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

Fine Dining Kobe Beef Teppanyaki at Mouriya Gion, Kyoto

Our first visit to Mouriya in Kobe was really memorable. Since that time, we always wondering when will we come back to eat the best beef dishes we ever had. Therefore, when we had a chance to visit Japan for sakura season, we decided to visit Kansai area so we can go to Kobe again. However, since we have a very limited time, we chose to have a dinner at the new outlet of Mouriya which located in Kyoto.

In Kyoto, Mouriya located at Gion area which is known as a popular place for fancy dining in Kyoto. It's the fifth location of Mouriya, and the first one that located outside Kobe. When I stepped into the restaurant, I realized they have a very difference ambience with the one I had in Kobe. It's a fine dining restaurant with modern style. The interior was very classy and made us feel comfortable and more calm to enjoy the food. No wonder their price was higher than in Kobe.

We were lead to our table which located at the private room. The staff was showing us the menu and explain about their meat. Once we've chose, he left us with the chef who's ready to cook the beef. As usual, we're requesting to cook it in medium well. But for Winston, I asked him to make it well done.

White bean soup

Salad

Since I stepped into the restaurant, I knew Mouriya Gion has a higher quality than in Kobe, and it was proven by the side dish they served. If in Kobe the appetizer was only a simple salad with salmon, in Kyoto I got more than that. As a starter, they gave us a "White Bean Soup" which comes in creamy texture and it's very tasty. Next, was a plate of sashimi which has a very fresh ingredients. The last, they gave us a plate of salad before we started enjoy the main course, Kobe beef.

Garlic chips in the process

Side dish ready to be cooked

As usual, he cooked garlic chips as the first step. Crispy and very fragrant garlic which is the best companion for the beef. Next, he started to cook some vegetables such as zucchini and asparagus, and also other side dish (sweet potato and mushroom), to be eaten together with the beef.

Left : Rib eye | Right : Chateaubriand

Marbles at Kobe Beef

Kobe beef cooked in teppanyaki

Finally, he started to cook the highlight dish, Kobe beef. We ordered 2 kind of beef, Chateaubriand and Rib eye. They both cooked in medium well, and I think it's the best way to taste the delicacy of Kobe beef. To add more carbs, we also ordered our favorite dish in Mouriya, garlic fried rice. In Mouriya Kyoto, the fried rice was slightly different than we had in Kobe. In here, the fried rice has more toppings. But it also taste delicious and we love it.

Ingredients for garlic fried rice

Garlic fried rice at Mouriya Gion, Kyoto

Japanese rice is the best

Aurelia enjoyed the food

When we're thinking the course has ended and I asked for the bill, they served one last dish, dessert. With many dishes they served before, our tummy were really full and we thought can't finish the dessert anymore. However, looking at its beautiful presentation, we decided to give it a try. I didn't ask the name of this dessert but it taste incredible!! The combination between sweet ice cream and the fresh berries works very well and made us couldn't stop eating.

Dessert at Mouriya Gion

The point is, I got "more" in Mouriya Gion. More food, more delicacy, more service and also more pricey. I knew it's been 4 years after I had dinner at Mouriya Kobe. But I couldn't believe the price was increased twice as much as before. If in Kobe we spent ¥25.000, in Kyoto we spent almost Y60.000. But once again, Mouriya gave me a wonderful experience, and I didn't have any regret for that. I enjoy every single bites of Kobe beef that they served, which always taste delicious.

Mouriya Gion
Address : Kyoto City Kyoto City Higashiyama-ku Yamato-cho Yamato-dori Ward 4 Yamato-machi 7 Gion Maurya Building
Phone : +81 755324129
Opening Hours : Mon - Sun 11.30AM - 9.30PM
Website : https://www.mouriya.co.jp/en/gion

[Japan] Lunch at Micasadeco & Cafe, Kyoto

Japanese Pancake with Match flavor at Micasadeco & Cafe

As a food lover, I love to try new food - especially when it's unique and has a lot of good reviews. From many countries that I've visited, I'd said that Japan is a country with the most unique yet delicious food I ever had. Therefore, I never get bored to visit Japan. My visit to Japan is not just because of their beautiful culture, but also for their amazing food. For me, travel to Japan is a culinary trip, and it's a mandatory to try new dishes in every single day.

Last year, I just found a delicious yet unique dish in Tokyo. It was a Japanese souffle pancake. What makes it different with the other pancake is the texture. It really soft and fluffy, and even it can jiggling when you move the plate. Besides the texture, it also has a good taste. I could taste the "eggs" and "milk" flavor in every bites. Ever since then, I never found any better pancake beside this Japanese pancake.

