Foo Mui Kee Restaurant @ Soi Prachum, Surawong Road, Bangkok

Cuisine: Thai, Chinese, European

Map: Foo Mui Kee Restaurant @ Soi Prachum, Surawong Road - ฟูมุ่ยกี่ @ ซอยประชุม ถนนสุรวงศ์

Price: THB180 per person without alcohol (what I paid for)

Visited: 21 May 2011

Food: 7/10

Atmosphere: 6/10

Value for money: 9/10

Services: 6/10

I probably do not have to say much about the restaurant called Foo Mui Kee, which has been serving a unique and delicious food for many decades. In case you are new to Foo Mui Kee, walking into Soi Prachum from Surawong Road you would immediately notice the restaurant on your right hand side. You may also enter Soi Prachum from Silom side (Soi Silom 22). However, you will have to walk to the end of Soi to find Foo Mui Kee (~ 5 mins walk).  The nearest public transportation is BTS Chong Nonsi station which is 5 mins walk away. Once walking into the restaurant you would immediately feel the atmosphere that resembles tea house in Thailand during 70's. The decor has been kept like this since the start of the business: old wooden tables and chairs.

Foo Mui Kee Restaurant - ฟูมุ่ยกี่

The Old Sign

The Old Table Set - ชุดโต๊ะรับประทานอาหารเก่า

Another View of Foo Mui Kee - อีกมุมหนึ่งของฟูมุ่ยกี่

Let me begin with this basic Bread & Butter, every time I give Foo Mui Kee a visit I have to order this back to back menu. I looked really really basic at first sight but the feel after taste was not that basic I must admit. This bread also went really well with Ox Tongue Stew: one of the best in town I believe. Tenderness with rich flavour with peppery scent, I could just have this every day (9/10).

Bread & Butter - ขนมปังกับเนย

Ox Tongue Stew - สตูว์ลิ้นวัว

Next in line was another of my favourite, Pork Chop. It was just a dish that had delicious taste in home-made style: rather light flavour it was. This one is 7/10 for me.

Pork Chop - พอร์ค่ชอป

Tenderloin Steak Salad was also everyone favourite. The meat was soft, salad was fresh with dressing that had sweet + sour taste.

Tenderloin Steak Salad - สลัดสเต็กเนื้อสัน

Stir-fried Bok Choy with Shrimp Ball was as well a good choice. Crisp vegetable with tasty shrimp ball. I must admit that it is really hard to find good shrimp ball these days. Most of them in the markets are mixed with large portion of flour to save cost. But not in this case (8/10).

Stir-fried Bok Choy with Shrimp Ball - ลูกชิ้นกุ้งผัดผักโสภณ

Last one for the meal was Crab Fried Rice. I was not so impressed with this one as it was rather soaky though taste was good (5/10).

Crab Fried Rice - ข้าวผัดปู

Foo Mui Kee Restaurant @ Soi Prachum, Surawong Road

10 - 12 Soi Prachum

Surawong Road

Suriyawong, Bang Rak

Bangkok 10500

Thailand

ฟูมุ่ยกี่ @ ซอยประชุม ถนนสุรวงศ์

10 - 12 ซอยประชุม

ถนนสุรวงศ์

แขวงสุริยวงศ์ เขตบางรัก

กรุงเทพ 10500

Open Hours: 11:00am - 09:00pm daily

Tel: +66 (0) 2234 6648

Jae Dum Restaurant @ Rangsit Klong 10, Pathumthani

Cuisine: Thai

Map: Jae Dum Restaurant @ Rangsit-Nakhon Nayok Road Klong 10, Pathumthani - เจ๊ดำโภชนา @ ถนนรังสิต-นครนายก คลอง 10 จังหวัดปทุมธานี

Price: THB650 per person without alcohol (what I paid for)

Visited: 15 May 2011

Food: 6/10

Atmosphere: 3/10

Value for money: 6/10

Services: 4/10

Jae Dum Restaurant - เจ๊ดำโภชนา @ Rangsit Klong 10 has been operating for more than 30 years with its well-known quality of river prawn. The restaurant serves typical Thai food. Coming here can be hassle as you can only drive here and it is ~ 40 km away from centre of Bangkok. Hence, no car no prawn. Good thing is it is pretty easy to find, the restaurant is right next to Rangsit Klong 10 branch of SCB.  One more thing to bear in mind is that Jae Dum does not take reservation though it operates 365 days a year. Thus, be sure to come early to avoid traffic. 

Jae Dum Klong 10

Anyone visiting Jae Dum, both Thai and foreigner, will have to order the well-known Grilled River Prawn - กุ้งแม่น้ำเผา. One river prawn here can weigh up to 0.4 kg: large and fresh. Prawn was grilled just perfect and cut in half. Fatty part in the head of prawn can be mixed with boiled rice to give amazing taste (9/10).

