What to eat in Bangkok - Part 3

Hi everyone!!

Thank you for read my previous posts about "What to eat in Bangkok". As I was saying before, I made this topic into 3 parts which each part is for each day in Bangkok. This blog post is the third part and it's gonna be a long story because we were eating a lot at this day. Besides, we also move to another hotel which not located at Pratunam and we found something good at this area. 

Day 3

On Lok Yun

    What I love by visiting one place is going to local place and looking for a popular place to eat. A tourist spot also has a famous yet delicious food, but sometimes local place has something different and it's worth to try. It was the third day and we had no idea what to eat for breakfast around the hotel area. One thing that we didn't want to do while traveling is eat the same food more than once. We might found some good place nearby for breakfast such as Go Ang Chicken Rice or Kuang Heng Chicken Rice, but we wanted to try another food when in Bangkok. So we're searching about a good place for breakfast in Bangkok, and this place came up in every page - On Lok Yun.

On Lok Yun is not located at Pratunam area, so we ordered Grab and it took around 20 minutes to reach there. It's just a small place at the street side and it looks very old. FYI, this traditional coffee shop has been there for almost 80 years, and it's still popular until now among locals and tourists. However since I was there during pandemic, there's no tourist at all. I only spotted some elder, and also some locals wearing formal clothes. It looks like their having breakfast here before go to the office. 

Hot milk tea - THB 22 and free hot tea

They don't have many options for the menu, but they're all enough for breakfast. A toast bread and a western style breakfast set are the bestseller, so we ordered each of them. And one thing that we never forget to order in Bangkok, cha yen (thai tea) - and of course it's the hot one because it's for morning breakfast. 

Let's start from the western style breakfast (THB 55). At this plate there are pork sausage, bacon, chinese sausage (lap cheong), and 2 eggs. You can choose how the eggs gonna be cooked, and we chose scrambled. It might looks simple and nothing special, but it was delicious. We love the bacon which is very thin and crispy, and also the pork sausage which is very tasty. But what we love the most is the chinese sausage. We've tried many kind of chinese sausage but this one is the best. And it's something that you can't get in any western - style breakfast menu.

Toast bread with butter and sugar - THB 23

Next is a toast bread with sugar on top. Little bit crispy at the outside part, mixed with the sugar, it's really good. Beside a toast bread, we also order egg custard bread with kaya (THB 28). Basically it's a steamed soft white bread that comes with kaya as a dipping sauce. The bread was really soft and the kaya was also good. 

Haidilao Hot Pot

    When we talked about hot pot restaurant, there's one name that people would think about - it's Haidilao. Haidilao is a hot pot restaurant that comes from China. This place is really popular for hot pot lover. Not only because their delicious food, but also their service. Their service is the best. Even though you haven't come inside the restaurant and still queueing, they'll provide snacks and drinks for you. We've tried this restaurant while we were at Kuala Lumpur, and we really love it. So when we knew Haidilao has an outlet in Bangkok (precisely at Central World shopping mall), we didn't want to missed it.

Pork bone soup and Tomato soup at Haidilao Hot Pot

We came for lunch, and there was no queue (another advantage to travel during pandemic. LOL!) However, almost every table filled with guests. They have many variant for the soup, and we chose 2 types which is our favorite - Tomato soup and pork bone soup. Not forgetting the bean curd roll which is really good after dipped at the soup. It's all taste exactly the same with the one we had before. The price was also quite affordable this high quality restaurant. Unfortunately they don't have a fresh live tiger prawn like we had at Kuala Lumpur. But overall it's worth it to have this hot pot dish when in Bangkok 

Fire Tiger

   

Fire Tiger Milk - Central World, Bangkok

    We wouldn't missed any day without trying a new boba drink in Bangkok. After having lunch, we're looking for boba drink at the same shopping mall and we found - Fire Tiger. Fire Tiger is a brand for boba drink which originally from Bangkok. This boba drink has a unique concept, where the pick up point is from tiger's mouth. It becomes a mandatory for everyone to try this drink when in Bangkok, especially if you're a boba addict. I ordered their bestseller which is "Fire Tiger Milk" (THB 150). It's the most expensive boba drink I ever had, but it's also the best. It has a strong taste of brown sugar, the boba also very good. One thing that make it special is beside boba, it also has jelly for the topping which also delicious.

