Foodie in Bangkok

By Kin Enriquez -

Our last trip to Bangkok was a special one. It was my first time to join a group tour, and it was a special tour. Organized by a Thai chef currently based in Manila (he owns Thai Dara restaurant), the tour, composed of around 20 people, was about experiencing food in Bangkok (and Ayutthaya) the way the locals enjoy them. 

The choices of places that we went to for three days range from popular and high-end restaurants to a small street food stalls that locals flock too and no tourists normally go to, because the menus are in Thai and there aren't even pictures on the menu.   

 One of two of them are even so obscure that I couldn't find them on Foursquare to be able to check in (by the way, that's how I remember the names of the restaurants we went to, by checking in on Foursquare). 

Here are the places we went to, chronologically and according to my Foursquare history. I recommend them to travelers who want to experience authentic Thai food in restaurants that don't serve banana pancakes. To make them easier to find, I linked them to Foursquare.

Ayutthaya:
ก๋วยเตี๋ยวลูกชิ้นยักษ์ใหญ่_สาขาวัดใหญ่: this roadside restaurant in Ayutthaya literally means "big giant meatballs," and for a reason. They serve the meatballs together with the noodles.

Bangkok:
โก๊ะ ข้าวมันไก่ (Kho Chicken Rice): This restaurant is said to be owned by a celebrity. It is tucked behind a mall, and its specialty is broiled chicken served over rice.

 ส้มตำนัว (Som Tam Nua): This restaurant, located in an alley in Siam Square, is famous as it made into CNNGo's Best Eats 2010 awards. With that fame, it is easy to understand that this place gets busy, especially around lunch time. It took us  nearly an hour of waiting time before we got seated. But it was all worth it, especially the som tum (green papaya salad).


สมบูรณ์โภชนา (Somboon Seafood): this one, found in Bang Rak, has a decidedly upmarket feel to it. The speciality of the Chinese restaurant is curry crab. 


Sukishi Buffet (ซูกิชิ บุฟเฟ่ต์): This one is in the Central Plaza mall in Rama 9. The restaurant features a moving conveyor belt laden with fresh ingredients that range from meat, fish, seafood, mushrooms, and vegetables that you cook in a pot on your table. Sky's the limit here, so be sure to come in with empty stomachs. 

There are other places that we went to that I can't recall the names or haven't checked in on Foursquare, like that dimsum place pictured above, but I'm sure Jimmy the Chef would be happy to point them out to you if you join the tour. The package costs PhP 17,500, all in (airport transfer, transportation, hotel accommodation for 3 nights, plus the cost of the food. If you're interested you may contact James on his Facebook page or speak to him in Thai Dara restaurant. 

by Kin Enriquez

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Golden Tara of Agusan

By Kin Enriquez -
Image
One of the main reasons why I am always drawn to museums when I travel is that I would want to see, in real life, the fascinating things that I've only read in books or have seen in the films, such as archaeological artifacts or the paintings of Van Gogh and Dali . Museums give you access to all that. I majored in History when I was an undergraduate in the University of the Philippines. As such, I am always excited to see artifacts and historical curiosities that I encounter during my travels. But sometimes, they also make me sad, like when I saw the Golden Tara of Agusan in the Field Museum in Chicago.  The reverse of the Golden Tara The Golden Tara is a gold statue of a Hindu-Malayan deity discovered in 1917 in Esperanza, Agusan del Sur, in southern Philippines. Weighing about four pounds, the 21-karat gold statue depicts a woman deity sitting cross-legged, ornamented with a headdress and various accruements in the arms and legs....
Read more

Off the Beaten Track: Mapun, Tawi-Tawi

By Kin Enriquez -
Image
Guest post by Mara Ione Sarail Mapun? Where is that?” I get this question a lot when people ask me about my hometown. I’d ramble on and on the island (its location and the culture and the pretty spots...) but since the place is not really in any of the Philippines tourist spots and is in the middle of nowhere, I might as well talk about Atlantis instead. But the island does exist.  Mapun Tawi-Tawi or Cagayan de Sulu) is an island municipality in the Sulu Sea on the southwestern extreme of the Philippines, located very close to Sabah. Or from the way I see it on the Philippine map, the island is located on the Philippine’s “armpit”. Mapun is a volcanic island. The picture above shows Mt. Nanggoy, an inactive volcano near the Sapah Lake. The most popular tourist attraction in Mapun would be the three crater lakes on the west part of the island. Legend says that the three lakes were once volcanoes that erupted together. The first two, Danao and Singuwang, b...
Read more

How To Track Your Travels with Google Location History

By Kin Enriquez -
Image
Ever traveled to a place then forgot the name of that small shop that sells the best tasting cronuts you've ever had? Or have you ever wanted to retrace your steps in your travels, down to the smallest alleyways you passed along the way but couldn't? Here's a travel tool that enables you to do that - so well that it's cool and scary at the same time: the Google Location History. I use the service - which you need to enable on your mobile phone and Google account - to look back at my travels and generate some cool maps that retrace my steps during my trips. Google Maps, by itself, is an incredibly useful app already; I cannot count how many times I've used it when traveling to find my hostel, the nearest subway station, that cronut place. Having location history enable, made it cooler and more useful. Take a look at these examples: The top photo shows my movements around Singapore during my trip there in September, It basically showed my movements in t...
Read more