Steamed Sea Crab - ปูทะเลนึ่ง was large in size with firm meat. Great one but not so amazing (6/10).

Grilled River Prawn - กุ้งแม่น้ำเผา

Steamed Sea Crab - ปูทะเลนึ่ง

Next was Boiled Redtail Catfish - ปลาคังลวก. Fillet of fish was really fresh with tender meat. Skin was spongy. May not be so fancy but really good (7/10).

Stir-fried Crab Meat with Black Pepper - เนื้อปูผัดพริกไทยดำ was not something spectacular but large portion. Flavour was rather light, not so spicy (6/10).

Boiled Redtail Catfish - ปลาคังลวก

Stir-fried Crab Meat with Black Pepper - เนื้อปูผัดพริกไทยดำ

Fin of Featherback in Spicy Curry - ฉู่ฉี่เชิงปลากราย was then followed. This dish was fantastic. Authentic Thai food with rich flavour of curry and spiciness to combined with tenderness of fish meat around fin part (8/10).

The other fish dish was Steamed Belly of Snapper with Soy Sauce - พุงปลากระพงนึ่งซีอิ๊ว. A mild flavour Chinese dish with large pieces of snapper steamed in soy sauce. Let down by the quality of meat, big snapper always comes with meat that is not so tender (6/10). But what do I know? Perhaps not always.

Fin of Featherback in Spicy Curry - ฉู่ฉี่เชิงปลากราย

Steamed Belly of Snapper with Soy Sauce - พุงปลากระพงนึ่งซีอิ๊ว

Tom Yum Boeseman Croaker - ต้มยำปลาม้า and Prawn Yellow Curry - แกงส้มกุ้งแชบ๊วยผักรวม were not my favourite here. Not so hot and spicy but also not so savoury (5/10).

Tom Yum Boeseman Croaker - ต้มยำปลาม้า

Prawn Yellow Curry - แกงส้มกุ้งแชบ๊วยผักรวม

Oyster Omelette - ไข่เจียวหอยนางรม was a disappointment. Too oily from my perspective otherwise delightful (4/10).

Oyster Omelette - ไข่เจียวหอยนางรม

For vegetable dishes, we managed to have Stir-fried Lotus Stem with Prawn - สายบัวผัดกุ้ง, which was nice and large prawn (7/10). The other one was Stir-fried Gourd Leaf with Oyster Sauce - ยอดมะระผัดน้ำมันหอย. This one was not so good, just similar to other places. Too light in flavour (4/10).

Stir-fried Lotus Stem with Prawn - สายบัวผัดกุ้ง

Stir-fried Gourd Leaf with Oyster Sauce - ยอดมะระผัดน้ำมันหอย

Very nice place it is for Grilled River Prawn: Jae Dum could be one of the best place for river prawn in Thailand. To judge for its value, do take into account of travelling too as it is really far and consumes time. Nevertheless, it is still one of the place that should be visited for tasting.

Jae Dum Restaurant @ Rangsit-Nakhon Nayok Road Klong 10, Pathumthani

33/19 Moo 4

Rangsit-Nakhon Nayok Road

Bung Sanun, Thanyaburi

Pathumthani 12110

Thailand

เจ๊ดำโภชนา @ ถนนรังสิต-นครนายก คลอง 10 จังหวัดปทุมธานี

33/19 หมู่ 4

ถนนรังสิต-นครนายก

ตำบลบึงสนั่น อำเภอธัญบุรี

จังหวัดปทุมธานี 12110

Open Hours: 10:30am - 09:00pm

Tel: +66 (0) 2546 1477, +66 (0) 2546 1132

New York Steakhouse @ JW Marriott, Bangkok

Cuisine: American (Steakhouse)

Map: New York Steakhouse @ JW Marriott, Bangkok  - นิวยอร์ค สเต็กเฮ้าส์ @ เจดับบลิว แมริออท กรุงเทพ

Price: THB2,750 per person without alcohol (what I paid for)

Visited: 29 April 2011

Food: 7/10

Atmosphere: 6/10

Value for money: 3/10

Services: 6/10

Perhaps one of the most famous steakhouse in Bangkok, New York Steakhouse is located conveniently of the 2nd floor of JW Marriott Hotel Bangkok. This luxury restaurant operates every evening and serves American style food ranging from the famous Rib Eye Steak, NY Striploin or even Japanese Wagyu Kobe Beef to Grilled Lobster. However, range of appetisers and desserts can be disappointed due to low choices. The interior of this restaurant has the atmosphere of modern American with black/white photo of New York on every sides of the wall. The ambient is rather dark, all chairs and tables are large. There is also an open kitchen showing chef grilling all kind of steak.
JW Marriott is located in the centre of Bangkok, hence, travelling here is pretty easy with BTS Nana station or BTS Ploenchit station a few minutes away. Driving here is also ok as the hotel has valet services. Upon arrival, Breads of Soya, Whole-wheat, Garlic, and Focaccia with Fresh Butter and Garlic Butter, which are soft and tasteful, will be served.

