Bangkok-Eating and shopping Part 1

 Hello! So thankful for the public holiday, for me to catch up on my rest, shows and blogging. Just managed to transfer all my bangkok photos into my com.  For those who follows me on IG will know that I had a short getaway at BKK earlier this month and I have been very occupied since to keep up on this space. Here I am, clearing my back log. Thanks for dropping by:)

 Took an afternoon flight and touched down at BKK at about 7pm BKK time and there was a crazy queue at the immigration clearance. I think it took us about at least an hour to clear the immigration custom. I managed to convince A to take the airport rail link because it is a lot cheaper and consider the bad traffic during evening time, it is definitely a wiser choice to take public transport.

 Their Airport railway ticket, it cost us about 80 baht/pax for one way ticket. I remembered the last time I took a cab to my hotel, the cab fare was 500 baht, so unless you are traveling in a group, airport rail link will be a cheaper alternative. The journey was about 20 minutes, pretty fast( + no jam!!!) and was about 10minutes walk away from where we stayed.

 Even before checking into our hotel, I was dying for coconut drink.

We stayed at Budacco hotel. It's just a few meters away from the famous Baiyoke sky hotel and about 10-15 mins walk to platinum mall. Budacco is not a fanciful hotel but it was  a clean and rather cheap accommodation amongst the rest we shortlisted. Our plan was to save on accommodation and spend on my expenditure:) 

What I love staying near Budacco is because I can keep going back to platinum mall, walk along the night market every night, go to my fav crepe and pig trotters rice stalls opposite platinum mall. The only con is the nearest BTS station being abt 20 mins walk away. But if you prefer to get around in taxi then it shouldn't bother you much.

After checking in to our hotel, it was already 9pm. While we were roaming around to find a supper place, we stumbled upon this eatery street. I remembered visiting this chicken rice stall the last time I came. My mum specially brought us here for the chicken rice. What I like was their fragrant rice and this was the start of my crazy eating journey.  It is situated beside Pratunam mall, about 10 mins away from Platinum mall., and they open till quite late. Find out more over here!

Papaya salad is our new staple food in BKK, always ordering this wherever we go. A loves to eat this with the sticky rice, the locals call it Khao niao.

Frankly speaking, it was good and cheap but not the best chicken rice we ever had.

You should be able to recognize this stall with their servers all in pink!

Dessert was Mango sticky rice. Their mango was uber sweet and if I didnt see the auntie cutting the mango on the spot I would think that she had added sugar syrup to the mangoes. 

Day Two

When we just walked out of the hotel, we got approached by the tuk tuk driver. He quoted an indecently cheap fare- 40 baht to Thong Lor. It didn't struck us that there may be a hidden agenda and we happily board the tuktuk. In the past when I was here, my mum refuses to take the tuk tuk especially when she brought three young girls out.She always warned us not to take tuktuk because the drivers drive recklessly and they will  drive you to random places without your consent. So true enough, our cheap fare led us to this suit making place. We wanted to be nice because by dropping in for a couple of minutes, the driver will get chops to earn their petrol.

The sales person managed to convince A getting a tailored blazer. Anyways, A already had the intention to make one because he usually can't find a fitting blazer off retail stores and at bangkok you can get tailored suits/blazer at a much cheaper price. Well at least we didn't get conned and he got himself a fitting blazer for 2900baht. They were pretty good, we had to go back for fitting on the day itself and after 1 day, they delivered the tailored blazer to our hotel. 

 I insisted a picture on our first tuktuk ride since we helped the driver to earn more chops. So I shamelessly asked for more pictures. I don't think I would dare to ask other tuk tuk drivers for fear that they will run away with my camera/phone.

I was already famished when we reached Thong Lor. While finding Roast cafe, we saw a Japanese bakery and got Alvin's favourite hotdog bun,  result of being too hungry.

Mr Jone's Orphanage, the other branch at Siam is more elaborated with their decorations. Since there were so many cafes along this road, I decided to visit Roast cafe as they do not have other branches elsewhere. Roast is situated at level 2 above where Jones is.

