Buttercup Cafe - Opposite Galaxy Tailor @ Amari Residence near Bangkok Hospital [Thailand]

Back when Galaxy Tailor was located near Asoke MRT, i had highlighted its convenience but the issue then was that if i had to wait (for the delivery of my tailored shirts etc); there's no nearby cafe.

No such issue at Galaxy Tailor's new outlet opposite Amari Residence as you can just step into the Buttercup cafe that's literally a stone's throw away!

Decked out in plush sofa chairs, the furniture was spaced out well without that tight, claustrophobic feeling i get from many cafes. Additional advantage - full blast air-conditioning that's an absolute welcome in the hot and humid Bangkok weather.

As we already had dinner at Pier 21 food court in Terminal 21 (Asoke), our intention was just to order finger food, desserts and maybe a beverage or two.

Hot Chocolate - Alex's order; he has a tendency to order hot chocolate whenever he's at a cold place. Anyway, this was average and will do to warm Alex's tummy in the chilly eatery.

French Fries - the popular choice for many people, especially when they couldn't decide what to have! The garlic mayonnaise you see is charged separately at 30 baht.

Crispy and fresh from the boiling oil, the French fries were good on their own and i am glad we opted to pay the 30 baht as the taste was augmented by the fragrant, delectable garlic mayo!

Apple Crumble - since Refuel 2, i had been craving for apple crumble but it's not commonly found in most cafes and furthermore, i am pretty homely and don't really patronize cafes unless i am overseas.

Baked in a cup, the apple crumble was served by a scoop of homemade vanilla ice cream and a serving of vanilla sauce. This cost 180 baht which i thought is pricey for Bangkok's standard of living.

Let's be conservative with the vanilla sauce!

If you look closely, you can actually see the vanilla seeds!

This was delish! While the vanilla sauce added a layer of sweetness to the hot crumble; it was balanced out by the sourness of hidden underneath! Personally, i found the apple to be a tad too sourish for my liking although i know of people who totally dig sour stuff.

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Address

36 อาคาร Amari Residences ซอย เพชรบุรี 47 /

ซอย ศูนย์วิจัย New Petchaburi Rd,

Khwaeng Bang Kapi, Khet Huai Khwang,

Krung Thep Maha Nakhon 10310, Thailand

(Ground Floor of Amari Residences)

Location Map

As above.

Facebook Page

https://www.facebook.com/ButtercupBKK/

Pricing

Hot Chocolate - 120 baht

French Fries with Garlic Mayo - 150 baht

Apple Crumble - 180 baht 

(Subject to Service Charge and VAT)

Check out my 2018 Bangkok itinerary here!

Aman Central Mall @ Alor Setar - A Short Post on the Biggest Shopping Centre in Northern Malaysia

My intention was to have a lengthier post on Aman Central Mall since not many tourists would make a trip to Alor Setar, state capital of Kedah, but i screwed up the settings on my camera and many photos had an orange tinge which i find hard to remove given my amateurish Photoshop skill.

Hence, i shall keep this post short with the limited photos i have. Spanning six levels, Aman Central Mall has three anchor tenants; Parkson department store, Golden Screen cinema and MyDin supermarket. You can also find Uniqlo, H&M, Popular bookstore as back of its retail offerings. 

I realized that as i get older, i don't really fancy shopping centres when i travel overseas unless there's something unique about it that i couldn't get from the dozen of malls we have in Singapore.

For example, i particularly like the sleeveless tees from brands outlet (BO for short). Aside from the fact that it's not found in Singapore, its pricing of 3 for RM 47.00 (about S$15) was unheard of in Singapore! 

Back in early July, Llaollao has returned to Singapore for less than a month but i didn't have time to check out the new outlet. Hence, i had a great time digging into its delicious yogurt soft serve when i saw a branch at Aman Central.

Lunch was at Nando's as it's hard deciding for four persons and i guess the reputation of their "Portuguese-style chicken dishes" has always been great; it would be less contentious than other restaurants. 

My order of grilled chicken tenders with mild spiciness which cost only RM 14.42 (inclusive of service charge and 0% GST). Regretted my choice as the texture was too hard for my liking and there's no skin! I should have gone with Alex's choice of 1/4 chicken. 

In case you are interested, menu as appended above. Do note that GST then was 0% although there might be changes now as GST has been replaced with another tax. 

I must have been hungry as i still managed to have coffee and toast from XiXiang Kaya Kopitiam. Check out my review here; love the kaya toast! 

Ended my visit to Aman Central with the exploration of MyDin supermarket which isn't commonly found in the major malls that Singaporeans patronize in Johor. Standard of living in northern Malaysia is lower and this corresponds with the pricing of most fast moving consumer products; i actually bought a few packs of coffee! 

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Website

http://www.amancentral.com.my/

Click here for a summary of my trip to Langkawi, with a day trip to Alor Setar.

Sagami - No 1 Soba Restaurant Company @ Bangkok Central World [Thailand]

The term "no 1" is usually perceived positively and i think it's not wrong of me to assume that the soba (buckwheat noodles) from Sagami at Bangkok's Central World shopping centre would be unforgettably good. 

Especially when there's a working machine inside the establishment that grinds the buckwheat, literally into flour! Should you wait too long for your food, you can now argue that you are waiting for the buckwheat to be ground. 

