Café de Jutapha

The Cup Restaurant & Tea Room

2010-01-14T15:25:00.021+07:00

The Cup Restaurant & Tea Room

3/F, Lake Rajada Office Complex

Ratchadaphisek Rd. (opposite Asoke Sukumvit)

Tel : 02-264-0247, 02-264-0249-50
Fax: 02-264-0248

Open Mon-Sat (11am-6pm)

I heard about this place many times but i don't know why i haven't had a chance to come here.

The Cup is known as British restaurant and tearoom. They opened their shop many years ago at Oriental Plaza (near Oriental Hotel) and then moved to the current location.

At the board, you can see the menu in hand-writing. They have special menu everyday, which means they have to write some part of menu on this board everyday. (You can notice the Christmas Tree near the board. I went there around Christmas.)

Let's look around first. The atmosphere here is so warm and cozy...

Cake cabinet...it took me a while to decide on dessert. will show you below.

They also have salad bar.

First order! Pita Garlic (Baht 65)

I know that it looks pricy. But believe me, it worth!!! So crispy and full-aroma than you can imagine!

Next, Grilled Italian Sausage with mashed garlic potato and mashed spinach potato (Baht 360). It served with wholegrain mustard and dijon mustard. (They use Mille, the french brand.)

The sausage is good...but what i love on this dish is the mashed potato! both garlic one and spinach one, so tender. And even i am not the mustard person, i have to admit that mustard goes so well with this sausage...must try

Next, Fillet of pork wrapped in bacon with brandied mushroom cream sauce (Baht 410).

It is served with string beans, slices of apple, and whole carrot! (I personally love the way they served this carrot. Look cute and carrot is unbelievable soft!)

Look at the pork and sauce...They are sooooo good. Don't forget to also have piece of apple with the pork, sauce, and mushroom. Apple is always the good combination with pork and it's good that they provide slices of apple here!

I love the way they put potato chips underneath the pork fillet. The chips observe sauce and when you chewed on crispy chips full with sauce...which words i can use to explain my feeling...since the sauce is full of flavor, and the chips is fully dipped in that sauce...yum..yum!

Ready for dessert!

Before dessert, go for coffee first. House Blend (Baht 80)

We ordered Praline with peach crepe (Baht 150).

Zoom in! Praline......

Peach.........

The sauce is so buttery and full of caramel-like smell. They also provide so many pieces of peach (as you can see above). My favorite of the meal!

Another one is Cherry crumble with warm custard sauce (Baht 125)

With the sauce!

I just know when i compose this blog that i described many dishes here as full flavor and full aroma. They cooked their food like cooking-at-home dishes, put as much ingredient, spices, and seasoning you want, and create one of the best meal ever!

I still have lots and lots of dishes i wanna try, especially the roast pork and roast beef. Must come here again for sure :)

Hui Lau Shan, Hong Kong

2010-01-08T11:28:00.013+07:00

Hui Lau Shan

Various branches in Hong Kong.

http://www.hkhls.com/

For me, when i think of Hong Kong, one thing in my mind is Mango juice/dessert. Normally, i love the shop on the corner of Lock Road, Kowloon but now i have another favorite shop :)

Hui Lau Shan opened its first shop more than 60 years ago as the herbal tea shop. Nowadays, they developed themselves and end up having 40 branches of 'popular Hong Kong style dessert brand' around Hong Kong.

I went to the branch near Harbour City, Kowloon, opposite to the pier.

Look at the menu! I spent several minutes to decide what to order as everything looked sooooo good!

End up ordering Mango Platter (HKD 35).

Mango Platter consisted of 3 small portions of mango desserts; Crystal jelly with extra mango, Glutinous rice balls in mango juice with extra mango, and Fresh mango mochi.

First one, Crystal jelly with extra mango, they served the crystal jelly with mango pieces and mango icecream. The crystal jelly (which i cannot recall of what it made of) gave you clean and cool feeling while mango cube and mango icecream gave you the clean sweetness and freshness of fruit!

Glutinous rice balls in mango juice with extra mango. The chewy sticky rice ball with mango juice and mango pieces. Another version of the mango dish with the chewy ball!

Fresh mango mochi. They served the mochi with mango flesh.

Not only the mango flesh as the side, they also put big chunk of mango inside mochi with the coconut flakes outside. Good combination of chewy dough outside and the fresh sweet mango inside!

They also provided the take-away (they charge a bit more for eat-in). You will see lots of people waiting in front of the shop with the queue number in their hands. The mango drinks are great, with the full texture and full flavour of mango (the price is around HKD20 per serve). If you have time and love mango, this is another 'a must' to try!

Pepper Lunch

2009-11-28T10:05:00.016+07:00

Pepper Lunch
Central World 6/F, Atrium Zone
Chamchuri Square 2/F
SF Cinema City 7/F MBK Center
Central Plaza Bangna G/F

http://www.pepperlunch.com.sg

Before my brother took me to this place, I have no idea what Pepper Lunch is. But he kept mention about this place on and on, so one day, we went there together.

On what they said on their website, "Pepper Lunch is an affordable DIY fast food steakhouse with more than 200 outlets in Japan. Pepper Lunch promises a dynamic and fresh culinary experience for everyone by presenting the novel concept of a sizzling steak. You can enjoy juicy steak with a sizzle at affordable prices." They also have many branches in China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Taiwan, Philippines, Malaysia, and of course, Thailand.

This is how to order. Similar to every fast food shop, you have to order and pay first at the counter. They have a screen to show you what you order while another part of the screen showing how to cook your meal. After ordering, they will give you a number and you have to find the table which have matching number so that they can serve you the right order.

The kitchen, looking from the order counter.

At the table, they have a seasoning set.

As you may guess, of course one of the seasoning here is pepper. (as they are Pepper Lunch)

Salt

Karakuchi (Garlic Soy Sauce)

Amakuchi (Honey Brown Sauce)

According to their guide, they recommend to use these sauce with the steak menu. However, I find out that Karakuchi also goes along well with the rice.

My brother's Cut Steak&Hamburger served with bean sprouts, chives, and corns (Baht 190 or Baht 229 if you order it together with rice and soft drink).

To enjoy your steak&hamburger, this is what they told you to do:
- Cook your steak both sides on the hot plate.
- Add 'Amakuchi' or 'Karakuchi' for great taste when it is ready.

My Beef Pepper Rice (Baht 120 or Baht 139 if you order it together with soft drink).

To enjoy pepper rice, follow this instruction:
- The secret of great taste comes from butter and sauce in the middle of the plate.
- The more you mix them up, the better taste you get.

After mixing.

Another tip from me, but I am not sure if you will find it good or not. Adding Karakuchi (Garlic Soy Sauce) in this plate make it more tasty, similar to garlic fried rice.

Overall, I find it surprisingly good. Will come back to try other menu :)

Starbucks-Toffee Nut Latte (Christmas Drink 2009)

2009-11-06T13:38:00.012+07:00

Toffee Nut Latte
Available at Starbucks as Christmas Seasonal Drink

Before going to work on one morning (4 November 2009), I found this in front of Starbucks.

It said '2 Days until Christmas Arrives in Stores' and the below details is 'welcome back the drink of the celebrated season' with the picture of Toffee Nut Latte and Dark Cherry Mocha.

Then, I went in the shop and found out that even they announced at the door that we had to wait for 2 more days, they already pre-sold the Christmas drink! Lucky me!

Here it is! My first Tall Toffee Nut Latte of 2009!

Front of the cup.

Back of the cup.

I did not love it as coffee, but it is kind of seasonal drink for me, warm..sweet..creamy, and it also brings back good memories and reminds me that winter is coming (although winter in Bangkok is not cold, lol).The first official day of Christmas in the store!

and I got this! Snowflake Tumbler!

Who is hiding here? Mumble? There is a little penguin at the bottom of tumbler! wish they made the snow globe tumbler, but this is already oh-so-cute! (There is another similar tumbler but with white rabbit.)

Show you the cover. It is the twist-to-open style. To get the drink, you have to twist to open it.

Already twist.

Guess what i ordered today? Of course it was Toffee Nut Latte! This tumbler can use for only the short size of hot drink, as it is the 10 oz size tumbler.

In addition, I found this poster. The Live Jazz at Starbucks during December 2009 plus the Christmas Carol Singing.

Live Jazz at Starbucks will be on every Saturday starting from 5 December 2009 at only 5 branches; Baan Silom, Camp Davis, Charmchuree Square, SF Nawamin, and SF Phaholyothin.

For Christmas Carol (with the seasonal drink testing), it will be on 24 and 25 December 2009 at 2.00 p.m.-6.00 p.m. For Christmas Eve, it will be at 1st Floor of Siam Center, Street Level of Siam Paragon, and Siam Pomodoro. For Christmas, it will be at SF Esplanade, Emporium Tower, and 3rd Floor of Central World.