New York Steak House @ JW Marriott Hotel Bangkok

Breads with Fresh Butter and Garlic Butter

Portion of steak here is pretty large and will be served on a hot plate. We, hence, decided to go straight to main course and skipped the appetiser. US Angus Beef Fillet Mignon (8 oz in medium) was really tender, lean, and savoury. However, I wished it was medium rare though (7/10). Next was Australian Angus Beef T-Bone (18 ox in medium rare). This one was juicy and tender with the touch of sirloin and tenderloin in-between. It went really well with grained mustard. Nevertheless, I could feel some chewiness of the meat otherwise it could be really awesome (7/10). The side dish was Creamed Spinach with Garlic, which was creamy and cheesy (7/10). For steak here, there are 3 choices of sauce to go with: Bearnaise, Bordelaise Red Wine Sauce, and Green Peppercorn.

US Beef Fillet Mignon (Medium)

Australian T-Bone (Medium Rare)

Inside Cut of T-Bone

3 Kind of Sauces

Creamed Spinach with Garlic

Overall, taste of beef was really good but pricing is rather high comparing to other places for both food and drink. One thing to bear in mind is that water being served in New York Steakhouse are all imported and no local brand: too excessive from my opinion. Service was nice and polite but no so helpful, perhaps staffs with more knowledge on the food will be pleasant.

New York Steakhouse @ JW Marriott, Bangkok

JW Marriott Hotel Bangkok

4 Soi Sukhumvit 2

Sukhumvit Road

Klongtei, Klongtei

Bangkok 10110

Thailand

นิวยอร์ค สเต็กเฮ้าส์ @ เจดับบลิว แมริออท กรุงเทพ

โรงแรมเจดับบลิว แมริออท กรุงเทพ

4 ซอยสุขุมวิท 2

ถนนสุขุมวิท

แขวงคลองเตย เขตคลองเตย

กรุงเทพ 10110

Open Hours: 06:30pm - 11:00pm daily

Tel: +66 (0) 2656 7700

Web:http://www.marriott.com/hotels/hotel-information/restaurant/bkkdt-jw-marriott-hotel-bangkok/

LangSuan Steak House @ Sarasin Road, Bangkok

Cuisine: American (Steak House)

Map: LangSuan Steak House @ Sarasin Road, Bangkok - หลังสวนสเต็กเฮ้าส์ @ ถนนสารสิน กรุงเทพ

Price: THB470 per person without alcohol (what I paid for)

Visited: 26 April 2011

Food: 2/10

Atmosphere: 5/10

Value for money: 1/10

Services: 4/10

LangSuan Steak House on Sarasin Road is an American style restaurant and bar. This restaurant is rather tiny with very limited seats. The interior is rather unique with decoration that looks like DIY stuff. There are also ranges of cocktail and beer available for alcohol lovers. Difficulty may be travelling here: not so close to BTS or MRT, and have to park along street in case of driving.

We again chose to try choices of soup for the start. Mushroom Cream Soup and Pumpkin Cream Soup were the two choices. We were rather disappointed with both soups. They tasted like canned soups that were warmed in microwave oven (2/10).

Mushroom Cream Soup

Pumpkin Cream Soup

For the steak part, we had Ribeye Steak and Tenderloin Steak. For Ribeye, I ordered medium rare but turned out to be medium well. Tasteless and chewy (2/10). Tenderloin was a bit better that it was not chewy though not tender (3/10).

Ribeye Steak (Thai Beef)

Tenderloin Steak (Thai Beef)

I was not so impressed with LangSuan Steak House both quality of food and services. Perhaps one of the bad moment of this place, slow services even with few customers and inconsistency and low quality of food. I probably chose the wrong choice out of good ones. If there is a chance, I probably give it another go in case I was wrong in the first place. Otherwise, not so good for a meal but rather ok to hang out with friends and a pint of beer.

