[Bangkok] Last minute short trip

Oyster omelet! Found this place through a mention in the Michelin guide (no stars). Local plastic chair kind of place in a backstreet of Chinatown. They only serve oyster omelets, and then some things to go with it. I also had fried rice with crab.

The oyster omelet come in basically two types: crispy, and soft. I took the crispy one, in a small size. You get a crispy omelet with oysters, and then some warm soft oysters on top. It was good! Really nice flavour, and heavenly with the chili sauce. Unfortunately they didn’t serve beer nor whiskey otherwise it would have been even better. I also ordered the fried rice with crab as mentioned. Paid 250 something baht total, so around 6-7 euro.




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Two other local places right near the hotel.

First up, Madam Somtum. A hip type of place frequented by a lot of young people. As the name suggests their specialty is papaya salad, so I took that, plus a salad of grilled beef. Both were excellent.


https://maps.app.goo.gl/QwYSVctHvmLTkoQc7?g_st=ic

And then also nearby is Na Ploenchit Boat Noodles. Okay, this was really good. A bowl of what I think is the Thai equivalent of a ramen. I was wondering where the darkish colour of the broth came from, and after googling it seems they use pig’s blood as well… :slight_smile: Anyway, really good, clean flavours, top dish.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/yXTFG149Zikff3qh7?g_st=ic

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And then a lunch outside of the city centre, and I believe Peter will find this interesting, as I had Hainanese chicken rice! Found this place through instagram. Very local place.

I had a mix combo of plain Hainanese chicken and then also soy chicken. They came with two sauces. Both types of chicken were really good, and the rice was flavourful. Homely style food, something one can eat every day. Very popular place as well.




https://maps.app.goo.gl/vTvmBdTy5SkFK2B99?g_st=ic

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Yes, I agree, and it has been a while since we we went on vacation together.

They are now 82 years old! Bangkok is not the most friendliest city for elderly what with all the elevated stairs in order to cross streets. But they love it here and really wanted to go back, and have me around just in case.

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Happy new year to you too! Thanks for your post and it would have been wonderful to have a son working for the US embassy in Bangkok! As it happens the embassy is across the street from my hotel on Wireless Road (I think). Right next to Lumphini Park. Beautiful area. Must have been a great time then in Bangkok. My last time here was over a decade ago, and the city seems much more gentrified compared to then, eg less street food around.

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If there is one Bangkok restaurant which I really missed, it’s this one: Krua Apsorn.

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So glad you are getting to do this with your parents! Thank you for letting us follow along.

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It was amazing although it looks like you’re having a pretty amazing time as well, Cheers.

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Your posts are causing major procrastination…and bringing back a lot of great memories. B and I used to visit Bangkok at least once (sometimes twice) a year, either to visit other places in Thailand or to use it as a hub for other SEA destinations. Like you, it’s been ~13 years since we last visited Thailand so I have no data for you but I don’t think you need them–you are eating so well. We would cluelessly wander around Bangkok and stop at any place that looked good. And it almost always was good. A friend of ours was one of the Lonely Planet Thailand authors, so she was a great resource, too. I’m sure if we return, we will also be taken aback by the changes. Every place seems to be getting sanitized/watered-down.

And finally, I so admire your parents for taking this trip - I wish I could bring my parents back to Korea…they’ve never been back and they are both in their 80s now. You’ve put a bug in my ear, as they say. Maybe I can motivate them to go this year.

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So, we went back to Chandrphen. Yes, this is the type of place I love! Again full house, lots of loud and outgoing locals, a lot of families. Small kids, grandparents.

We started off with small deep fried prawn rolls (tasty but a little heavy, prepacked from the freezer I think), and a spicy papaya salad. The salad was good, one of the best I had so far in BKK. A good balance between sweet, sour, spicy and tangy. They serve raw white cabbage and fresh morning glory with the papaya salad, I think to get some relief and ‘clean’ your mouth from the spiciness of the salad. It worked at least.



Next up, fried rice with prawns and Chinese spinach with garlic and chilli. The fried rice was excellent: it had that wok hei flavour, and the taste was very balanced, leaning more towards Cantonese versus how some Thai fried rice dishes can be bold and sweetish. The spinach was good, though I had preferred to have morning glory again but they were out.


And to top the meal off, we ordered Thai style bbq chicken and braised and then fried duck with plum sauce on top of it. The chicken was lovely, better than their famous bbq chicken I had earlier in the week. Succulent and juicy meat, and a treat with their homemade chili sauce.

The duck was excellent, and a new rendition to me, crispy and soft at the same, and then with a sweetish plum sauce. The food was so good that we finished it all at the end, even though we were already full and wanted to take leftovers back to the hotel.


The servers then suggested to look at the dessert menu. I did, and took vanilla/coconut ice cream in some sweet coconut sauce with these sweet pink thingies. Lol this was almost done before I remembered to take a pic, standout dessert.

The overall bill was 2200 baht, around 60 euro. We also had some young coconut juice with flesh, Chinese tea, and two pitchers of their draught beer. We may go back later this week as they have Peking duck, but only serve them whole (1200 baht). The service is excellent - they are kind and helpful. Great place! :slight_smile:

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I forgot to add the pic of the beef curry, over at Sanguan Sri. This was 120 baht, one of the more expensive items on the menu… (just over 3 euro).


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So… a little story about the Little Hungry Onion Who Doesn’t Travel So Much Anymore.