Enjoy!

Tawaraya

2009-10-31T23:40:00.053+07:00

Tawaraya

74 Sukumvit Soi 26 (near 4Wings Hotel),
Bangkok

Tel : 02-261-0561
Open daily : 11.30 - 14.00 / 17.30 - 23.00

It's quite hard to find the first photo for this blog, as i did not take one that completely express the atmosphere of this place. It is kind of feel-like-being-at-home place. The first floor is the sofa seats while the second floor is the private section. We choose second floor. (You can notice if you choose the second floor that most of other customers are Japanese, and they use this place as the drinking place.

Sneak peak!

Tawaraya is the Nagoya shop. According to wikipedia, some famous Nagoya food are misokatsu (pork cutlet with miso sauce), tebasaki (chicken wings marinated in a sweet sauce with sesame seeds - a type of yakitori), kishimen (flat udon noodles), and misonikomi udon (noodles in thick miso soup).You will find stack of bowls and a box of chopsticks on your table, so you are able to use as many bowl as you want for your meal! (i do around 2 as you will find below.)

Give you the appetizer first, Kusikatsu miso - deep fried pork with miso sauce (Baht 90).

Let you see after the first few bites.

Miso was soooo great and that's the important part of this dish (as you can see above, Nagoya is the specialist for miso). the pork part is just normal.

Another interesting dish to order (as recommend by the staff that it's their famous dish) is tebasaki - chicken wings marinated in a sweet sauce with sesame seeds (Baht 90). From the menu, it also looked interesting. gonna order at the next visit for sure!

A stove coming!

We ordered Shioton - slices of pork marinated with salt mixed with vegetable - cabbage & beansproute (Baht 190)

We also ordered another addition Udon (Baht 50) to add to this dish. Show you how to make it: first, fry the pork and vegetable. Then, put udon and continue stir-frying until everything is cooked.

We can eat now!

Even it looked tasteless, from its pale color, the real taste is much different.

After finishing the dish. think it can show you how good it is, lol.

More thing to order from Yakiniku part (as i went there once before this blog but did not take photos as i was too excite!) are misoton - pork with miso sauce and chicken with garlic (sorry that i can't give you the japanese name for this one). Highly recommend the chicken with garlic one, really..really good! (but you will smell like chicken and garlic after that, said from my own experience, lol)

Another stove coming! can you guess what it is.

Show you the ingredient. Tako - octopus, ginger, spring onion, and fried tempura batter, with seaweed and Katsuo bushi - dry fish, to.

Give you another hint, the batter.

Yes, it is do-it-yourself Takoyaki (Baht 150). you can ask the back kitchen to do it for you (so you can sure that you will get perfect takoyaki) or make it yourself (or ask their staff to do for you) at the table.

Show you how to make takoyaki, start from the bottom left photo: pour in batter first. Then, add tako. After that, mix other ingredients

The complete takoyaki!

While waiting for the next dish, i did this :)

And also this!

With seaweed and dryfish, can't see the hearts right now, lol

Another dish coming! Unagino Isiyakihitumabusi - Grilled Eel on Rice (Baht 330).

They served this with spring onion, seaweed, wasabi, and o-chazuke soup.

You can choose to have it dry or with soup. To have it in the dry version, you can choose to top it with spring onion, seaweed, and wasabi. but to my choice (you can notice that this is not my plate for sure), i choose to have it with no topping.

Or, you can have it with the soup. Start pouring!

More..more..

Stir it a bit

Done.

For me, I preferred the soup one, the crispy with a bit burned rice (as they served this rice in the hot stone bowl) meets with the soup made the good combination and the soup supported the flavor, taste, and smell of the rice. Quite a comfort food for me.

For dessert, I tried Kurogoma Purin - Black Sesame Pudding (Baht 100) (sorry for no picture). Creamy and tender pudding with black sesame paste at the bottom. I rarely felt black sesame on my first few bite. But the taste increased more and more...and complete the meal!

La Truffe, Ma Du Zi Hotel Bangkok-Afternoon Tea

2009-10-24T22:37:00.015+07:00

Ma Du Zi Hotel Bangkok

9/1 Ratchadaphisek, Klongtoey Sub-district,

Klongtoey District, Bangkok 10110
Tel : 02-615-6400

http://www.maduzihotel.com

Afternoon Tea period: 2.00 p.m. - 5.00 p.m.

If you drive pass this building, you will not notice that there is a great place escaping in the middle of Bangkok (MaDuZi locates on Asoke Junction, Sukhumvit and Ratchadapisek, on the corner of Sukhumvit 16). and i'm so lucky that someone introduce this place to me!

Before coming to this place, first of all, highly recommend that you should call to make a reservation! not because of this place is so packed, but because it's so private so that if you don't call first, you might end up being at the gate and can't come in, for the gate is always closed and no one's there to open the gate for you.

After coming in, it's quite another world to me. peaceful and serene. great place for escaping.

They have 2 choice of afternoon tea set: one is the normal tea set which includes tea, savory, and sweet, plus macarons (Baht 650). the other is the same but with the additional wine (Baht 850). Some might know that i don't good at drinking, so i go for the former one. Please note that the savory and sweet changes everyday, depends on the ingredient the chef get on that day.

Time to order tea! They have choice of white tea, red tea, green tea, and black tea. with the choice of flowers: Lavender, Chamomile, Mary Gold (but in my opinion, i think it's Chrysanthemum), and Carnation. and the choice of sweet addition: white sugar, brown sugar, rock sugar, and honey.My choice! White tea with rose. Quite ok, but not that much rose scent.

Savoury. From right to left, Omelette on Baguette, Toast Ham and Cheese Sandwich, and Mushroom Tart.

Give you another picture!

Awesome! i have to think carefully of what to eat first. end up with omelette, then sandwich, then mushroom tart. all is fantastic, but my most favorite is the sandwich. perfectly toasted with not too much, not too little ham&cheese. if it's a bit more or less than this, it won't be this perfect!

Another thing, don't think that they gave you too little. for me, i think it's quite perfect portion. if they give you more than this, it will be too much.
Strawberry tart!

Top view.After a bite.

Even it's a bit too early for strawberries, the chef can manage to make this tart great. i think the base is super creamy almond paste, but not so sure.

Honestly, i can't remember what this one call, but there is cherry inside, so i gonna call it the Cherry Dome!
Top view. can you notice it's so shine and you can even use it as a mirror! (already tried, lol)

After a cut, to show you the inside. (see the light bulb on the cutting part? quite shine!)

i don't know how to explain this one. bitter chocolate and cherry...creamy smooth chocolate moose with cherry in the middle. I quite melt using a knife to cut through it and the taste is like a daydream.

Macarons!!! i got strawberry cream cheese (i think, lol), chocolate, and blueberry. my favorite is chocolate, feel like eating brownie!

Just a sentence for conclusion, i gonna come back for sure!

Kinniku Gyudon

2009-10-17T21:15:00.017+07:00

Kinniku Gyudon

Room 307, 3rd Floor, La Villa,

356 Phaholyothin Road, Bangkok

Tel: 02-613-0516

Open daily: 11.30 a.m.-10.00 p.m.

First of all, I have to tell you that i'm the big fan of Yoshinoya, the famous japanese gyudon(beef bowl) brand which has branches in many countries, e.g. Singapore. When I go to Singapore, I have to visit their shop for at least 2 times, for the 3 days trip :)

I found this place by accident as my iphone's headset got some problems, so i needed to go to istudio to get the new one after work. After reaching La Villa, I walked around to find the place for dinner and found this!!!

Kinnikuman!!! (Sorry for the bad photo quality but i really like their name card holder.) For Manga lovers, you must know Kinnikuman better than me for sure. I just know that he's a wrestler who loves gyudon. You will find Kinnikuman models around this shop!

I ordered Ice Green Tea (Baht 45).

Here they come! Gyudon Set (Baht 165 for Gyudon and you can order as a set and they will also provide you miso soup and salad with the extra charge of Baht 40). For your information, they also do the pork version and have other menu, such as Curry Rice , Tempura, Salmon Teriyaki and Hamberg Steak, not just Gyudon.

Top view of the beef bowl. From what they told us, they use Karubi (beef short rib) beef and slice the beef at 1.5 mm thickness.

Zoom! Such a very big bowl! I can't finish all rice (but definately finish all beef as i'm a carnivore, lol.)

Got the professional photo from my friend's camera, much better than mine :)

I don't know how to describe all the taste. so tender, so soft, not too much seasoning so you can taste the real taste of the beef. Have to tell you that my brother and my mom opined that it gonna be better if it is more tasty but in my opinion, i love it as it is. (still believe that if you get really good ingredient, you don't have to season it much, just cook it properly and go for the real taste!)

Hamberg steak. From my opinion, I think they still keep high quality of the meat using in this dish. Good actually, but Gyudon is the best!