LangSuan Steak House @ Sarasin Road, Bangkok

231/15 Sarasin Road

Lumpini, Phatumwan

Bangkok 10330

Thailand

หลังสวนสเต็กเฮ้าส์ @ ถนนสารสิน กรุงเทพ

231/5 ถนนสารสิน

แขวงลุมพินี เขตปทุมวัน

กรุงเทพ 10330

Open Hours: 05:00pm - 01:00am daily

Tel: +66 (0) 2251 8519

Web (facebook): http://www.facebook.com/langsuanbarandbistro

Costes Restaurant @ Budapest, Hungary

Cuisine: International

Map: Costes Restaurant @ Budapest, Hungary

Price: HUF14,280 per person without alcohol (what I paid for)

Visited: 6 April 2011

Food: 8/10

Atmosphere: 7/10

Value for money: 7/10

Services: 9/10

Costes Restaurant is nicely decorated in a rather modern style, a bar like feeling with warm tone, that still maintains elegance and prestige. The restaurant may seem tiny at the first glance, however, it should comfortably hold more than 40 guests. But reservation is still recommended to avoid disappointment. I found that the service at Costes is really lovely: staffs are not just helpful but have senses of humour. 
Foods here are not quite traditional, they are uniquely created with precision: both presentation and choices of ingredient are well prepared to give fantastic gastronomic experience. There are also varieties of wine choice to be chosen at reasonable price for such kind of restaurant. Travelling here is also convenient: pretty close by underground Kalvin ter station else parking at the garage of Hotel Ibis adjacent to Costes Restaurant.

Before the start of our dinner, we were served with a selection of complementary from the kitchen. Gin Sherbet and Warm Foam was first to arrive. Sour in taste with sweet hint and could hardly feel the existence of spirit (6/10)
Next was Leek & Coconut Cream Soup, Marshmallow & Peanut, Caviar & Fennel Foam. Leek & Coconut Cream Soup was enjoyable but coconut scent overwhelm leek (7/10). Marshmallow & Peanut was sweet and crunchy: great but did not particularly meet my appetite (6/10). Caviar & Fennel Foam was just excellent: feather light and delightful (8/10).

Gin Sherbet and Warm Foam

Leek & Coconut Cream Soup, Marshmallow & Peanut, Caviar & Fennel Foam

Chestnut Cream, Foie Gras "Royal", Winter Vegetables had touchable texture of chestnut that was smooth. This was enhancing with light flavour of foie gras and crunchy vegetables (8/10).
The second choice of appetiser was Langoustine 3 Ways - Tartar, Roasted and in "Dashi". Pretty good dish of clear soup type: refreshing soup to combine with tenderness of roasted langoustine. Outstanding point was it was not too salty like other prawn base consomme (8/10).

Chesnut Cream, Foie Gras "Royal", Winter Vegetables

Langoustine 3 Ways - Tartar, Roasted and in "Dashi"

The following The Wood Pigeon Cooked in 2 Ways: The Breast with Sage and Pancetta, Poached then Roasted, and The Leg Confit in "Pastilla", which were both served with Creamed Savoy Cabbage Salmis Sauce, was wonderful. One was dumpling-like, which was crisp and cracked outside but really tender inside and not oily at all. The other was soft and juicy with thick sauce and went well with cabbage (8/10).
Another one was Halibut Filet, Lemons and Capers, Cauliflower Puree, Brown Butter Emulsion. Great taste with hint of lime but the filet was a little overcooked (7/10).

The Wood Pigeon Cooked in 2 Ways

Halibut Filet, Lemons and Capers, Cauliflower Puree, Brown Butter Emulsion

The last we ordered was Costes Dessert Plate, which was a selection of desserts of Costes made to share. This included 4 kinds of dessert. First one was Pear - Poire Belle Helene, which included combination of vanilla ice-cream in light flavour with poached pear: well made but normal (7/10).
Chocolate - Soft Chocolate, Textures of Peanuts, Black Sesame Tuile was good quality milk chocolate swirled with strong sesame in well decor: again did not find creativity in taste (7/10). 
Citrus - Orange Baba, Yuzu Parfait, Confit Kumquat, Lemon Cream was one of the best here. Complex taste from well combined ingredients and very tangy. The greatest part was the confit kumquat: smooth and soft (8/10).
Mojito and After Eight Cigar - Soft Chocolate, Textures of Peanuts, Black Sesame Tuile was well created with imagination but tasted rather abstract (6/10).


Our dinner then ended with Petit Fours of Orange Foam on top with Caramel, Candy Floss Truffle, Ginger Jelly, and Chocolate Coated Fig.

Costes Dessert Plate

Petit Fours

Costes is surely a creative and unique restaurant of Budapest. The price of dining here may not be cheaper than other places in Budapest but it definitely delivers a professional standard one. Unique food, both tasting and presentation, with excellent services such that every staffs are friendly,  helpful and playful. I would recommend anyone gives it a visit.

Costes Restaurant @ Budapest, Hungary

Raday utca 4.

Budapest 1092

Hungary

Open Hours: Wednesday - Sunday 12:00pm - 03:30pm for lunch and 06:30pm - 12:00am for dinner

Tel: +36 (0) 1 219 0696 

Web: http://www.costes.hu/