[Grab Food] Moo Tong Congee

    At the afternoon, we moved another hotel which located at Sathorn (near river area). By chance we started to hungry but feel lazy to go out because we just arrived. Well, it's the perfect time to order Grab Food. New place, must be there's something new to try around this place. At the moment I was craving for something warm such as porridge, and I looked that there's one place, very recommended for pork porridge. It doesn't have any English name so we couldn't find out about the review of this place on google maps or instagram. We just trust what's written at Grab application. After looked at the menu, we ordered their bestseller menu - pork porridge and chicken rice (again! We love chicken rice :P)

Hainanese chicken rice - THB 50

    It wasn't took a long time until the food has arrived. Once I opened the plastic, the smell of its broth came out from the porridge. It was really good as well as the taste. The thickness of the porridge was just perfect. It has pork meatball inside which is very tasty, and also have some onion leaves and ginger as the garnish. Beware!! Ginger in Thailand has a very strong taste. I just put a little bit ginger but it was very spicy. But it's perfect to warmed up my stomach. The chicken rice was also delicious. We ordered the combination of boiled and fried chicken as the toppings, and both are so tasty. Somehow we felt it's more delicious than other chicken rice that we ate before. 

Pork Porridge - THB 35

    Feeling satisfied with all the food, I started to match the location between the map at Grab application and Google Maps. And we found the name of this place. Surprisingly, this place has many good reviews and it's also quite popular. If you're looking for this place at Google Maps, just type "Moo Tong Congee". Another good news, it opened 24 hours. So you can order it anytime you want.

Sooksiam

    After took a rest, we decided to go to a new shopping mall nearby called Iconsiam. What makes us visiting this mall is there's a food court with floating market concept. It's called Sooksiam. At this place, there are many variety of Thai street food and that's what we're looking for. I realized that street food will taste good if we eat the original version which sold at the street side. However because of Coronavirus, I was afraid to go to traditional market and tried their street food because of hygiene reason. So here we are, at the Sooksiam, looking for something good to try.

Chocolate Banana Crepe and Mango Sticky Rice at Sooksiam

    Since it was already night, we're not looking for a "heavy meal". We're looking for a light dish and durian. Yup, we're durian lover and we couldn't hold ourselves looking at the "fat", yellow durian in Bangkok. After looking around, finally we found a stall who sells crepe, and in front of it there's a place selling mango sticky rice. I just realized we haven't eat this popular food since the first day, so those became our choice. The mango sticker was really tasty, as I was expecting. Neither the crepe which is freshly made when you order. We ordered banana and chocolate flavor crepe and it's the best combo ever. However we were disappointed with "the looking good" durian. Even though it has a lot of "meat", but it was really bland. I felt cheated by paying expensive for durian taste like this.

(Sorry we forgot to take picture of the durian. But if you want to have a good durian in Bangkok, I think you need to do a search first and not buy it at random place.)

... to be continued to part 4

What to eat in Bangkok - Part 2

หมูตั่วเฮีย อร่อยเฮียเฮีย (Mootuahere) - local restaurant in Bangkok

Continuing the the first part of my culinary trip in Bangkok, this time I'll write the second part of this journey. It was the second day of our trip, and we started our day at Pratunam area. However because of coronavirus, we didn't go to the market area or bought any street food. We just visited Platinum Fashion Mall and Central World for having a lunch. At the afternoon, we were visiting local area - but still at Pathum Wan district. FYI, Pathum Wan district is where the famous Siam Paragon and MBK shopping centre located. Do you want to know what we had for dinner at this area? Keep reading until finish ^^

 

Day 2

Kuang Heng Pratunam Chicken Rice

    As a chicken rice lover, seems like we'd never get enough with this comfort food. By chance we found out about another famous chicken rice at Pratunam, it's called "Kuang Heng Pratunam Chicken Rice". Since it's not far from the hotel, we decided to have breakfast here. Unlike the chicken rice that we ate before, they have fried chicken option for the topping. So we decided to ordered 2 types of chicken (steamed and fried) as the topping for the rice. Not forgetting, we also ordered other famous dish in Bangkok for breakfast - steamed bread with kaya pandan.