Since Japanese pancake is my favorite dish, I didn't want to missed this food when I was visiting Japan last spring. However, we just visited Osaka and Kyoto (Kansai area), so we need to find other restaurant who serves this kind of pancake. At the end of searching, luckily we found a cafe which really famous in Osaka, and the serve this fluffy pancake. It is Micasadeco & Cafe. However we have many food lists that need to be visited in Osaka, and we were gladful knowing that they just opened a new outlet in Kyoto. Read about this information we decided to go to this cafe at a lunch time.

Micasadeco & Cafe Kyoto located at Kawaramachi area, not far from Nishiki market. This cafe not located at the crowd place. You need to walk around 1 block from the market, at the local neighbourhood. Since the door was always closed and its building also looks like a local house, it's quite hard for us to found this place. Since this cafe really popular, I thought it will be crowded and has a long queue like the one I had in Tokyo. But it's not! From the outside I just saw a quite traditional restaurant, with a picture of pancake.

After make sure it was the right place, we stepped inside and I thought it was the most beautiful cafe I ever visited. Like the outside part of the building which designed like a Japanese traditional house, the interior also has the same design. We're talking to the staff who was standing behind the door, and he told me to wait at the waiting room. The waiting room itself also looks amazing. It has a unique furniture and made me feels like at the museum - not a waiting room.

It was 1.30 PM so we already passed the lunch peak hours. There was only 2 peoples in front of us and we just wait for around 30 minutes to get a table. After being told the table was ready, we were walking through the small corridor, and once again I was being surprised with their interior. From the traditional style at the outside and the unique stuff at the waiting room, now I faced a very cute and colorful dining place. What I mean with colorful is not a bright color, but it's dominated with pink amd other pastel color. This pink ambience makes me in love with this cafe.

That's the first impression from me about the dining place of Micasadeco & Cafe Kyoto. About the food, it also didn't taste bad. Here are the reviews of dishes that we ordered:

Pork Kakuni Omelette ¥900
Since it's a lunch time, we ordered a savory menu first before eat their sweet dishes. We ordered a pork fried rice with omelette on top. It taste very delicious. However, the rice was too soft and it's not suitable to be cooked as a fried rice.

"Matcha" Fluffy Pancake ¥1450
This fluffy pancake was the main purpose of our visit to Micasadeco. There are 2 flavors for this type of pancake : matcha and ricotta cheese. Since we're in Kyoto and Kyoto was famous for its matcha, we decided to order this pancake with matcha flavour. Well, the texture of the pancake was really amazing. It was very soft and buttery. The texture is even better than the one I had in Tokyo. However, the taste of matcha sauce "destroyed" the delicacy of the pancake itself. The sauce was bland and I couldn't taste anything. It felt like I ate plain pancake, without any topping or sauce.

Cherry Blossom Pancake ¥1550
I saw this pancake on the menu, and noticed it might be a seasonal dish. We ordered this pancake as well because Ivan and Aurelia don't like matcha flavor. This menu doesn't come with fluffy pancake. Instead, it comes with springy - thin pancake. Even though their fluffy pancake taste much better than springy pancake, but this cherry blossoms pancake has amazing toppings. Cherry salted pickles, seasonal fresh strawberry, and crispy pie, those are the toppings for this pancake. To complete the delicacy, they also serve the pancake with a thick custard (which come along with fresh strawberry), homemade strawberry butter, fresh strawberry sauce, and cherry ice cream. The best parts of this pancake was the fresh strawberry sauce and cherry ice cream. The sweetness level was perfect and its so perfect to be eaten together with the pancake.

Yoghurt Smoothie ¥700
To complete our lunch, we also ordered a glass of smoothie which looks really fresh. There are several options for smoothie, but I chose yoghurt smoothie. Unfortunately, the smoothie was tasteless and it was too freeze. I thought they put too much ice cubes in it until it couldn't be drunk. At the end, we need to used spoon to "eat" all the smoothies. Well, it such a disappointment to get this "quality" of smoothie from a fancy cafe.






Micasadeco & Cafe Kyoto
Address : 480 Umeyachō, Nakagyō-ku, Kyoto, 604-8057, Japan
Phone : +81 75-606-5307
Opening hours : Mon - Sun 9AM - 7PM
Website : http://micasadecoandcafe.com/kyoto/