Tag / bangkok
On the first full day at Bangkok, Mell and I decided to head downtown to Siam Paragon as it was a Friday, and the most important destination, Chatuchak, only opens on weekends. We took a the Skytrain from Saphan Khwai, the nearest station to our hotel, all the way down to Siam Central, seven stations away.
I really like the Bangkok train system, they’re fast, efficient, and people are pretty friendly. For example, strangers would adjust and leave two side by side seats when they saw us walking in as a couple. Kapkun kap!
Tony Romas at Siam Paragon
We did a little bit of shopping and walking around before catching the show every girl has so eagerly waiting for – Confessions of a Shopaholic. I must admit that the movie was actually pretty good (especially for a bimbo show). The cinema at Siam Paragon was also the most luxurious cineplex I’ve ever sat foot in, and the royal theater our movie was screened in could seat 1,200 movie goers. Very impressive.
the real deal: baby back ribs
After the movie, we decided to have an early dinner. Walking around the ground floor of siam paragon, we arrived at Tony Romas. Well, we do have this again alongside TGIF and Chili’s, but there is a crucial difference. In Thailand, the baby back ribs that made Tony Romas name so recognisable is served with it’s original ingredient – pork.
onion ring loaf, bread and butter
Naturally, we can’t pass up such an opportunity. We stepped into the restaurant and ordered ourselves a full rack of ribs and half a loaf of their unique onion ring to share between the two of us.
Service was commendable despite the odd hours (it was just before 5). A yeast roll was served with butter to get us starting while our dishes were being prepared, and they were pretty delicious. Slightly hard on the outside and soft and warm inside.
KY & Mellissa at Tony Romas
Next up was the onion ring loaf. Even though it was their smallest portion, the serving was still rather big. It tastes like a cross between the normal onion ring and those you get from banana leaf rice accompanying deep fried dishes. Very delightful with the dipping that tasted rather like thousand island dressing.
Then came the ribs. Full rack of baby back goodness with a perfectly prepared baked potatoe topped sour cream and bacon bits.
The ribs were absolutely fantastic! Tender and flavorful, with the sauce that complement the meat so brilliantly. We literally sucked the bones dry. It was truly worthy of the reputation.
If you are in Thailand or Singapore, give this a try and I’m sure you won’t be disappointed. Now why can’t we have a just one Tony Romas at home that is non halal? Just one, please?
It is often my mission to taste food that are not available locally whenever I travel to another country, and that usually means eating by the streets and at some of the more dodgy areas the locals frequent.
However, unique perhaps only to Malaysia in this part of the world, there are several big restaurant chains that altered their menu to be Muslim friendly (Tony Romas, Subway), or skip the country entirely. One of such example would be Mos Burger.
Mos Burger – Japanese Fine Burger & Coffee
Mos Burger is the 2nd largest fast food restaurant chain in Japan after the ubiquitous McDonald’s. In addition to the native country, they also operate in Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, and Hong Kong. The major difference between Mos Burger and the usual McD/BK/Wendy’s is the availability of their rather unique rice burger, and of course, the liberal addition of pork in their menu. (which was exactly why I went there in both my Bangkok trips)
KY & Mell waiting for our Mos burgers!
On our 3rd day at Bangkok, we found ourself at the biggest Mall in town, CentralWorld , Mell and I decided to have a go at Mos Burger for lunch.
The menu at Mos is rather big for a fast-food restaurant. There are hotdog, prawn, fish, chicken teriyaki, beef patties, beef teriyaki, unagi, and of course, pork burger (not available in Mos Singapore, sigh)
Naturally, we went for two different pork burgers. I chose the ginger pork rice burger, while Mell ordered the pork cutlet burger set. We paid and then sat down patiently and waited for the burgers to be served.
ginger pork rice burger & pork cutlet burger
The rice burger “buns” and the ginger pork was rather awesome. The feeling was rather like having a ginger pork bento with Japanese rice, but in a convenient burger format. I can eat this kinda things 3 times a week. Mell’s pork cutlet burger was equally impressive as well. Soft buns, generous amount of shredded cabbage, and the delicious pork cutlet with the savory sauce. The lady was well satisfied.
Our sets came with soft drink and a small serving of fries. The fries are slightly thicker than your standard McDonald’s, and less salty too. They’re probably healthier, but I wasn’t too impressed with them. Then again I was never a fan of fries since I the stint with McD over 10 years ago.
some other burgers and dishes from my previous trip
The set meals we ordered were 109 and 129 bath, or roughtly RM 11 and RM 13. A little bit more than BK and McD’s but the quality of burgers more than made up for the prize difference.