Dessert time!!! Green tea ice-cream with red bean paste (Baht 80). Look great but too sweet green tea ice-cream to my like (i love the bitter green tea ice-cream with loads of greentea flavor), so my mom helped me finish it :)

This week, i went there twice now (Gyudon in both visits). Think it already proved how much i love it. Really recommend you to go there and give it a try!

Ohana Cafe

2009-10-11T21:55:00.023+07:00

Ohana Cafe

50/4 Sukhumvit Soi 24,

Bangkok 10110

Tel 02 661 1930

Fax 01 661 1931

http://www.ohana.co.th/

Open daily 9 a.m.-9p.m.

(Parking at Sakura Restaurant available 9 a.m.-6 p.m.)

I heard several persons talked about this place (including my dad), so I asked my dad to bring me here.

Opening hours.

Menu outside the shop. Cute, isn't it?

The place. I like that they keep the big trees which growing at the venue by building this glass house with the hole for them. and the glass makes you be able to sit in the sunlight (while we need to be in the office on weekdays and can't relax in this atmosphere; sunshine and blue sky) while being in air conditioner room.

My cafe latte and croissant (Baht 120). Look at the latte! i don't have latte served with beautiful latte art like this for at least 6 months...with silky, creamy froth...another favorite cafe found!

My dad's Matcha Latte (Baht 90)

After stirring and adding syrup.

As we went there for lunch, my parents ordered the Set Menu (Baht 200) which consists of Soup, Pasta, Salad, and Dessert.

Their soup came! I can't remember what they ordered as I was busy photos taking, running around the shop to check out things, and read one interesting coffee book and cookbooks provide, lol. Think they ordered Carrot Soup and Spinach Soup.

Pasta! My dad's was Fettucini Alfredo.

My mom's was Spaghetti Bolognese.

The dessert on the set today is Brownie. I i stole one bite from my mom, yum!

My lunch coming! I ordered Vanilla Waffle with Strawberry, Fresh Cream, and Vanilla Ice Cream (Baht 150). As you may know that i'm sweet tooth, i can have sweets as a meal, lol.

Show you the filling. I think the stew inside is rhubarb and strawberry.

My dad's Ice Espresso Latte (Baht 90). Made with Espresso ice and cold milk with milk froth, so the more the ice melts, the more coffee flavor.

My dad drank it too fast, so i can show you the ice.

Highlight of the day! After i talked with the owner of the shop and know that he had Jamaica Blue Mountain, I can't resist to ask him to if i can order some and he said yes :)

Show you the coffee.

Crema!!!!!

This is the second time of the year i tried Jamaica Blue Mountain. (one of my friends told me that it tastes different each year.) Surprisingly good with French press (as recommend by the owner that it's better than espresso).

Overall, Ohana is much better than i expected. so it becomes my new favorite place :)

Japanese Restaurant Erawan

2009-10-10T23:26:00.013+07:00

Japanese Restaurant Erawan (next to Crystal Jade)

Urban Kitchen

Basement Floor, Erawan Bangkok

494 Ploenchit Road,

Bangkok 10330

Tel 02 250 7890, 02 652 1295

I walked pass this shop for many times and always think that Urban Kitchen has no place to eat (apart from Amaltery, the liquor icecream). but i just realized that it's because i did not explore everything properly.

Inside the shop, it's on Saturday Lunch and there are only 3-4 tables (weekdays dinner is always so private) but this cannot use for judging the quality of food here.

Our first order arrived, Zaru Soba-chilled buckwheat noodles with dipping sauce. Quite good. (but we found the next orders are better and better) If you like chilled noodles, Somen is also good.

My friend's Sushi. One is Hamachi (Yellowtail fish), but i cannot remember the other one. (Note: We are informed that the fish just delivered last night, we went there on Saturday, my friend's eyes were sparkling when she heard this, haha.) My friend told me that it's the highlight of her week and she can come drive all way long from her place just because of this, lol.

From the professional camera, to show you the quality of the fish!

The rib sausage, look normal but so tasty, quite a must to order.

This is the real MUST!!! Fried rice with pork or beef (the choice of beef are:normal beef, wagyu, or matsuzaka) on hot pan. This time we go for just normal beef, but it's sooooo good and we promised to ourselves that we must come back to try matsuzaka one. I tried the pork one and it's also good, the different is the juicy fat, which the beef one doesn't have. If you order the pork one, when you bite into the fat, it explodes. While the beef is more flavor. Have to choose though.

Dessert time!!! Kakigori-shaved ice flavored with syrup, they got 2 choice; green tea or strawberry. We go for green tea. If you expect for the sweet green tea syrup, you will be disappointed. But if you expect for the REAL green tea flavor (think they use matcha, this is what you are looking for, a bit bitter, with the read bean. Sooooo good. Perfect end of the meal.

Normally, Kakigori is served with Mochi, but as we don't like Mochi, we asked them to change it to other thing, and we got green tea jelly.

Another to die for, Green Tea parfait, contains green tea ice cream (bitter, love it!), vanilla ice cream (also good), green tea and white (not sure what the white jelly made of) jelly, mochi, edamame in jelly (hiding at the bottom of the glass), syrup, and brown sugar! (do i miss anything? quite lots of ingredients here)

As you may notice that the quality of most photos are much improved, it's not because of me, lol, special thanks to Oh :)

Shark Fin Soup@ChinaTown

2009-10-03T23:09:00.013+07:00

Tae (ร้านตือหูฉลาม)
In front of Bank of Ayudthya, Yaowarat Branch
437, Yaowarat, Sampanthawong Subdistrict,
Sampanthawong District, Bangkok

Our today's dinner plan is that we would like to have street food. and one of the best street food in Bangkok is at China Town, or Yaowarat.

The menu is on the board, and this is the real street vender. but as you may see, it's quite a pricy street vender though.

Bean sprout and coriander to eat with shark fin soup.

Start with stir-fried noodles, Hong Kong style first

and here it is! the shark fin soup!

We ordered 2 pots. this is when we nearly finish the meal.

HoyJor (the best definition i can think of is deep-fried crab sausage)

Best thing of the meal. "Guaitiao Rad Na" (A wide rice noodles in a creamy sauce with porks). [not sure if the owner normally provides this or not, so ask first. but if he doesn't there is the shop nearby which is his sister's shop.) they use the crispy chinese kale and the fried noodles. Yum!

Give you another pix!

Sorry for the quality of the photos and sorry that I can't give any opinion as i ate here since i was so young and get use to the taste already. but one thing i can tell you is, when my family thinks of shark fin soup, we will definately call him to check if he opens his shop on that day or not! and another thing is my dad keeps going to this shop to bring back at least 5 serves of Rad Na!

Kuppa (Sukhumvit Branch)

2009-10-02T21:46:00.009+07:00

Kuppa
39 Sukhumvit Road Soi 16,
Klongtoey, Bangkok
Tel: 02-663-0495, 02-663-8806, 02-663-0450-4
Opening hours: Tue-Sun 10.30 a.m.-10.30 p.m.

My first memory of Kuppa is not at this branch. it is at another branch on Thonglor which is already closed. at that time, i went to Kuppa for semi-dried tomato and chicken (if my memory is right) sandwiches and seafood angle hair pasta. (by the way, they already changed the menu.)

Then, i read from somewhere that Kuppa tends to be coffee place. The name 'Kuppa' came from the sentence that you asked your friends/guests if they would like to have a cup of coffee-a 'kuppa' coffee (cute, isn't it?). And you may notice at the original branch (this one, Sukhumvit 16), that they got their own coffee roaster and import coffee bean from all around the world. They have at least 5 single origins and 5 house blends (can't remember the exact number).

As usual, as I am the milk-in-coffee lover, for i love the creamy-milky taste and will do espresso or french press if i would like to taste the real flavor, i go for flat white (Baht 120) (yes, i finally found flat white here as the owner of this shop lived in Australia and be inspired by cafe there.). Flat white is similar to cafe latte but with more milk and less froth. It is famous in Aus and NZ.

I forgot to ask of which blend/single origin beans they normally use. the coffee is average good (will buy beans to taste at home soon) but the milk froth here is to die for. creamy, silky, and milky...with the perfect amoung of milk+froth pouring.

This is flat white on another visit, just to show you the consistency of how good their milk froth is! (for your info, the book besides my flat white is Tender at the Bone: Growing up at the Table from Ruth Reichel, the editor-in-chief of Gourmet Magazine)

Kuppa also provided All-day-breakfast (love it-love it!). I ordered Egg Benedict (Baht 295). Normally, Egg Benedict consists of English muffin, topped with ham or bacon, poached egg, and hollandaise sauce. Kuppa version consists of English muffin, ham, spinach, poached egg and hollandaise sauce.

A must-shot for poached egg! Tada!

