A WEEKEND IN BANGKOK

Recently, I went on a trip with my girlfriends in Bangkok. It was our first real trip going in and out of the country on the same flight and same hotel. Usually, we just meet up in a certain city and hang out for dinner or drinks or for a few hours of shopping. This time, we were 24/7 together.

In the plane, while seated together, we were already planning which malls to hit first and what foods to eat. As soon as we landed, we headed to the hotel, unpacked some of our stuff then headed out for a late lunch.

First destination - Siam Paragon. There's a cafe at the basement where the food court is called the 9th Cafe. It's one of my favorites. The food here is always good and very consistent. The girls were very hungry already because it was almost 3 pm then so we ordered the quick food.

Here we are, the girls at the 9th. From left to right Chris, me, Pinky, Val, and Marie.

Thai tea for me and Chris,

Crispy catfish with green mango salad,

The house specialty that became everyone's favorite dish too - soft shell crabs with mixed greens and lime vinaigrette.

Chicken satay,

and the famous paad thai. For dessert, we couldn't resist ordering the lemon meringue pie. It was freshly baked. The crust was flaky, the lemon filling was tart and not too sweet then the meringue had a crisp top with a marshmallow fluff in the center.

After that heavy meal, we decided to walk and check the stores in Siam Paragon. They had a good mix of signature brands there and the department store had a lot to offer as well.

Right beside Paragon was Siam Center where they have the local brands...

This is the Tango store. They were on Sale, 80% off so we checked it out. I was able to buy a cute pair of sandals.

Here are the other stores and their displays.

Upon leaving Siam Paragon, we had to wait 20-30 minutes by the taxi stand for a cab. We had to bribe a cab driver to take us to the restaurant where we were going to have our dinner. The restaurant was quite near from the mall but it took us a while to get there due to heavy traffic. We arrived at our destination - Baan Kanitha at around 8 pm.

Personally, I wasn't really hungry due to the heavy lunch we had but still decided to order a lot anyway.

Appetizer before the main dishes,

Hot water for me. Love the tea pot and cup. We actually wanted to buy some but didn't find any in the ceramic stores.

Here's the food... Pomelo Salad with shirmp and shredded chicken,

Crispy rice cakes with pork curry sauce,

Stir fried chicken with chillies and cashews

Vegetable spring rolls,

Shrimp cakes, I was told that it tasted better before but it was alright.

Prawn in red curry, really a good one. For dessert, we ordered the mango with sticky rice, and the tub tim krob - water chestnut in tapoica starch with coconut milk and crushed ice.

The next day, we woke up early and had breakfast at the hotel. Then headed out to the malls by 10 am. We went to Central Department Store. I couldn't resist, I had to get some Jo Malone Cologne. Muji was there too so I got some containers for the home and for traveling.

The girls were mainly by the shoe department buying their pumps and sandals. After Central, we headed to Geysorn Plaza to check the signature brands. Note, we only looked but didn't buy....because we had a plan...:-)

Late lunch was a this place called Senses, on the third level I believe in Geysorn, right beside the Longchamp store.

Here's what we ordered. Soft shell crab salad with lime dressing again. A different version, more spicy dressing but still yummy. I dont' think we can ever get tired of this dish.

Shrimp tempura, we were forced to order this because we needed one more entree. The menu was limited so ok, we went for the safe one.

Another paad thai, nicely presented in a fried rice paper basket topped with fish roe.

Then we had green chicken curry. We decided not to have dessert anymore because we were running out of time.

Next stop was shopping in this secret place. :-) You can email me if you want to find out where. If you're nice, I'll tell you where it is. :-) They have local brands and they have really good deals. The girls and I decided to split up so we can go shopping on our own then meet at a specific time ( more like the closing time of the mall) When we saw each other, we were all laughing because all of us had really big plastic bags filled with stuff. We knew it was time to go home.

Back at the hotel, the girls, except for me, tried on their new buys. I was too tired and so I just watched them model their stuff. We rested for a while then headed out to the mall to shop again before dinner.

Late dinner was at The Loft, a food court type of place with different restaurants...name it, they have it. We ordered chicken rice, beef pho, duck curry, char kway teow, cantaloupe with sago, and the mango with sticky rice again.

Writing this is making me hungry already. Anyway, I had such a great time with the girls. I wish I can go back there again soon for another food trip because I'm missing it already. I will post some easy Thai recipes next time for you to try. 'Til then...

DINNER AT TAO YUAN

Last week, I went to Manila for dinner to have Laksa. We decided to go to Tao Yuan. It was my first time there. I actually heard a lot of good things about it but never got the opportunity to visit until last week.

The menu reminded me of the food that my friend Daniel serves in his restaurant in Singapore. I was craving for seafood so I had to try the Chili crab. Here are the other items that we ordered...

The fried buns or man tau, meant to be eaten with the sauce of the Chili crab...really my favorite.

Char kway teow, cooked pretty well but I didn't get to eat much of it. I was too much into the crabs!

Cereal prawns,

Seafood laksa, it was ok, i wanted it to be more spicy and I found it to have too much coconut milk but it wasn't bad.

Hainanese Chicken and Rice, good! specially with the rice. I just wish they had the thick sweet soy sauce to go with it.

here's the sauce for the Hainanese chicken,

Sweet and sour pork, the kids loved this one. It got wiped out before I could try it.

Fried green beans with pork and tofu, this is what I order when it's available in the menu. I always ordered this when I was in Shanghai.

Sambal Kangkong, Spicy but good.

Seafood hofun, this was good too but I think my friend Daniel can make it better.

And Chinese beefsteak with special sauce, this one was so tender! Oh and by the way, dessert was for free. They served black gulaman. We also tried the mango sago and it was good too.

If I lived in Manila, I'd probably eat here every week. I hope they'll open a branch somewhere in Makati area or Ortigas so It's not that far. The next time I go back, I'll order their pepper crab.

Here's the address of Tao Yuan 508-512 Gen. Malvar St. Cor Mabini Malate Manila. It right across the side of Pan Pacific Hotel. Here's the phone number +632 522 7009. Reservations required.