If you find yourself at the center of Bangkok, head to CenterWorld and give this a try. There is also a branch at Siam Paragon’s food court level.
Some of you might know by now that the days of rushing to board an Air Asia flight just to get “good seats” is over. The low cost carrier actually assign seats by the time you check in. No need for that Xpress Boarding gimmick anymore, a relief, right?
Well, maybe.
You see, now there is this wonderful offer from Air Asia aptly named “Pick A Seat” service. For RM 25 per person, you get to choose the hot seats (first 5 rows, and the 2 rows next to emergency exits) that comes with extra leg rooms.
Well, we figure our legs aren’t exceptionally long, so we chose the standard seats. On the way to Bangkok, everything was well good. On the way back, we got this little surprise thrown to us by the airline.
Despite checking in together almost 3 hours in advance, we were assigned SEPARATE SEATS 19A & 20A.
Naturally Mell and I thought it must be a mistake, so we asked the ticket issuing officer if we could be seated together. The answer was very simply, no.
The seats were assigned randomly by the system and can’t be changed. You can however, pay RM 25 for hot seats if you want to be seated together (the RM 5 “standard” seat arrangement deal was not explained)
We then went to the sales counter (there was no customer service counter at Bangkok Airport for Air Asia) to state our case and tried to get it all sorted out without avail. The lady politely asked if we want to have the hot seats, or we could talk to the ticket issuing lady again. Ding dong.
We weren’t exactly very happy with their explanation of how their system works, and why we can’t get seats that are next to each other cos they are already “assigned”. I even asked them to show if the seats are all assigned to those who paid extra with no free adjacent seats anymore, but of course my request was rejected.
So we boarded the plane and seated separately. Apparently there were quite a few parties who had the same treatment. People started exchanging seats as soon as everyone boarded the plane, and we eventually moved to a row of empty seats at the back of the plane.
What I want to know is how that seat assignment algorithm in their system is written.
The one place at Bangkok every girl must visit is of course, the Chatuchak weekend market. 15,000 stalls selling everything from accessories, clothes, furniture, decorative items, to pets and food. Everything that you ever need, you can find them here, and usually cheap.
Mell picking up some 10 baht a piece earrings
Our first trip to Chatuchak was on Saturday just before noon. It was way too hot and the girl somehow decided to buy 4 pieces of mugs for 15 baht each (a very good deal, I must agree) among other stuff which kinda made carrying the spoils a bit too tiring. We ended up spending half an hour for foot massage, nice!
We went there again on Sunday evening after spending some time in the city. This time around we got quite a bit more than previous trip (but no clay kitchenware this time), Mell got some 20 pieces of clothes and I got myself 3 pieces yey!
that small pile of 3 shirts was what I bought, the rest belongs to Mell
After 3 days at the funky room 202 “Hong Kong Pat”, we moved to room 303 “Medicine Machine” at Reflections Rooms. Instead of the converted shop lot, this room looks like it was a small office, about the size of 2.5 standard hotel room. Will have more pictures posted soon.
Room 303 – Medicine Machine
2 more days in Bangkok, and it’s been as awesome as it can get. I think a trip to the city is in schedule tomorrow, perhaps to catch another movie and visit the Ocean World at Siam Paragon. Be back soon with proper naisss photos!
We arrived at Bangkok late last night after a very noisy flight that reminds me very much of Puduraya. After escaping the slaughtering attempt by “official” airport taxi that asked for 1100 baht for a trip to the hotel, we took a standard cab and paid less than 500 baht to Reflections Rooms at Pradipat Rd.
Mell & KY says Hi!
The room is much more awesome that we had expected, disco lights, funky furniture, eccentric decorations, soft toy chair. We are encouraged actually to paint the walls too. I have tonnes of pictures taken with the el big-o camera but you’ll have to be satisfied with this one taken by the camera phone for now.
Hong Kong Pat (room 202) at Reflections
We went to Siam Paragon today and watched Confessions of a Shopaholic. Which was awesome( (Mell’s word, ok I agreed). It was my first time having to stand up in a cinema while the images of the King came up (last I did was when they used to play Negaraku in local cinemas).
Tomorrow’s destination is Chatuchak weekend market. Lets hope we wake up early enough to enjoy the free breakfast.
