to see more of these colorful flavor in the future.

Hanuman (Hazelnut & Malibu) – Alcohol aroma with bitterness from cocoa and crunchy texture from Hazelnut.

Sahassadejd (Salted caramel) – Sweet and salty with melty chocolate texture. This one does rise as one of my friends favorite.

 

Patom Organic Living

Recently stumbled upon an interesting organic cafe with distinct Glasshouse structure in a garden in Sukhumvit area. With some curiosity, I’ve entered the place to further explore the cafe.

The main cafe located in the glasshouse consists of organic bakery, Thai dessert, Thai food in Pinto(little food container with distinct silver color) and organic products which percentages of sales are donated in developing provinces in Nakhonpatom area.

I’ve went for a Kanomthuay 10THB/piece  (consisted of coconut milk, loaf sugar and flour). Having quality dessert with greenery scenery is one of the best way to energize  and relax myself in weekend.

The cafe also consisted of outdoor garden to enjoy a good cup of coffee, tea or cocoa. Gotta say that the outdoor garden are one of the most impressive place I’ve visited.

First time I’ve seen a colorful cactus, so beautiful.

Kisso

Kisso Japanese Restaurant marks its 25th Anniversary as one of the most popular and awarded Japanese restaurants in Bangkok this year. Considering they provide promising quality of dining experience. I grabbed my chance to try out their well-known menu.

The place seems to be casual for a Japanese lunch and the place not fully packed at my visit. As expected from hotel quality service, the staff are well-trained and their service are top-notched.

Sumono Moriwase – Octopus, Hokkaido Scallops, boiled prawn, eel and mackerel in vinegar sauce.

Starting with appetizer with visually stunning and acidic aroma from aroma does enhance my appetite.

Tempura Moriawase 

Tempura batter are light and crispy as good tempura should be. Taraba crab tempura are just lovely with sweetness of the crab and crispiness form tempura batter. Overall shrimp and vegetables are also amazing.

Kurobuta steak

Juicy and succulent Kurobuta pork texture with well-round seasoning as variety of sauce to extend the possibility of flavor. Side dishes vegetables and fried garlic are also worth mentioning as their flavor harmonize with the main dish.

Salmon Nigiri Sushi

Fresh and sweet salmon sushi. I just love how simple and amazing this menu always impress me every time.

Spicy Salmon Gunkan (Salmon and avocado)

Added with spicy sauce with avocado to increase rigidity of sweet salmon.

Aburi Hamachi and Kiwi fruit nigiri, red wine sauce (left) 

This menu makes me felt excited from curiosity when ordering. Combining Hamachi texture and sweetness with refreshing Kiwi and bold red wine sauce makes an incredible options for a exciting meal.

Salmon and Unagi Nigiri with Mentaiko Sauce (Right)

Large Sushi packed with bold flavor of Unagi and Mentaiko supported by Salmon sweetness.

Saba, Hamachi and Maguro (Akami) Nigiri 

Overall fish texture are fresh and prepping quality are visually stunning with enjoyable flavor. The bill came out around 2,000 THB (approximately 60 USD) which seems like a reasonable price for the meal.

 

 

Thonglor Nihon Ichiba

Celebrating national holiday in Thailand with a cozy day. I’ve managed to visit newest Japan fish market in Thong Lor area around 11 AM which is a little bit early for the market to open. (Open for wholesale from 8 AM and individual customer from 12AM and closed on Tuesday) I’ve decided to grab a early lunch with a nearby Panini place, Panini Mafia.

The menu ranges from Panini(Italian sandwich), Salad and Pasta. Panini price ranges from 160-210 THB. I’ve ordered Sausage Kra Pow with Mayo sauce since they’ve ran out of Spicy pesto sauce. It’s such a pity since I’m curious to try spicy Panini lol.

Panini bread might seems stiff however, they are quite soft and satisfying. The bread provide airy & smooth texture combined with well-seasoned Italian sausage, fried eggs and Mayo sauce resulting in one of the most enjoyable experience.

After finished with my meal, I’ve proceed to Nihon Ichiba which was starting to be packed with customer. Before shopping, customer have to start a membership of 200 THB which will be refunded to buy product inside the market. Presentation pattern of fruits remind me of some drawing similar to supermarket back in Japan with choices of Apple, Tomato, grapes, Melon, Peach and etc.

Square watermelon for a luxurious experience.

Fresh seafood zone provide impressive choices of seafood.

With some consideration, I’ve managed to grab A4 Wagyu for a nostalgia meal.

Oyster, Scallops and Sea Urchin.

Fresh Wasabi (Nama Wasabi)

Personally, I think this market is an interesting choice for Japanese ingredient shopping. The price are a little bit high yet reasonable and worth a visit if you wanna add a new color to your cooking experience.

Oranjii

I have been collecting and painting Warhammer 40k for a long time. It’s a game of strategy miniatures which you control a army of human or aliens (Xenos). Finally discovered that there are a group of people playing in a cafe not too far from my area. Here’s some photos from my recent match. My army are Eldar by the way.

The match took some reasonable time which cranks up my appetite then me and my friends went for a Yakiniku place close to the cafe. The place provide buffet range from 399, 499, 599 and 1199 THB net. We went for 599 THB range in order to try some different menus.

They also provide choices of cooking instrument. Largest choices to choose as far as I know at the moment.

Starting with Aburi beef Nigiri, tender beef texture with light sweet sauce topped with Tobiko. Overall are enjoyable except that the rice are slightly cold.

Scallops Sushi are fresh and resulting in fresh sweetness. Similarly, rice are slightly cold as same as Beef Sushi.

Wagyu texture are impressive for this price range. Still the texture are tender and enjoyable.

Sweet Yakiniku sauce mixed with garlic and chili, beautiful and adds a lot of flavor.

Salmon Sashimi, I’ve gotta say that this is the most impressive quality of Salmon Sashimi I have ever had in a buffet line. Fresh and tender with little Shoyu and it’ll blow you away.

Fresh Scallops for Yakiniku. Good quality of Scallops, not a most suitable choice for Yakiniku because of heating though.

Awabi Sushi, chewy in a good way, the sauce are sweet and enjoyable too.

Ended my satisfying meal with Green tea ice cream.

Shabu-Q

Craving for Shabu Shabu with side dishes of Tempura and Sashimi? Newest Shabu place in Thong Lor might have a answer to your wishes. But first, I have to work on my appetite under a beautiful sunny day in Bangkok.

The place is located in Thong Lor 9 & 11 and used to be Kushikatsu Daruma(Kushikatsu brand from Osaka).

I went for a buffet menu with variety of Shabu options including Tempura, Sashimi and choices of drinks.

Vegetables and pork quality are higher than average comparing to other buffet competitors. I noticed limited options seems like a good decision for controlling quality of products. In this round, quality prevails.

Salmon Sashimi are fresh and enjoyable.

Made to order Tempura. This is the first time I tried Tomato Tempura (yeah, Tomato and you’re not hallucinating) Surprisingly, crispy batter with exploding Tomato juice are refreshing and so appetizing.  Shrimp, fish, mushroom and bell peppers are also a decent Tempura.

Curry, Matcha and Wasabi salt for Tempura.

Ended this lovely meal with Chocolate ice cream. I have to comment that the staffs are amazingly attentive with a combination of enthusiastic of Japanese restaurant and service of top tier restaurant. Would love to visit the place again 🙂