Boiled and Fried Chicken with Rice - THB 50

Steamed bread with kaya pandan at Kuang Heng Chicken Rice - Pratunam

Well, I love their fried chicken so much. It's really flavorful, and not plain like the steamed chicken. And for the bread, it was really soft because they steamed it first before served. It was really good especially when I dipped it into the kaya pandan. It's perfect for breakfast dish. 

Tiger Sugar

    Boba lover will know this brand because it's really famous. This brand comes from Singapore, and they have opened their brancehes in many country such as Indonesia and Malaysia. First time I tried it at  Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia, and it becomes my favorite boba drink EVER!! I love the "Brown Sugar Pearl Series" - which has a combination between boba and pearl (a small size of boba). The other things that makes me like Tiger Sugar is the cream mousse. It so tasty, so creamy, and the sweetness level from its brown sugar is just perfect.

Brown Sugar Boba + Pearl with Cream Mousse - THB 120

When I knew Tiger Sugar also has its branches in Bangkok, I didn't want to missed it. I went to one of its branch at Platinum Fashion Mall, and ordered their bestseller - which is my favorite menu as well. Its boba and its pearl was as delicious as I was expecting. However, I thought the brown sugar was too little because I couldn't taste the brown sugar. All I taste was only the milk and the cream mousse. I felt disappointed because it's quite different with the one I had in Kuala Lumpur.

Fuji Japanese Restaurant

    We love Japanese Food!! So wherever we go, we always looked for a good Japanese restaurant. In Thailand, we have a favorite Japanese restaurant which serves delicious food with affordable restaurant. It's Fuji. You can find their outlet everywhere in Thailand - not just in Bangkok. This time I had lunch at Fuji Restaurant which located at Central World. It's not the first time for me to eat at Fuji, so I know exactly what I gonna order - Fuji Spesial Steak Set - my favorite dish at Fuji all the time. Since Ivan wasn't feeling well and craving for a soup dish, so we also ordered a Sukiyaki set.

Fuji Spesial Steak Set - THB 390

Sukiyaki Beef Set - THB 290

If you ever eat at Fuji, you might know that all their food is delicious. I always asked "well done" for the steak and it's really delicious. Even though its well done, but the meat was really juicy and it's so tender. Usually I ordered it as ala carte menu (only meat). But this time I ordered it as a set menu and it was really satisfying. The set menu comes with rice, salad, side dish (including a tasty grilled salmon), and also a drink and dessert. The sukiyaki set was also the same. It was too much until we couldn't finish it all. However every dish was really delicious and it also comes with affordable price. If you're in Thailand and started to get bored with Thai food, I recommend you to visit Fuji Japanese Restaurant.

หมูตั่วเฮีย อร่อยเฮียเฮีย (Mootuahere)

    This time we're going to local place and had dinner at this "porky" restaurant. Knowing this place from explore page at Instagram, and this place was on our food list. This place basically, serve food with pork as their main ingredients. They well known for "Pork Meatball Soup" and "Crispy Pork Belly". The pork meatball soup served with noodles, and you can choose what kind of noodle that you want. Since its local place, they can't speak English so it's kinda hard to know the name of the dish. When we're ordering, we just showed the picture on Instagram about the menu that we wanted.

Crispy Pork - THB 129

Pork noodle soup - THB 69

However, going to this local place is not a disappointment for us. All the food was really good. At first we ordered "Pork Meatball Soup with Noodle" and "Crispy Pork Belly" Everything was really tasty especially the pork meatball. I love how it taste and also the texture. It's not too chewy and I could taste the pork melt in my mouth. The pork belly also very delicious with its crispy crackling layer. Another thing that makes this dish taste better is the sweet soy sauce. 

Kanom Kheow snack by Jaru bee - THB 120

Beside that, I also ordered a Thai Crispy Pancake as an appetizer. I saw many times the video about how people make it and it becomes a must try (street) food in Bangkok. Knowing they also have it on their menu, so we decided to try. If you're a sweet lover, you must be love it. But I'm not really a sweet addict so for me it's just so so. I didn't mean this food is not tasty. It has a sweet taste, and that's it - nothing special.