For me, i like it to be more liquidly on the egg yolks and more moist on the hollandaise sauce (think it's because of baking too long tho.) but anyway, this is my favorite coffee place now :)

Mamon Cake

2009-09-20T17:17:00.004+07:00

I got this recipe from http://www.bloggang.com/viewdiary.php?id=monnira&month=11-2008&date=13&group=75&gblog=5

I'm not sure how this philippino sponge cake must be. For me, it somehow likes a better version of Kanom-Kai, with more moist. Get along well with cheese (but my mom prefers jam on top).

The recipe i worked on today uses vegetable oil. if you prefer, the blog mentioned above also got few more recipes that you can try. The butter one is also good but a bit too moist for my mom (she prefers this one).

1/2 cup of cake flour
1/2 cup of caster sugar (i use normal sugar)
3 Eggs (separate egg yolks and egg white)
1/4 cup of vegetable oil
1/2 tsp of baking powder
1/2 tsp of cream of tartar
1 tsp of vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven at 180 degree
2. Sift together cake flour and baking powder
3. Whisk together egg yolks, vegetable oil, and vanilla extract until well combine
4. Whisk together egg white and cream of tartar at the high speed. Add sugar and whisk until it reaches firm peak
5. Add egg yolks mixture and whisk (still at high speed) until well combine
6. Fold in flour. Make sure that it is well combined
7. Bake at 180 degree for 10-12 minutes

I had this cutie cakes with home-brew cafe latte (for melbournian info, i'm now on Jasper Coffee, Blend 10).

Mocha & Muffins, Four Seasons Hotel

2009-09-08T17:02:00.000+07:00

Mocha & Muffins
Four Seasons Hotel Bangkok (at Parichart Court Area)
155 Rajadamri Road
Bangkok 10330
Tel. 02 250-1000

When I was young, this hotel called 'Regent', now is 'Four Seasons' and i was quite familiar with this hotel back then as my dad and my brother used to have haircut here, came here almost every month, i guess. My most favorite part of this hotel is the garden located in the middle of the hotel. The hotel building has the garden inside, surround by the guess rooms, like an hidden forest, with little bridge and small canel and everything!

I totally forgot about this place. Long time that i last came to this hotel. Then, i found out about LoLo's blog accidently and found his post about this place in his blog and it reminds me about this secret garden. Apart from the nice place, LoLo told me that they use Vittoria. (Found out at the shop that they did not use gold, just normal one).

This is just the bakery shop of the hotel, hidden besides secret garden. so i didn't expect that much, but I can make sure that everything will be at least average good in the hotel standard.

look at the place! you can choose to sit outside: in the garden or in front of the shop like french cafes, or if you like air-conditioning room or the weather outside is too hot, you can sit inside the shop.

As you can guess, i ordered latte as usual. Perfect milk froth with perfect amount!

My so-called 'Petit Fours'. They do both normal size and mini (petit) size. I can't decide which to order. So instead of going for big one, i went for 3 small ones. I did ham&cheese croissant, coffee macaron, and cheesecake.

They also served coconut cookie with coffee!

The mini croissant is amazing!!!!! fluffy, crispy, and cheesy! heard that sausage roll is also amazing (both mentioned in LoLo's blog and i also took away some for my family and got the same comment from my bro) but i am sweet tooth, so i go for sweet instead of 2 savouries. Cheesecake is also good, but i expect more as the croissant is THAT amazing. Macaron is ok, honestly, i ordered it just to make a good company with bitter coffee.

my latte is sooooooo good! fulfill my miss-melbourne-coffee feeling. Vittoria is usually used in lots of cafe in Mel (at least the cafe at my law school uses Vittoria, and i have a latte/mocha/flat white a day on weekdays there. Note to SL and LS, do you remember which coffee bean the cafe at my place use?) so it brings back good memories back there. But better than that, can someone convince Jasper or Dancing Goat to open their shop in Bangkok? :)

Haagen Dazs (Affogato)

2009-09-08T16:36:00.000+07:00

Haagen Dazs
website: http://www.haagen-dazs.com/

Everybody knows that Haagen-Dazz is a good place for franchise icecream and i also saw that they use illy (italian brand which rates as good in Thailand. but what i know from someone, he told me that in Europe or Italy, illy is not that good as it is here.)

I dreamed of Brunetti Coffee Affogato (promise that i will do the blog about Brunetti in Melbourne). Brunetti served Affogato in a martini glass, 3 small scoops of vanilla icecream, top with whipped cream and a little jug of espresso!

While here, they served one big scoope of vanilla icecream with flake of chocolates and a shot of espresso in a coffee cup with 2 waffles.

Start pouring!

Look how concentrate i am with coffee pouring...more, more, more!

Finish pouring. Icecream started to melt and you can help it by stirring more. The combination is perfect! Hot espresso with cold icecream...

After You

2009-08-27T21:45:00.000+07:00

After You
2F La Villa
356 Soi Phaholyothin 6
Phaholyothin Road, Samsennai,
Phyathai, Bangkok
Tel: 02-613-0597

For those who love cookbook, May Made Cookbooks could be one of your cookbooks at home and now May has her dream come true, owning two cute cafes, one at Thonglor and one at Phaholyothin.
Give you menu first.

I went there for two times, first time alone and second time with a friend.
Start with Cafe Latte. Quite good for me. Nice milk froth and i'm kind of a big fan of 'serving coffee in bowl' style...bowl de cafe latte...

Shibuya Honey Toast; Toast with salty butter serve with vanilla ice-cream, whipped cream, and of course, honey!

I think this dish is originated from Japan, for i saw this couple times on Japanese TV show. Quite good to share with friends. But as i ordered this one when i went there on my first time, alone, it is too much for one to finish it all!

With honey, yum!

and i also ordered cafe latte on that day, lol! (you may guess that the first photo of lattes was taken by my friend, with the professional camera!)

Another dish, Panna Cotta!

Think is quite different from original Panna Cotta. They served this one with grated-freezing berry sauce. It's refreshing but the sauce is a bit too sweet for me and i prefer the original panna cotta.

Give you the photo of the shop from the outside and they also have the seats outside the shop, which i prefer :)

Overall, it's a good place to sit down, relax with a novel or chat with friends. nice coffee and nice dessert!!!

Grossi Trottoria II

2009-07-18T09:51:00.000+07:00

Grossi Trattoria & Wine Bar
Intercontinental Bangkok
973 Ploenchit Road, Bangkok 10330, Thailand
T. 66 2 656 0444
E grossi@ihgbangkok.com
http://grossitrattoriabangkok.grossi.com.au/grossi-trattoria.aspx

I went back to Grossi again for lunch and found out that they found my blog and feel a bit unhappy about this :( sorry for that, i didn't mean to do so...just wanna share my thought on the food. However, the food got improvement! so i think i need to do another blog for this.

This time i ordered TORTELLINI DI ANATRA -Duck and mushroom tortellini, intense duck jus, caramelized pear which is so good. I love the tortellini, duck and mushroom inside is on my like; feel like it's my comfort food but the caramalized pear is a bit sweeter than my like (just my opinion! but the overall is still so good).

After tortellini, i had rose sorbet and pannacotta and followed with latte as usual, which were good as always. i do really love rose sorbet here, so i got more information on gelato that they do their own gelato daily and have various interesting flavours.

Mocha Cupcakes with Caramel Swiss Buttercream

2009-06-14T19:15:00.000+07:00

From Martha Stewart's Cupcakes

I got the idea of these cute little cupcakes with buttercream kiss from Little Cupcakes for they do both normal size and this small size. And i'm so lucky that i can find the small paper liner here in Bangkok!

I did match the mocha cupcake with caramel butter cream myself. On Martha's book, she matched it with 'seven-minute frosting' which is kind of meringue frosting.

another thing, i did adjust the recipe for a bit, change sour cream to milk, for i didn't have sour cream at home on that day and it turned out ok.

Mocha Cupcakes
2 1/4 cups cake flour (not self-raising), sifted
2 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
2 large eggs at room tempature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup milk at room temparature (if you want to use Martha's recipe, use 1/2 cup sour cream instead.
3/4 cup freshly brewed espresso
1 tablespoon instant coffee (actually Martha said 'instant espresso coffee' but i didn't have, so i just used normal instant coffee.)

1. preheat oven to 325F and line the muffin tray (you can use normal size or mini size like i did) with paper liners.

2. sift together cake flour and cocoa powder.

3. with electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter until smooth and light. Add brown sugar and eggs, beat untill fluffy. Add vanilla, baking soda, and salt; beat to combine thoroughly.

4. reduce speed to low. add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of milk (or sour cream), and beating until just combined after each. mix together brewed espresso and instant coffee (or espresso powder); add to batter, and beat until smooth.

5. devide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake for 20 minutes or until a cake taster inserted in centers comes out with only a few moist crumbs attached. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool.