The Little Hungry Onion finds himself at the pearly gates and protests to St. Peter that his time is not up, as he’s been in perfect health and only in his 50s.

St. Peter checks his ledger briefly and says there must be a mistake, as according to his records the LHO is over 150 years old.

After a bit more scrutiny, St. Peter proclaims, “Ah, here it is! The rest of the time represents you living vicariously through all the other Hungry Onions.”

All that to say, beautiful thread.

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Siam Paragon, another episode in mall eating. This is one of the bigger malls in Bangkok, think Louis Vuitton and Zara and everything in between. A big part of the ground floor area is one large food court. You will have restaurants where you can sit in a secluded area, and those where you can sit looking out over the hundreds of people walking and eating.

And you will also have an area with little shops where you can get food and eat it at communal tables, Singapore hawker center style!

There are a few Michelin starred restaurants, bib gourmands, and just mentions. They are not necessarily the busiest though. We went to Peppery Thai Bistro because there was a (managable) queu. We waited 15 minutes, walking back and forth between a nearby place where we also had a queing ticket!

We had spring rolls, minced pork patties, fried morning glory, and fried rice with prawns. The food was good, not mind blowing. What I was thinking when I walked around in that sanitised environment was how nobody was using high heat there when cooking (you could see many chefs actually cook food). It’s a convenient place, and there is a lot of choice, but the pricing is alsomexcessive compared to normal restaurants.

Having been here on the ground floor now, I can say that Seki Sushi which I visited last week, is actually very good value for the quality. That is a proper restaurant, that just sits inside a mall.




Below pic from google for reference.

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Thonburi Market place - we spent the afternoon visiting this amazing, incredibly large food court/market, half an hour outside Bangkok by taxi.

When you set foot inside the building (open air but with a roof), you will be greeted by dozens of seafood vendors, offering you fresh fish (often alive) and ready to cook everything right there on the spot, on a bbq, and with no extra fee. There were literally a thousand people inside I think. Amazing, never seen anything like this before. (Video just for reference, not mine).

We didn’t eat much though. My parents enjoyed their hotel breakfasts a little too much I think (the reason why I always eat just a little for breakfast when traveling), and I am also trying to watch my diet. I did get two big river prawns. They are like giant prawns, as big as a small lobster, and they would sell for 1300-1500 baht depending on size (around 35-40 euro a kilogram). They also had very large lobsters (nearing 100 euro!), and a lot of live prawns (10 euro). And then both small blue crab and larger Sri Lankan crab.

Besides seafood you could buy chicken satay, roast duck, numerous noodle and rice dishes, desserts, drinks and beer.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/2Tvy367dqSUZbqr69?g_st=ic








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I thought Siam Paragon was truly ostentatious until I went to Iconsiam located on the riverside of the Chao Praya. I swear, if it hadn’t been for the lack of casinos, I would have thought I was in Las Vegas! I honestly don’t know where people get the money to shop at places like that!

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Ha! We are planning to go to the riverside today or tomorrow! :slight_smile: Let’s see.

I’m not really a shopper and if I do shop it’s online. We also went to some of the lower end malls like Platinum and at Pratunam market, but that is just fysical ali baba Chinese cheap stuff.

What did you like to do in Bangkok?

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I liked Lumphini Park and the old train station at Hua Lamphong the best (most trains now leave from the new and huge Bang Sue Grand Station).

I didn’t like any of the shopping malls, but the Tops Supermarket in the basement of the Central Bangna shopping center easily meets or beats a Japanese department store food hall (at least IMHO…YMMV). Harrod’s id better, though. And Tops in general is reasonably priced and clean.

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I might go to Lumphini later this afternoon as our hotel is just across the street.

My first time Thailand was in 2000 I think and I remember taking the night train from the old train station going to the Southern beaches at Krabi.

It indeed was a very atmospheric station, I might go back indeed and have a look for old times’ sake.

It was a sleeper night train but I didn’t sleep much as I was guarding our belongings and wallets! Those were the days! :slight_smile:

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Though I often feared for my physical safety when walking on roads (sidewalks/pavement not being in good condition or non-existent in Bangkok, not to mention crazy motorcycle taxis!) while visiting Thailand, I never feared once about someone taking/stealing something from me. Having come from a life of many years in Japan where the fear of such things just doesn’t exist, I was very happy to know that at least these days, it doesn’t seem to be a problem.

(Though I must admit that seeing signs on the subway and at that Iconsiam mall warning to be on the lookout for pickpockets was a bit alarming…)

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In all our trips to Bangkok (or the rest of SEA for that matter), like @TokushimaCook, I never felt unsafe in terms of our stuff. What I do remember–vividly–are the touts in the cities of SEA. As soon as they saw B (Caucasian male), they would be all over us. It was relentless but we politely turned them away…constantly. But if I was wandering alone (Asian female), I was blessedly ignored. Getting outside the cities, we could breathe and relax. And, yes, we bought stuff, when we liked the wares and we weren’t being bombarded.

The overnight sleeper train from BKK to Chiang Mai was quite interesting when we took it. I remember (1) not sleeping at all b/c of a rough ride; and (2) the crouch toilet, which was a considerable challenge due to (1).

I remember ducking into dept stores in BKK (we definitely did in Siam Paragon) for a meal or coffee or something to escape the heat and humidity, even momentarily and it was interesting to witness how the 1% on the other side of the planet. Kind of like going to fancy places in NYC, where we could afford the items, but we would have no desire to squander our money.

In any case, thanks for letting me wander down memory lane @damiano.

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