Photos for illustration! 

There's another motivating factor for stepping into the restaurant; the incredibly Monday promotion where you can get two servings of tempura sara soba for just the price of one; which was only 290 baht (about S$12). 

Tempura Sara Soba - food is here and it looked exactly like the one on the menu. That's usually the norm for Japanese restaurants; i honestly dislike it when i was attracted by the picture of a food dish and the eventual item served to me appeared far off from the appetising-looking photo on the menu.

Nothing fantastic about the tempura; consisting of two slices of mushrooms, two slices of pumpkin, one cherry tomato and two prawns, texture wasn't not the crisp, thin kind although the taste was generally okay. 

Before year 2017, i had never tasted a morsel of soba as i found it to be too plain a meal and not worth paying for. Things changed when i was 'forced' to have a meal that included soba on a plane from Hokkaido to Bangkok; gosh, what had i been missing all these years?! 

Despite being tagged as the no 1 soba restaurant company, i didn't think this plate of cold soba was exceptional. It was, well, normal. However, it made for a healthier intake given the unhealthy indulgences i had over the past few days in Bangkok. 

By the way, the no 1 claim was based on the number of soba (buckwheat) restaurants Sagami had under its management and that, to me, doesn't correspond to popularity and / or taste. Service wise wasn't prompt but i would prefer to put it down to language barrier.

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Address

Central World Plaza 7th Floor, Room A 701,

Ratchadamri Road, PathumWan PathumWan Bangkok,

Thailand

Operating Hours

11.00 am to 10.00 pm.

Pricing

Tempura Sara Soba - 290 baht

(Subject to GST)

Check out my 2018 Bangkok itinerary here!

Nhong Rim Klong - Crab Overdose from a Street Stall by the Canal @ Bangkok [Thailand]

Crab is easily my favourite seafood and if not for the facts that it is usually expensive and has a direct correlation with my cholesterol level; i could easily have a few large ones in one sitting!

Therefore, my eyes lighted up when i read that there's a local street stall, by the name of Nhong Rim Klong, in Bangkok that's famous for serving delicious yet economically-priced crab dishes. It's not far from Galaxy Tailor but lazy us decided to take GRAB instead.

Street stalls are commonly not well-received by Singaporeans as we are forever concerned about the hygiene condition; thanks to the bombardment of educational messages since young. Having to dine beside a canal that doesn't look kind of sanitary makes us even more fearful.

The smell wasn't bad when i was there although we tried to avoid peering at the content flowing down the canal or dropping from the numerous pipes. Well, in case there's 'something' that would affect our appetite.

There's a risk of falling down the canal; so please control your hyperactive kids and don't hurry your ageing parents who might require more effort to walk towards the tables.

I am assuming it's clean water coming out from the tap and given that i didn't encounter tummy ache given my sensitive stomach; the hygiene and sanitary conditions for the stall should be alright. Having said that, you have the choice to make your own judgment call.

Limited seating and the queue was known to be quite bad during peak mealtimes as the stall provided option for takeaways; hence, we chose to arrive slightly before lunch to beat the crowd and managed to secure seats in about 6 minutes. English menu was available but it's hard to decide what to eat! Here's what we had.

Thai Milk Tea - i had tried thai milk tea in Bangkok before and disliked it for being too sweet. The one here hit the right note for being fragrant with the unique Thai tea flavour and not overly sweet.

Soft Cooked Crab in Omelette - friends would know i love eggs and this had the combination of both eggs and chunks of crab meat! Surprisingly, i didn't find the combined flavour to be overwhelmingly impressive as i thought it would be.  

Stir Fried Crab with Thai Chilli - now, i am aware that Thai chilli can be potently spicy and as Alex doesn't take kindly to spiciness; i am mindful not to order this but the order taker said this one "only a little spicy". I took his words and major regret as even i couldn't take the spiciness! Despite the literal chunks of crab meat, i could hardly taste the crab in all that hotness! 

Fried Rice with Crab - yes, you are not wrong; all the dishes we ordered contained crab! I was deliberating between plain rice or fried rice but figured that since we were already there; we might as well go with the latter.

Among all three dishes, i like this the best! There was a peppery taste to the fried rice which complemented with the nice aroma of wok-hei; frankly, one of the better fried rice i had in my life.

Let me show you the chunks of crab meat! Generous and totally satisfying as far as visual is concerned. However, unlike the mud and Sri Lankan crabs that we are more accustomed to; the delicious, sweet taste of crab wasn't as obvious in the crab meat served at this street stall. 

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In a nutshell, all three of us agreed that while the chef didn't scrimp on the crab meat; the food didn't quite appeal to us with the exception of the fried rice. And don't order the fried crab with Thai chilli unless you are a crazy fan for spiciness. 

Address

Ekkamai 21 Alley, Khwaeng Khlong Tan Nuea,

Khet Watthana, Krung Thep Maha Nakhon 10110, Thailand

Location Map

As above.

Operating Hours

8.30 am to 4.30 pm 

(Closed on Sundays)

Menu

As above.

Pricing (Nett)

Thai Milk Tea - 40 Baht

Soft Cooked Crab in Omelette - 340 Baht

Stir Fried Crab with Thai Chilli - 440 Baht

Fried Rice with Crab - 340 Baht

Check out my 2018 Bangkok itinerary here!