Caramel Buttercream (makes 4 cups)
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 cups unsalted butter at room temperature
4 large egg whites
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. combine 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar and the water in a heavy saucepan. Heat over medium, stir occationally until sugar is dissolved. cook until the mixture is very dark ember. remove from heat; add cream in a steady stream (the mixture will be spatter), stirring with a wooden spoon until smooth and combine, let cool.

2. with electric mixter on medium-high speed, cream butter until pale and fluffy. in the heatproof bowl of a standing electric mixer, combine remaining 1/2 cup sugar and the egg whites. set bowl over a pan of simmering water; whisk constantly by hand until mixture is warm to the touch and sugar has dissolved.

3. attach bowl of egg white mixture to the whisk attachment. starting on low and gradually increasing to medium-high speed, mix until stiff (but not dry) peaks form. continue whisking until egg mixture is fluffy and glossy and completely cool, about 10 minutes. reduce speed to medium-low. add beaten butter, about 1/4 cup at a time, mixing well after each addition. mix in vanilla.

4. switch to the paddle attachment, with mixer on medium-low speed, very slowly pour in caramel; beat until caramel is fully incorporated.

Lord Stow's Bakery

2009-06-14T18:17:00.000+07:00

Lord Stow's Bakery
1 Rua Do Tassara, Coloane,
Town Square, Macau
Opening hours: 7.00 a.m. - 10.00 p.m. (early close on Wed at 6.00 p.m.)

Lord Stow's Cafe
Largo Do Matadouro,
Coloane Village, Macau
Opening hours: 10.00 a.m. - 6.00 p.m.

Lord Stow's Garden Cafe
Rua da Cordoaria, 105, Edf.,
Coloane, Coloane Village, Macau
Opening hours: 10.30 a.m. - 7.00 p.m.

http://www.lordstow.com/

Before I went to Macau (for food only!!!), I did my research and everywhere I read, they all said, it's a must to go to Lord Stow's Bakery!!!

To go to Lord Stow's bakery, you have to take a bus for about half an hour from Senado Square. (you can ask the visitor center there which bus you have to take to go to Coloane Village.

Get off the bus when you see the cupid garden!!!

For your information, Coloane was the the location of one famous Korean Serie (sorry that i can't remember the name) and Lord Stow's Bakery was one of the places here in that Serie. So, it's kind of the famous place now, for lots of people come here to visit Lord Stow's Bakery and the church.

This is the original shop, full of people. some just come here for take away and have the taxi wait for them.

This is the latest shop at Coloane, Lord Stow's Garden Cafe, it locates near the cupid garden.

I chose to sit at Lord Stow's Cafe.

We ordered Ice Lemon Tea for drink, just normal.

Here they are!!! egg tarts!!!

In case the first photos of egg tarts does not tempt enough, i also took the photo after my few first bite to let you see inside and make you envy me!!! LOL.

It was creamy with crispy and fluffy puff pastry! Best egg tart ever! There is no words to descript it, but i agree that it's a must to visit Lord Stow's Bakery if you have a chance to go to Macau!

Ok, before I end this blog, let spoil you for a bit, LOL, before i went back to the city, i stopped at the original shop for the take away (yes, take them back to Bangkok!). I did buy 7 boxs, 6 tarts each, not all for myself, but for my relatives and we kept only 1 box at home. After my dad tasted it, he just realized what he missed, LOL, for at first he though i was too crazy on food and too crazy for taking a bus just for egg tarts...but after he ate it, he told me that next time i have to take him to the shop!!! haha

Grossi Trattoria

2009-06-13T22:57:00.000+07:00

Grossi Trattoria & Wine Bar
Intercontinental Bangkok
973 Ploenchit Road, Bangkok 10330, Thailand
T. 66 2 656 0444
E grossi@ihgbangkok.com
http://grossitrattoriabangkok.grossi.com.au/grossi-trattoria.aspx

For melbournian, I think you know Grossi Florentino on Bourke Street. Good news for Bangkok foodies, they decided to joint with Intercontinental Hotel and open the new restaurant here!!!

I went there with my family, for i want to try if the food is good or not.

see the bread first, just normal. But my mom fel in love with olives here, and she asked for refill, LOL. For the olive oil, also just normal.
Carpaccio di Manzo (raw beef, hot beef broth, peas, parsley): Seriously, i just realized that the liquid part is 'hot beef broth' when i typed the menu here for 1) the broth was not hot 2) the taste was similar to balsamic vinegar rather than broth. In my opinion, i think it will be better without the broth. The beef and other part were good. And they should add cheese as it is always good accompany with carpaccio.

Next plate was Fettuccine con Ragu di Vitello in Bianco (Handcut fettuccine, braised veal, white wine, cream and herbs): I know that Grossi is good at pasta, so we decided to order one pasta and one pizza, for my brother is pizza big fan. The waitress tried to make me order the bolognese fettuccine as it's the special pasta of the day. but this menu was so tempting, so i ignored her suggestion and order this one, haha.

The pasta is good but it was a bit too salty. (already informed the chef today, LOL) but the fettuccine was good, as they used the freshly made one. I think it's because they just open the shop and it will be improve soon :)

The pizza we ordered is Magahrita (Tomato, mozzarella cheese, oregano): Before we ordered, me and my brother thought that it will be fresh tomato and fresh cheese one, so we were a bit disappoint when it was the baked one.

The pizza was just so so. much better than lots of place but still far away from +39. Think I have to order only pasta on my next visit.

Dessert time!!! we decided to order two desserts (that why we ordered only three savoury dishes, LOL, well-planned)

First one is Panna Cotta, Insalata di Bosco (Vanilla panna cotta, berry salad, rose sorbet): I love this one!!! Panna Cotta was soft and creamy and I love rose sorbet (even other persons who joined my dinner hate it, so i ate it all, LOL). The smell of rose was so great.

The other one is Crespelle con Banana (Crepes, caramalized banana, chocolate, butterscotch icecream): This one was also good, actually, it was the safe choice, how can it be wrong with chocolate and banana? plus, butterscotch...it was good (but the rose sorbet got all my attention, so i didn't have this one much)

The best of the night, cafe latte!

Another photo. Maybe the milk frost on top is for macchiato? for macchiato means mark.

Best Latte in Thailand for now!!! for the milk frost was better than other place i found! I was so happy and the waitress saw it, so she came back to our table to ask if the coffee was good and my answer was YESSS!!!

Today i went there again to have latte there for breakfast. First i went there on 10 a.m. as they said on the website that they open at that time, the waitress told me the opening time was 10.30, so i went to the nearby building for shopping, haha. Then, i came back on 10.40 and met with maitre d'. he told me that the shop would open on 11, so i told him that one of his staff told me it's 10! Maybe he can see the disappoint on my face, so he told me if i want just coffee, he can do it for me as the kitchen was not ready at that time. So, i ordered latte and croissant (i think the croissant was from yesterday :P). we talked over the counter for few mins, then he decided to join my breakfast and we had great conversation, from restaurant, to coffee, to food ingredient in Thailand, etc...etc. and when i told him to give me the bill, he told that it was on the house, for he enjoyed our breakfast, haha. So, i think the next time i will bring jasper coffee and ask him to do nice milk frost and nice espresso shot from Jasper coffee for my latte!

Summer

2009-04-29T15:27:00.000+07:00

Summer
199 Soi Sukhumvit 49 (Promsri), Sukhumvit Road,
Klongton Nua Sub-district, Wattana District,
Bangkok 10110 Thailand

Spring Tel: 66 2 392 2747-8
Summer Tel: 66 2 392 2757
Fax: 66 2 392 2746

Website: http://www.springnsummer.com/

Opening time: Spring 11.30 a.m.-2.30 p.m. and 6.00 p.m. -11.00 p.m.
Summer noon-midnight
Winter 7.00 p.m.-midnight

First of all, before you read my post, please go to visit their website to experience the beauty of the restaurant first. The restaurant itself is so fantastic but I can't get the good photos to show you its beauty, and I think their website show its beauty just as the way it is.

The way I found this restaurant is so memorable. My dad drove pass this restaurant (to my favorite Taiwanese hot pot shop) when the owner still decorated the house and it was so stunning so I started to find out what this place would be but can't find any details. We kept drove pass it (for Taiwanese hot pot, of course, LOL) and one day that we drove pass it again, it became a restaurant!!!

This restaurant composes of 3 parts; spring, summer, and winter. Spring is the part of Dining room. Their food is Thai Fusion food and it is so fantastic. (The owner took cooking course at Le Cordon Bleu, Thailand. Before this, he was the famous actor in Thailand and also artist. He created all menu in this restaurant.) Summer is the chocolate bar and Winter is the bar located in the lawn in front of Spring and Summer; they put the big bean bag pillows with the tiny table on the lawn and we can sit there and look at the star (perrrrfect for winter!).

I went to Summer (as my lunch, LOL) for I missed their Molten Chocolate Cake and nice coffee.

This was the view from my window. The lawn you saw in this picture is the place that Winter bar located.