Chinese Sausage Pork Fried Rice - THB 89

While we're enjoying our food, we looked at another table and they're eating "Lap Cheong (chinese sausage) Fried Rice". It's looking good so we also gave it a try. As our expectation, the fried rice seasoned perfectly. It's really good and I love the lap cheong as well. Overall, the food at this place was all good and didn't give any disappointment. It's something that I expect from going to local place - a hidden gem that's not written at tourist guide book.

... to be continued to part 3

Founder Bak Kut Teh - Living World

Have I mentioned that I'm a "carnivore"? But it's not like I don't eat fruits and veggies at all. I eat fruits and veggies, sometimes. But only in a few amount. Meat, especially "red meat" is a must eat for me everyday. It feels weird for me to eat some meals without any meat in it. No matter it's a beef, pork, or lamb, and how they cooked, I love to eat them, always.

In Asian food, there's one popular meat dish which cooked in soup style. It's called Bak Kut Teh. Bak Kut Teh is a clear soup which made from pork broth with pork ribs as the main ingredients. This dish very well known in Singapore. It's just like a mandatory to eat bak kut teh for everyone who visiting Singapore. Just say some famous places to eat bak kut teh : Ng Ah Sio Bak Kut Teh, Founder Bak Kut Teh, and Song Fa Bak Kut Teh. Aren't they sounds familiar??

Due to its popularity, some of them started to open their branches in Indonesia. It becomes an excitement for pork dish lover, including me. Since it's going to rainy season, a heart warming soup dishes is a perfect meal to be consumed. By the chance I had a lunch with Winston after finished his school time at Founder Bak Kut Teh which located at Living World, Alam Sutera.

Founder Bak Kut Teh - Living World, Alam Sutera

Not just soup dishes, Founder Bak Kut Teh also offer other mouthwatering dishes. However, bak kut teh is the dish that I was craving for, so I just ordered a portion of it. There are several type of bak kut teh that they have. The difference is on the meat type. Some of them comes with big cuts, and some of them comes with small cuts. I chose "Short Spare Ribs" that comes with 3 big cuts of pork ribs. To complete my meal, I also orderd a portion of "You Tiao / Cak We" which is a perfect side dish to be eaten with bak kut teh.

You Tiao / Cak We - IDR 16K

Short Spare Ribs - IDR 94K

I've tried another bak kut teh restaurant before (such as Ng Ah Sio and Song Fa), but bak kut teh at Founder taste very different. While the other have a very strong pepper taste on its soup, Founder bak kut teh has the mild one. I think it's really good so it also could be eaten by someone who can't eat spicy food. The pork ribs itself also very tender and have a thick meat. I was very satisfied with this bowl of happiness.

Look at that huge meat!!

Since Winston is a quite fussy eater, so I also ordered a kids menu for him. There are 3 options on their kids menu. I chose the meal which has noodle in it, it's called Misoa with Mince Pork Dry. It's a noodle dish, which use minced pork that cooked with soy sauce for the topping. Not just noodle, it also comes with jelly and salad, which is every kid's favorite.

Misoa with Mince Pork Dry - IDR 33K

At the end, I just want say that Founder has a delicious bak kut teh, and worth to try. Even though it's quite pricey, but it's so tasty and perfect to warm up your day. Anyway, besides at Living World, they also have an outlet at Puri Indah Mall, West Jakarta.

Notes: I have a tips to enjoy the soup. Put you tiao inside the soup, let them soak until soft and absorb the pork broth. Now you can eat this you tiao in one bite, and taste the savory pork broth in it. Enjoy!!

Founder Bak Kut Teh
Address : Ground Floor - Living World. Jalan Alam Sutera Boulevard Kav. 21, Serpong Utara, Tangerang Selatan, Banten 15323
Phone : +62 21 29239455
Opening hours : Mon - Sun 10AM - 10PM

Li Feng, Mandarin Oriental - Jakarta

I’m a person who always likes to try a new food, at new (and mostly popular) restaurant. By chance, few months ago (precisely on September), we’re going to celebrate Winston’s first birthday party. We’re not gonna make a big party. Instead, we just want to have a simple family dinner. I took this chance to try a new restaurant, which we never been visited before. I was trying to find it by searched “the best restaurant in Jakarta”, and got a few restaurants name with that keywords. But there’s a restaurant that i was quite interested about, because they serve a food that suitable for children. It’s Li Feng.