Acorss the road of Mr Jones Orphanage is After you cafe. We decided to have dessert before brunch because there was a queue at Roast and it was about half an hour wait.

 

The most amazing toast I ever ever had. It was so delicious and even the non dessert lover was singing praises for their Signature Shibuya toast! I was so in love that I told A to help me franchise this back in SG. I went back to After You the second time to try other toasts but the original Honey toast, you have my love.

We are the slaves of technology.

Roast has a wide selection of menu and I was really spoilt for choice. Having heard many good reviews and was highly recommended by the people around, I was really excited to brunch here. Indeed, it is also one of the more popular café in Thong Lor and we had to wait about half an hr to get a table.

Unlike those boutique cafes with small seating, Roast has a quite a big capacity to accommodate the crowd during dining hours.

We got ourselves a seat outdoor, to save some time queuing for an indoor table and betting natural  light for my photos, ops.

I was so excited to try the brunch food! You won't see me smiling so happily the next time I am reading except the menus.

Roast Iced Tea- Earl Grey tea with Lychee and Lime juice. This was their signature drink and very refreshing especially under the hot weather. It was mixed slightly sour, and Alvin didn't quite like it. I am a fan and has high tolerance for sour food so I really enjoyed my drink.  

Took me a while to decide on what to order before we narrowed to these. Classic Egg Benedict with their homemade Hollandaise Sauce. It was their popular dish but I was disappointed with the Hollandaise Sauce which tasted slightly blend to me. And the portion looks really small. I thought maybe Roast is another overrated café yet.  

We decided to order one usual brunch dish and try something different; Cassoulet finally redeemed itself. Southwest French white beans stewed with bacon, duck confit, garlic and sausage, topped with parsley bread crumbs.

The grass is always greener on the other side so I kept asking for his food heehee.

I am not sure if I ordered the wrong dishes, but it wasn't very impressive of what I expected. But then again, if a café is good, then everything they serve should be delicious. That's why some cafes decide to specialize instead of having a wide spread of menus.

Price wise, definitely not a budget place to dine in BKK. The meal cost about S$35 , nevertheless is still cheaper that a brunch meal in SG.

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I think I might want to go back again for dinner and try the pulled pork burger that everyone raved about. Oh and the signature Chocolate Souffle, we were really full and couldn't bring myself to order one more dessert. A pity that I did not get to try their desserts, oh well there's always a next time.

After feeding ourselves silly, we went to Platinum mall for some spree shopping. We only walked level 2 and a few stalls from level 1 but A was worn out already. So he brought me to his favourite shop in the whole building. Tadah... foot massage. Situated at the corner of the basement level. To all BFs, best hideout for you to kill time when your girlfriends are up there slashing.

You won't miss this crepe stall in the Platinum building. I love cheap and yummy crepes, especially the savoury ones.

Dinner was at the top level food court. Have been eating their Pad Thai everytime I visit and Oyster Omelette. I remember their pig trotter rice is very delicious too, I used to be able to eat 2 portion of that, such a glutton. Anyway, they renovated their food court and it is much cleaner now, especially the toilets. HAHA  

Shopping didn't just end at Platinum mall. We walked towards Siam square, where the night market started from, all the way to MBK. I find it easier to haggle price at these street stalls and got a few steal deals.

What is BKK without all these street food? Corn with butter and salt, sausage, glazed pork chops etc.

They even has a street coffee bar, with those vintage tables and stools. Along the way back to our hotel, we also saw street bar, where they served alcoholic drinks with live band. I thought was pretty cool concept.

Payaya salad again! The road stall's papya salad was impressive, I think they added ikan bills or shrimps adding some crunch to the salad.

Supper before we sleep, no wonder we both gained so much weight from this getaway.

Our selfie photos using the selfie stick! HAHA we were attracting so much stares whenever I pulled out the selfie stick from my bag.  But look decent shot here. 

Love the floral headband I got from Platinum mall, is my fav accessory in BKK.

XOXO, 

Smileybrows