The small kitchen here, for they served many menu baking at the shop just before serving, like my molten chocolate cake, warm chocolate chip cookie in a cup with icecream (called Cup C) and souffle (new menu, i saw it on my table and you can see it on the next picture, they have mascapone one and chocolate one. will try next time)

This is what I came for. The name is Better than Sex. I'm serious!!! I can't order it by the full name, so I (and others) always call it as BTS (and they also state this abbreviation on their menu, LOL.) Actually, it is freshly baked molten chocolate cake served with whipped cream and chocolate flavor cream.

My first bite, the lava was coming!

If the lava in previous picture is not enough for you, I have another one, LOL. This was after my second bite...look at the lava. For me, this is the best molten chocolate cake in Bangkok! Soft, tender, using good chocolate, nice cream...what else you want more here (maybe vanilla icecream? LOL)

Drink to help me survive from Thailand Summer (April is the hottest month in Thailand), Frozen Cappuchino. Quite good, not too sweet. Normally, I ordered hot drink here but I need ice one for summer...their cafe latte was also good. and i found another tempting drink, hot chocolate with kualua, must be good...don't you think?

Saboten Shinjuku Tonkatsu

2009-04-29T14:42:00.000+07:00

Saboten
7F Isetan (opposite to Kinokuniya Bookstore), Central World
Bangkok, Thailand

I saw lots of people queuing in front of this shop and my friends also told me that their tonkatsu (japanese deep fried breadcrump pork) is good, so I want to try :)

We ordered Tenderloin Tonkatsu set, Sirloin Tonkatsu set, and Tonkatsu sandwiches.

They served us free green tea, hot or ice one. I chose the ice one for the weather in Thailand is so hot now (welcome to Thailand summer!)

For the set menu, they served it will refillable cabbage, rice, and miso soup.

They had 2 choices for salad dressing; sesame dressing and Shoyu dressing. Both are good, but I preferred the sesame one. The cabbage was so crispy and cold. It refreshed me and prepared me for the main dish.

Sesame, for the tonkatsu sauce. You have to crush it yourself and you would get the fresh aroma of sesame. I am the sesame lover, so I love that they provided this.

What is in this?

Tonsatku sauce.

After crushing sesame, you have to mix it with the sauce.

My mom's Sirloin Tonkatsu set and my aunt Tonkatsu sandwiches served with french fries. (If you order Tonkatsu sandwiches, it will not serve with rice, cabbage, miso soup, and sesame)

My Tenderloin Tonkatsu set.

Another picture to show the pork.

It was good. Breadcrump was so crispy and not oily. The pork is so tender. For sauce, as I love sesame, so I like that they didn't serve us just the sauce, but with the sesame. The sauce itself is just normal, the taste is like the brand one named bulldog.

Miso soup with seaweed and beancurd. Just normal or maybe I was too full from the pork, LOL.

Complimentary dessert, green tea ice cream. Not too sweet, just a bit sweet and bitter as my like. I love this one. Maybe the reason I will go back to this shop again is not for Tonkatsu, but for complimentary dessert, LOL.

Overall, I love this shop. The food is good. The location is good (Central World is the huge department store located in the center of Bangkok). I can go there to shop for cloth and books (it's opposite to Kinokuniya) and drop here for lunch or dinner :)

Le Normandie

2009-04-23T21:37:00.000+07:00

Le Normandie
Mandarin Oriental Hotel
48 Oriental Avenue Bangkok Thailand 10500
Tel: 66-2-659-9000
website: http://www.mandarinoriental.com/bangkok/dining/restaurants/le_normandie/

Mandarin Oriental is known as one of the best hotel in Thailand and Le Normandie is known as one of the best luxuary restaurant in Bangkok.

I went there with my parents and my grand-father's friends (so it was quite hard to take photos when they were around but I really want to do the review, so I pretended that I was busy with my mobile, LOL)

Start with butter, quite nice and of course with good quality (because it is Oriental Hotel!!!) but they had us to share one butter for 2 persons. I shared with my mom.

For the bread, they had various kind of breads for us to choose. I chose Brioche, quite nice.

This is the pre starter. Tuna rolled with spinach served with beetroot jelly. The presentation was good. The waiter came to introduce this dish to us (which is good because I want to know what is inside but for other dish, they stopped doing this, quite disappointed). The dish was good as it looked and it was a good start for the meal.

My entree is Gelee de saumon a la tomate et aux courgettes (Salmon and tomato jelly with fennel and zucchini). It served with salad and mayonnaise. Interesting dish but the taste was just normal.

Another picture for this dish.

Move to main course, I chose Les noix de coquilles Saint Jacques poelees, mitonne de poireaux et pomme de terre aux moules (Seared scallops with leek, potato, and mussels). Quite good. Potato was made in gnocchi and it was the cream base dish which is my like. The best thing in this dish was mussels (not scallop, sorry) for the mussels kept the creamy sauce inside and it splashed out when I bited it. Scallop (don't put "s" on the menu because they served me just one scallop, LOL) is a bit too thick to my like. The sauce was good and gnocchi was normal.

For dessert, we can choose from the dessert trolley or the dish. On Dessert trolley, they had around 5 types of cakes, e.g. berry mousse cake, fresh cheese cake with fruit on top, and chocolate cake with macaron, cookies, and fruit. You can get 3 slices of cake for 1 plate. But for me, I chose this one, it is Le Mille-Feuille croquant aux fraises de Thailande et citron vert, glace au fenouil (Strawberry and lemon mille feuille with fennel ice cream).

Look from the side.

Actually, it was strawberry and rubarb mille feuille...for i found rubarb inside which was quite nice, i think they used both strawberry and rubarb from the Royal Project. Mille Feuille was a bit different from my thinking for i always think that mille feuille needs to make with puff pastry.

For ice cream, I can't taste fennel that much, but the glace fennel was good...like the crispy candy.

Cafe Latte. It was good comparing to Thailand standard. For Melbourne standard, just so so. Nice milk frost and good coffee.

Petit Fours to accompany with coffee. We had 5 persons and they gave us 2 plates to share, so I can't taste everything...but all I tasted was good.

In conclusion, the meal was good but I think the service was a bit worst than their standard several years ago but it was still good compare to other restaurants.

Jasper Coffee

2009-04-15T21:04:00.000+07:00

Jasper Coffee
Fitzroy
267 Brunswick Street
Open daily 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. (Sat 9 a.m.)
Phone: 03 9416 0921

If you are really into coffee, Melbourne is one of the place you have to visit. And if you are really, really into coffee and in Melbourne, I think Jasper Coffee is the place you should come.

I tried my first 100% Jamica Blue Mountain (if I'm right, it is 220 AUD per kg.) here (unfortunately, I can't find the photo and of course, I tried the espresso). Good that I don't like it, haha. I think it's good for blending, not using 100%.

My latte, looks good and taste good. They provide 2 blends daily. You can ask them which one suits your drink.

Staffs here love coffee so much, ok, talking in other way, they are crazy about coffee. You have around 30 kinds of coffee for your selection to buy back home. I even bought 2 bags of coffee, 250 g each, back home: one is Blend 9 (I am on this bag now) and another one is Indian Yelnoorkhan (both are 44 AUD per kg.). I just used my nose for smelling and asked for their help, LOL.

*editing
Finally I found the photo of my 100% Jamica Blue Mountain Espresso (6AUD) :)

+39

2009-04-15T16:48:00.000+07:00

+39
362 Little Bourke St, Melbourne
Phone 03 9642 0440

What they said on their wall is true, Life is too short to be eating average pizza, so I came to +39 :)

I know this one from Tummyrumbles (again, LOL) and within a week, I think I went there for more than 5 times, for Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, and Post-dinner dessert.

This one is taking on my lunch. It is pumpkin and stringbean pizza. Quite good, actually. But my favorite one here is the one on my sister's blog http://nutmegscafe.blogspot.com/2009/04/39-part-ii.html it is lobster and cavier pizza...this is really, really good.

For dessert, I tried Pannacotta, Tiramisu, Nutella and Strawberries Pizza (complimentary from Carlos, thanks ^^) and Ricotta cheese one.

This is Pannacotta, we can choose to have the berries topping or chocolate topping, both are great. I tried it for several times and each time it tasted different. My favorite one is strawberries with lemon peel with the pannacotta without bitter red liquor (I can't remember the liquor name but that one is sooooo bitter).

This is Tiramisu. The mascapone is soooo good, so creamy. The first time I tried I think it contained not enough coffee but it is good accompany with my cappuchino. The next time I tried is perfect...more coffee inside with the creamy mascapone :)

This is the complimentary Nutella and Strawberries Pizza after I told Carlos that I came to his shop 4 times during Friday to Monday (and they close on Sunday), LOL. It came in hearted-shape. I saw from other tables that this one came in half-fold with Nutella and Strawberries inside. Inside the rim of this pizza is ricotta chesse. I think it's quite good but that day we are too full.