Winston's birthday cake - London

 Li Feng is a Chinese restaurant, which just opened last year at the luxurious hotel in Jakarta, Mandarin Oriental. This restaurant serves the authentic Cantonese Cuisine with modern twists and well known for their dim sum. I chose this restaurant to celebrate Winston birthday because of some reasons. First, Ivan is a huge fan of dim sum. Second, I saw their dishes is suitable for children. Third, they have a fancy and elegant interior design.

Li Feng restaurant interior

This restaurant managed by two popular chef, who has a lot of experience with fine dining restaurant. One of them known as Chef Fei, who has worked at Jiang - Mandarin Oriental Guangzhou, and has won an award as The Best Chef in China 2016. His partner, Chef Loy has experiences at international fine dining restaurants including Bali and Dubai, for more than 12 years. That explains why the presentation of their dishes looks amazing.

The Wibowo's family picture on Winston 1st birthday

We ordered some of their recommended dishes, including the most popular, Deep Fried Swan Dumpling with Black Pepper Duck Meat. The things that makes this popular is the way they serve it. They use dried ice under the plate, to make it smokey while they serve it. It’s so unique and i felt curious to try the taste of this dish.

Deep Fried Swan Dumpling with Black Pepper Duck Meat - IDR 89K

Well, this dumpling has duck meat as a filling. It cooked with black pepper sauce which make it little bit spicy. The meat was so tender, but it’s not so my favorite. The black pepper taste was too strong until I couldn’t feel other taste beside its spicyness. The outside part also has a crispy texture, not soft as i was expecting. I knew it’s a deep fried dumpling, but still, it’s little bit strange for me to eat dumplings with that “texture”. However, the other dim sum that i ordered, Crispy Bean Curd Skin Roll was very delicious. It’s filled with prawn and preserved vegetables which taste so yummm,  especially when we ate with its dipping sauce. It’s the best....

Crispy Bean Curd Skin Roll Filled with Shrimps and Preserved Vegetables - IDR 30K

Not just dim sum, we also ordered other foods that they recommend for us. Chinese Cabbage with Fermented Tofu in Kelp Broth, Fish Skin with Salted Egg Yolk and not forgetting a noodle dish, because it’s a birthday celebration. In our tradition, in a birthday celebration we should have noodle in it. A long shape of noodle is a symbol that we believe can make the birthday person has a long life. We’re asking for a recommended noodle dishes, and they suggested us to order the Lobster Yi Fu Noodle.

Fish Skin with Salted Egg Yolk - IDR 78K

Lobster Yi Fu Noodle - IDR 450K

Overall, all of these dishes are delicious. They have a perfect taste. I like the broth for the soup, which made from kelp. And the lobster noodle, oh... it’s my favorite.. I like the way they cooked the lobster, and the season that they used for noodle. Even though the noodle was too mushy, but it’s perfect for kids. It’s my children’s favorite.

Trading maps as a "wallpaper" at  Li Feng

Li Feng is highly recommended for everyone who’s looking for a great restaurant in Jakarta. Not just because of the delicious dishes that they served, but the elegancy of the interior also make a plus point. The interiors of Li Feng inspired by the history of trade between China and Batavia. Can you see that ceiling??? If you turn it upside down, it looks like an ocean shape sailing ships on it. And they also use the trading maps as a decoration on the wall. This restaurant really perfect for those who want to have a celebrations, especially for Chinese New Year. The price is also reasonable for a fine dining restaurant. Definetily i’ll come back again, but next time i’ll try at lunch time, when they have more variety for the dim sum.

Ocean shaped ceiling with the upside down ships

P.S. : They have special menu for dim sum only IDR 30K ++ / portion at this Christmas season. Enjoy ^^

Li Feng - Mandarin Oriental
Jalan M.H. Thamrin, Jakarta 10310
Phone : (021) 29938825
Opening hours :
• Lunch : Mon - Fri :11.30AM - 2.30PM, Sat & Sun : 11AM - 3PM
• Dinner : Mon - Sun : 6PM - 10.30PM
Website : https://www.mandarinoriental.com/jakarta/jalan-mh-thamrin/fine-dining/restaurants/cantonese-cuisine/li-feng