Contento

Located nearby China town and Hualamphong area of Bangkok. Contento will shift your mood from old town of Bangkok to southern Italy for Amalfi Lemon extravaganza in a heartbeat! As soon as I heard about their limited-time festival, I rushed to experience this exciting event at an instant.

I am quite excited by plenty of lemons on display which is a good sign that they are dedicated about this festival. Feeling grateful for this event for the reason that there has been a lot less similar event in recent years. Until this one came along and spark my festive spirit again.

Amalfi lemon as the name suggested are originated from Amalfi Coast. Amalfi lemon are good to use for cooking and baking because of their flavor and lack of seeds with a distinct zest. The Italian name—Sfusato Amalfitano—refers to the fruit’s tapered shape which is different than rounder lemon varieties in Italy.

Starting off with refreshing homemade lemon & Thyme soda lemon jelly.

Followed with burnt Caesar with burnt cos lettuce, caper and anchovy dressing topped with pan-fried pancetta. I am not suite accustomed to burnt cos lettuce texture though. Still a fresh way to start a meal with a sip of lemon sparkling water.

Porcini croquette – Lava croquettes porcini mushroom + Jamon Iberico Joselito Reserva

Creamy porcini mushroom fillings with minimal seasoning are well-blended with salty Iberico Ham as a perfect small bites.

Truffle Parpapdelle – wild Porcini and seasonal mushroom, cream of truffle reduction.

A not too creamy truffle pasta. Did selected their recommended pasta variety. Flavor are quite enjoyable without being too salty.

Lemon curd cake – Light and zesty curd cake with fluffy texture with balance of sourness and sweetness. A perfect way to end this lemon festive meal.

A little surprise, can you guess where the water are flowing out?

Ta-daa! Gotta love their creative and fun way of decoration.

Liu

Liu is a Cantonese Dim Sum style restaurant located in Conrad hotel (a luxurious 5-star hotel in Bangkok) nearby BTS Ploenchit station. I just visited for a quick lunch to try out some of their menu and various premium tea selection.

The ambiance are more on family style restaurant with wooden furniture. Staffs are accommodating and polite as expected from 5-star hotel.

Starting off with a Pu’er or pu-erh tea is a variety of fermented tea traditionally produced in Yunnan Province, China. I selected Orange Pu’er tea which has a deep red liquor appearance with a pleasantly earthy yet sugary taste. Also, well known for its medicinal and digestion properties.

Crispy taro with minced pork, chicken and cheddar cheese. Curious about the idea of cheddar cheese to twist crispy taro. Cheddar cheese does provide a gooey texture for flavor packed crispy taro.

Steamed minced pork dumplings “Siu Mai“ topped with shrimp roe and XO sauce. A well-balanced pork and shrimp ratio to provide satisfying chewy texture with a proper seasoning.

Steamed custard black lava buns are bold embodiment between black and gold. As their name suggest “lava buns” custard are still in a liquid form so be aware of delicious mess that could occur during the meal. The buns are soft with sweet and slightly salty lava custard are a great way to end this enjoyable meal.

31 Degrees by Kad Kokoa

Imagine a place where cocoa and chocolate could be implemented into every menu in a restaurant from drinks, desserts, salads, cocktails and even main course. But there is more, they also included cocoa pod, beans and cocoa juice which could be rarely seen even in a booming period of cocoa in Bangkok. After seeing a blog from The Cloud, I rushed to find out how this idea could be materialized.

Stepping into a seclude area in Sukhumvit 31 as the location and 31 degree Celsius as a crucial final temperature of chocolate production process. 31 degree defines itself as a Bistronomy (Bistro+ Gastronomy) which reflect in their menu of playful culinary experiences. The staff are extremely friendly and also bilingual.

Fried local fish with cocoa pickled veggies. Fresh and crispy fish texture. Still I could felt just a small roles of cocoa in pickled veggies though.

Time for some sweet treat! I went for Chocolate praline rocher and Pineapple chocolate tart.

Pineapple chocolate tart. Curious about how they approach this particular dessert. The chocolate texture are delicate supported by a moderate sweet and sour pineapple resulted in an enjoyable dessert.

Chocolate praline rocher cake are also a yummy treat. I am quite excited about the possibility of this bistronomy in the future and looking forward for a revisit to explore their future bistronomy experiment.

A little visit to Mensho Tokyo Signature Tori Paitan Ramen.