This is the ricotta cheese dessert. Honestly, I preferred Pannacotta and Tiramisu. This one is so good with one of the dessert liquor (at first we think it was too thick and the chef heard that so he explained to us and gave us some liquor to prove and it's true).

I also have espresso chocolate tart here. Quite tasty and thick. But it is so good with latte or cappuchino. (my method to eat this is putting milk frosting on top of the tart, yummy!!!)

Ok, the real reason for me to keep coming here is coffee...as they are italian, you can guess that they are crazy about coffee...and trust my, their coffee is sooo good. The milk frosting is so thick and creamy (ok, and the price is good, 3AUD for everything).

Another style of Cappuchino...

This is the one for breakfast. Bowl of caffe latte with ladyfinger...so good as always

Vue de Monde

2009-02-10T11:02:00.001+07:00

Vue de Monde
430 Little Collins Street
Melbourne Victoria 3000 Australia
Tel: +61 3 9691 3888
Fax: +61 3 9600 4600
Website: http://www.vuedemonde.com.au

This is my second time that I visited Vue de Monde. My first time is such amazing, so I totally forgot to take pictures of food :(

Before the meal, they asked us if we have any like-dislike...we just told them that for main course, we didn't want it to be chicken or pork, that's all. (just because I would like to taste the meat or fish as the main course)

Butter, pepper,and salt.

Petit Clair-de-Lune oyster served with seaweed consummé, caviar and grapefruit air. Even I am not oyster big fan...this is still amazing for me...so refreshing and preparing me for the meal.

Gnocchi aux Truffles d'Alba: Liquid Cep gnocchi with mushrooms, tarragon emulsion.

It's amazing that when you bited gnocchi, it transformed from gnocchi to liquid...quite impress...but the taste is not as my like.

Pain Perdu et Foie Gras: French toast, green apple puree, and foie gras flavoured with eight spices and Jamon Iberico Gran Reserva

This is my most favorite dish. All are great. French toast seems to be not hard to make...but this is the perfect french toast...the crispy and everything is just perfect. Foie gras is amazing as it should be. and everything in this dish is the perfect combination.

Filet de Merlan: King George whiting, seared with a sourdough skin, shimeji mushrooms, white asparagus and reserved lemon noodle.

As it came after the foie gras dish, it didn't impress me as it should be. But this is also good because of the combination of everything is good. The most i like in this dish is reserved lemon noodle...quite interesting.

Assiette de Veau: Veal assiette with black bean sauce and a bread and almond puree.

It's good, according to Vue de Monde standard...but the almond puree was not the good combination in this dish for me.

Frozen juice to clear the palate.

Salade des Fruits: Fruit Salad

This is the great dish to switch to dessert...the frozen kiwi lollipop is amazing :)

Biscuit au Chocolat: Michel Bras' classic self-saucing Valrhona chocolate biscuit with mocha sauce, coffee and milk powder and ice double cream.

This warm dessert is great...I love it. Normally I love self-saucing chocolate cake, so it's quite predictable that I would love this one.

Petit-four: from left to right..salt caramel truffle, pine apple lollipop coated with mint jelly, passion fruit pavlova, carrot nougat, and blood orange jelly.

My tea. I can't remember the name of my tea, it is lemongrass tea with something :)

I can't write much about tasting note as everything as I had this one since december 2008 and writing this blog on february 2009. and another reason is how can you descripe the delicious and most amazing restaurant as Vue de Monde...it's quite the experience that everyone should have once in a lifetime :)

Sunny Ridge Strawberry

2009-02-10T10:24:00.000+07:00

Sunny Ridge Strawberry
http://www.sunnyridge.com.au/

I'm not sure if I can call Sunny Ridge's strawberries the best strawberries I ever taste or not. (because actually Japanese strawberries are also great, LOL) but this must be the best strawberries in Victoria as my friend told me on the first time I saw Sunny Ridge Strawberries at Slow Food Melbourne Farmers' Market at Collingwood.

This is the first grade strawberries I bought from farmers' market. All of them look like strawberries in advertisement, all red, juicy, and sweet. One of my friends asked me why I don't do something to them, such as coated them with chocolate...I told him that these strawberries are too good. The best way to do with them is eating them fresh like this and you can get the real taste :)

I also bought raspberry jam. (ok, I know that you are doubt why I did not buy the strawberry one. I have to tell you that it's the hard decision, both of them look great.) The taste is also good...with nice toast, yummy :)

And another interest thing is their wine. I bought the strawberry sparkling wine...as I am not the wine expert, I found that it's good but it depends on the likeness of each person as my sister does not like it that much.

They don't have only strawberries, but also have raspberries, blueberries and cherries. Besides visiting their farm, you can also get their fruits and other products (except ice-cream) from farmers' market. Please check more information at their website.

On December 2008, I even went to their farm, haha, as I can't stand just buy them from farmers' market without pick them up by myself...the trip was soooo good. Strawberries were amazing as always. Another thing that you have to taste here is the award-wining strawberry ice-cream....soooo good. but i forgot to take a picture of it.

Be happy with strawberries!!!

Little Cupcakes

2008-12-15T16:45:00.000+07:00

Little Cupcakes
Shop 7 Degraves Street Melbourne 3000
Phone 03 9077 0413
http://www.littlecupcakes.com.au

If you come to Melbourne, another lane that you cannot miss if you love cafe (like me!!!) is Degraves Lane.
Degraves is the lane between Flinders Street and Flinders Lane, and between Swanston Street and Elizabeth Street.

I know this cute little shop from my friend's review. The cupcakes here are so cute!

The shop is not so big. It makes me feel like it is the little shop in the fairy tales, lol.

As I cannot decide of what flavor I would get, I ordered two!!! (wait...this is my lunch, haha) One is vanilla and another one is coffee (4AUD each) with latte.

They are so cute and also tasted good. Normally, I found that cupcakes are cute but the taste are not so good. The sweetness of the topping is a good accompany with my non-sugar latte.

The funny thing here is that I am the only person who sat outside the shop on that day and after girls (most of them!) saw me with my cupcakes, they scream out "cupcakes!" and ran into the shop to get one, haha. Every girls can't stand for a cute cupcakes!!!

add more

As I visited this shop again around Christmas...I would like to add more cute photos :)

In this picture is raspberry tea with Vanilla, Strawberry, Coffee, and Lemon cupcakes...my favorite here is Lemon..but all are great.

This is the take-away cupcakes for my friend's party. All are fruitcake cupcakes (special for Christmas). So cute!!!

Animal Orchestra

2008-11-01T15:22:00.000+07:00

Animal Orchestra
163 Grattan St,
Carlton 3053 VIC
Phone: (03) 9349 4944

As I am studying at Melbourne Uni, this cafe was spotted from my first month here because it is opposite to my uni.

I visited this cafe on friday morning, for a good start of the Halloween's day.

On my table, there is a cute thing....sugar container!

I ordered chicken panini with tasty cheese and herb mayo (can't remember the exact name) and English Breakfast tea.
My tea came first with hot water and milk.

They use tea leaves...not tea bag. The taste is just normal.

Then, my panini came. I took this photo via a mirror near my table to make it more interesting.

zoom in...sorry for the bad quality of this picture.

Panini is good...well toasted and crispy. The best part of this panini is mayo as I am a herb-lover. I can't remember what herbs they put in this. I think thymes and another one...accompanies with chicken and cheese...great choice.

For more information, you can visit http://www.yourrestaurants.com.au/guide/animal_orchestra/ or for Melbourne Uni students, just drop in and enjoy!

Crêperie le Triskel 3 (croissant and pain au chocolat)

2008-10-31T04:10:00.000+07:00

Crêperie le Triskel
32 Hardware Lane, Melbourne
Tel o4 6640 6404

I saw that Crêperie le Triskel is now making croissant and pain au chocolat on my last visit. From my experience here, I believe that their stuffs must be really great, so I must try it.

I had croissant, tartines with marmalade and bol de cafe au lait at the shop (why I ate this much!) and bought one croissant and one pain au chocolat (3.50AUD each) for my friends.

Butter they used in these stuffs is really good. When you bite croissant, the butter's smell comes up...really really good. And they are so fluffy and being in nice layers.

If you are big fan of croissant, you should visit their shop...and trust me, you will go there more than once.....

(and another thing, if you can speak french, this is a good place for practicing too....special thanks to Michael!)

Mango Pudding

2008-10-25T15:55:00.000+07:00

I always love mango pudding but I really hates the one made with the artificial mango essence. It tastes really bad and it makes me feel like I eat the fake mango.

One of the best mango pudding in Thailand for me is Grand Hyatt Erawan Bangkok Hotel's. It makes with real mango served with whipping cream in martini glass. This is the inspiration for me to make it myself...and this recipe is the recipe that I use many many times and my pudding always come out so great, like Grand Hyatt Erawan Bangkok Hotel's mango pudding.

Two weeks ago, I found blushed mangoes at Queen Victoria market. I tasted it and I think it can fit in my recipe. I have made mango pudding from this recipe hundreds times in Bangkok using Numdokmai mango, one of thai mangoes which taste really sweet without sour taste at all. Another diffence is yogurt in Thailand is much lighter than Australian yogurt...so, I think all ingredients in Melbourne would change the taste of my recipe...but it is good to have a try.

Ingredients

Blushed mango puree 3/4 cup - 1 cup (I used 1 and a half mangoes)
Blused mango cut into cubes as much as you want (I used half mango)
Yogurt 2 yogurt cups
Lime juice 1 tablespoon
Honey 1 tablespoon
Sugar 1/3 cup
Gelatin 1 tablespoon or 1 package
Cold water 3 tablespoons
Hot water 1/3 cup

1) Prepare Gelatin by sprink gelatin over cold water. Let stand to soften for 5 minutes. Then, add hot water and stir until it all combine.
2) Mix mango puree, yogurt, sugar, honey, and lime juice. (I always use food processor as I use it to make mango puree. So, after you make mango puree, just add other ingredients and mix until it all combine)
3) Add gelatin, mix until it all combine
4) Add mango cubes, flod just combine
5) Pour it into glasses. Then, put all glasses into refrigerator and chill until the pudding is set, around 2-3 hours or overnight.

Note: I am not sure if the recipe is translated from Thai to proper English as I haven't written the recipe in English before.

The result is very different from the one I made in Bangkok. This one is more creamy and the taste of mango is much different. Blushed mango makes the taste of honey stronger than Numdokmai mango. I think if I do it again, I will use a cup of yogurt and a cup of milk instead of 2 cups of yogurt. I want it to be lighter. In additional, I will not use honey or use only half tablespoon of honey because the honey tastes too strong. Honey shouldn't be the main taste of this recipe as the main taste must be mango's.

I gave them to my friends and they told me they are all love it. Actually, it's only me who is not happy with it as I think my previous one in Bangkok is better. Maybe I need to adapt the recipe and try it next time.

Crêperie le Triskel 2 (crêpe)

2008-10-25T15:12:00.000+07:00

Crêperie le Triskel

32 Hardware Lane, Melbourne
Tel o4 6640 6404

Last time, I came here for breakfast and would like to try their crepe so much. Today, I went there with two friends, Oil and Card. We decided to order 2 savoury gallettes and 2 sweet crepes to share.

We ordered Le Triskel: Egg, Swiss Gruyere Cheese and Mushroom with Prosciutto (11AUD) and La Poulette: Egg with Turkey (8AUD) added spinach (1.50AUD).

This is Le Triskel: Egg, Swiss Gruyere Cheese and Mushroom with Prosciutto. We all think that this one is very salty (from Prosciutto) and too cheesy for my friends (but for me I am a cheese lover, so, it is o.k. for me). We think that this one is too tasty.

This is La Poulette: Egg with Turkey and the additional of spinach. We think this one is better than Le Triskel as the taste is more mild. The turkey is so good...soft and come in a very thin sheet.

All savoury gallettes served with salad, the dressing is olive oil and sesame. Just normal.

Overall, we think that the savoury crepes is not bad but also not that good. We found that the crepe we had at Suzuki night, Queen Victoria Market on summer is far better.

After discussed for dessert, we ordered French Chestnut Puree crepe (4AUD) and Fresh Strawberries & Chocolate crepe with Vanilla Icecream (8.50AUD) added strawberry jam (1.5AUD).

The fresh strawberries and chocolate one looked soooo good...after seeing this one, I forgot to take the picture of the chestnut puree one...lol

We are so happy with our dessert...smile! (You can see the chestnut puree crepe in this picture...the plain one)

Sweet crepes are soooooo good. I think the chestnut puree crepe is good but the fresh strawberry and chocolate one is the best crepe of this meal. Oil made a right decision to add strawberry jam to this plate...it makes the crepe moist and sweet, accompany with the bitter chocolate and fresh strawberries. I love the result! (the waitress told us that they haven't add strawberry jam to this one before.) And the crepe itself is very soft, unlike the savoury one, that one is crispy.

As I mentioned in the previous blog, I love Le Bol de Cafe au Lait (4AUD). I definitely ordered it again.

My friends were so shock that I ordered this large coffee. I told them to try as it is not strong at all. I think it is like the milk with the essence of coffee...that's the reason I love it. Normally, I am a latte lover, I love mild coffee like this.

Overall, I think this place is good at sweet crepes. The savoury one is just normal and you could find the better one somewhere but for the sweet one, it is a must to try their sweet crepes!

Café Vue Lunch Box

2008-10-22T16:42:00.000+07:00

Café Vue
430 Little Collins Street (at the front of the Normanby Chambers Building),
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

http://www.vuedemonde.com.au/cafe-vue.aspx

I just heard the the famous Vue de Monde make an affordable lunchbox (15AUD) available at Café Vue, so I dropped in and got one.

It came in brown bag. Would you like to see what was inside?

A red box!!!

They provided menu in a box. I got

Café Vue Lunch Box Menu

Starter Babaganoush with cucumber fingers

~

Soup Vichyssoise

~

Savoury Café Vue club sandwich
~

Sweet Blackforest gâteau

Everything is so great as expected (it's vue de monde lunchbox, how it can be not delicious!) Even it is just the normal menu that you can find it at other place, the taste is perfect. My favorite is the soup, it's creamy with flavour of various veggie.

The lunchbox menu changes regularly but typically it includes an appetiser, a sandwich, a salad, and a dessert. (I saw one lunchbox with salad from couple months ago's menu...looks really really good) So, please check the menu from its website before you go and get it :)

Crêperie le Triskel (Breakfast)

2008-10-21T19:34:00.000+07:00

Crêperie le Triskel
32 Hardware Lane, Melbourne
Tel o4 6640 6404

I just heard about Hardware Lane from my friend. She told me that there's a new crêperie open there and it looks good. So, I google it and find out that it is a lane with lots of restaurants and cafés with jazz band on dinner time...sound great, isn't it?

I went there on Monday afternoon to see if it is o.k. to have dinner at Crêperie le Triskel. Unfortunately, this french crêpelerie closes on Sunday and Monday.

I walked around and took some pictures of the shop. From outside, it looks good. I also took the picture of menus...to make a decision what I should order...lol.

As I cannot decide which restaurant I would sit for that dinner, I decided to save the secret of Hardware Lane (the dinner night with live jazz music) for the future.

I came back in the next morning because after I read the menu, I keep dreaming about having café au lait in french style - having a bowl of cafe au lait with tartine (toast bagutte).

I sat at the front window. There are also few table outside, too if you would like to get some fresh air. But for me, the smell of fresh crêpe and coffee is more desirable.

This is the front door of the shop with the opening hours in both French and English. Remember, don't go there on Sunday and Monday, or you will end up like me! I think they forgot to change the sign on the door to be "open" but as they opened their door, it's fine...lol

This is the coffee-counter. You have choices of cold drink and tea as well.

Another side is the food counter, which that guy was making tartines.

As usual, they gave me a glass and a bottle of water while I read the menu. (Note: the red menu is for breakfast which is available from 7.oo to 11.30.

As you can guess, I ordered 'French Tartines with Bol de Café au Lait(6.50AUD) as I would like to have the experience of french breakfast.

My coffee came first. It looks nice! Not too hot and good-looking. They gave me a spoon as well, but as I remembered from my french class long time ago, I think french people sip from the bowl directly and it makes more sense for me to sip from a bowl than using spoon. So, I decided to sip from a bowl.

The coffee is as nice as its looking; nice and warm. I think it contained only 1 shot of espresso because the tasting is so milky with the strong aroma of coffee.This is a great start of the day...I wish I could have it as breakfast every morning. I understand that they use organic-fair trade coffee in their shop, maybe this is a reason that makes this coffee so good.

Then, my toast came. I chose tartines with apricot jam. It smells so good and makes me forgot to take a picture before the first bite! It's so crispy with a bit of salted butter accompanied with not too sweet apricot jam. (They gave you various choice of topping; strawberries jam, apricots jam, marmalade, and noutella, etc. I think next time I will order the marmalade one.)

Let them have a picture together! Do you agree with me that it's a nice combination...toast with café au lait!

As we are in the french atmosphere; all staffs of the shop speak french! So, I read Le Monde, french newspaper, even I am now understand french writing less than 50%...lol

I also took the photo of the shop before leaving but this picture is a bit bad. Crêperie le Triskel is on the left-hand of the picture which the man just walked pass.

Overall, I'm so happy with this shop. It's great on a good price. I wanna go back to try their crepe. I think they are good at it as their specialize on crepe. (but they make good tartines as well!)