The Garage: Burger & Grill @ All Seasons Place, Bangkok

Cuisine: American

Map: The Garage: Burger & Grill @ All Seasons Place, Bangkok

Price: THB280 per person without alcohol (what I paid for)

Visited: 27 August 2011

Food: 5/10

Atmosphere: 4/10

Value for money: 3/10

Services: 4/10

Talking about burger, you probably think about McDonald, Burger King, or the Japanese chain Mos Burger. However, on the 2nd floor of All Seasons Place, Bangkok, there is a restaurant called The Garage that offers premium grade burger. This place has been well known to those who work around Witthayu area. Walking into the restaurant you will probably notice straight away that this place serves American style food. Photos and portrait of Hollywood stars along each side of walls, USA car plates, USA flags, and etc. On the pricing side, this can be a lot more expensive when you compare to those of Burger King and McDonald but you surely get what you pay (on the quality of ingredient).

The Garage: Burger & Grill @ All Seasons Place

Restaurant Front

The Decor

It was burger and it was big, we hence could only try 2 dishes this time T__T. First one was the typical Cheese Burger. Well this came with a piece of beef burger, dense and cheesy, though not so tender. We ordered medium for this one. If it had been medium, this could be much better and juicier (4/10).

Juicy Lucy Burger was probably similar to Cheese Burger. But this one, 4 kinds of cheese were stuffed into mince making more tender and juicier: each bite there would be cheese running out of the burger ^^. We like this one more but the bread was rather hard and coarse (5/10).

Cheese Burger

Juicy Lucy Burger

The Garage: Burger & Grill @ All Seasons Place, Bangkok

Unit 203, 2nd Floor

All Seasons Place Retail Center (CRC Tower)

87/2 Wireless Road

Lumpini, Pathumwan

Bangkok 10330

Thailand

Open Hours: 11:00am - 10:00pm daily except Saturday open at noon

Tel: +66 (0) 2685 3626

Web: http://www.thegaragebkk.com

Me & Ice-cream @ CDC, Bangkok

Cuisine: Ice-cream

Map: Me & Ice-cream @ CDC, Bangkok

Price: THB49 per scoop (what I paid for)

Visited: 26 June 2011

Ice-cream: 3/10

Atmosphere: 5/10

Value for money: 3/10

Services: n.m.

Skimming through my record to see what to post, I somehow found this Me & Ice-cream @ CDC which I did give it a visit a while ago and forgot to post. This little tiny ice-cream shop produces home-made ice-cream to sell at CDC. So you can expect to see some different flavour each time you come by except the basic flavours. Though we did not find this place interesting in term of its taste, the lovely style of this tiny shop can also attract some visitors to pop by. This place has very limited place to eat in and it is outdoor, hence, forget about it when raining.

Me & Ice-cream @ CDC

The Tiny Shop

Price Board

Ice-cream Variety

At the time, we had a chance to try 6 flavours in total: Thai Tea, Vanilla, Double Chocolate, Coffee, Lactobacillus (Yakult and Jelly), and Banoffee. All of which were ok to eat. Texture was acceptable but with icy bits, not completely smooth and creamy. To be honest, vanailla, double chocolate, and coffee are below standard from our perspective. They could be more rich in taste. Out of all six, we found that Lactobacillus was the best one. Easy to eat and interesting: guess that kids will love this one. Unfortunately, we did not try the signature "Earl Grey" though.

Thai Tea Ice-cream

Vanilla Flavour Ice-cream

Double Chocolate Ice-cream

Coffee Ice-cream (middle)

Lactobacillus Ice-cream

Banoffee Ice-cream

Me & Ice-cream @ CDC, Bangkok

1420/1 Crystal Design Center

Pradist Manudham Road

Khlong Kum, Bang Kapi

Bangkok 10240

Open Hours: Monday – Thursday 12:00pm – 09:00pm and Friday – Sunday 11:00am – 11:30pm

Tel: +66 (0) 81 833 3849

Web: http://www.facebook.com/meandicecreamhomemade

Tai Seng (small shop of Lang Suan Shark Fin) @ Lang Suan, Bangkok

Cuisine: Chinese

Map: Tai Seng (small shop of Lang Suan Shark Fin) @ Lang Suan, Bangkok - ไต่เซ้ง (ร้านเล็กของหลังสวนหูฉลาม) @ ซอยหลังสวน กรุงเทพ

Price: THB100 per person (what I paid for)

Visited: 18 August 2011

Food: 7/10

Atmosphere: n.m. (street food)

Value for money: 9/10

Services: 4/10

This little place of Lang Suan Shark Fin (Tai Seng) serves just fast and delicious food just with street food at low price, I must say. Think about THB40 for a plate of Stewed Chicken with Rice, Dim Sum for THB40 per set or Fried Hofan for THB40, where else can you find delicious at this price. At lunch time, this place will be really crowded with office people who work around the area of Chidlom and Lang Suan. What's good about this place is it has English menu, so foreigner and traveller will have no problem ordering food here, unlike many other street food. The location of this place is also pretty easy to find, walking down Lang Suan from BTS Chidlom station, it is on the left hand side within 500 metres range.

Tai Seng @ Lang Suan

Preparation Counter

Stewed Chicken with Rice has been my favourite lunch time dish. It has rich flavour of soy sauce base. Thick and a little creamy. Addition of mushroom does give the taste even better. Some people may find this a little salty to their taste though. But I love it (8/10).

Stewed Chicken with Rice - ข้าวหน้าไก่มาลายู

Pork Congee with Preserved Egg is also another of good thing here. Nice, soft, and smooth savoury congee like those in Hong Kong. The highlight is the pork that is really tender and large preserved egg. Good thing is they are not being stingy about ingredients at all, even at this low price (8/10).

Pork Congee with Preserved Egg - โจ๊กหมูฮ่องกงใส่ไข่เยี่ยวม้า

Close up on really tender pork ball

Fresh Spring Roll is also a wow here. Loads and loads of filling that are wrapped with thin dough. What special is this fresh spring roll has no sauce but filling has already been cooked to give the right flavour. A must try one (7/10).

Fresh Spring Roll - เปาะเปี๊ยะสด

There are some selection of dim sum from the main restaurant for customers to enjoy. We did try 2 choices this time and they both are great. Steamed Prawn Stuff with Noodle was awesome. Just prawn and prawn wrapped with noodle in soy sauce: a little sweet and salty (6/10). The other one was Steamed Prawn with Duck Web. Duck web was cooked until tender and could be easily eaten. Again loads of prawn (6/10). Both of these were just THB40 each ^^.

Steamed Prawn Stuff with Noodle - ก๋วยเตี๋ยวหลอดกุ้ง

Steamed Prawn with Duck Web - ขาเป็ดยัดไส้กุ้งนึ่ง

Tai Seng (small shop of Lang Suan Shark Fin) @ Lang Suan, Bangkok

65/1 Soi Lang Suan

Sarasin Road

Lumphini, Pathumwan

Bangkok 10330

Thailand

ไต่เซ้ง (ร้านเล็กของหลังสวนหูฉลาม) @ ซอยหลังสวน กรุงเทพ

65/1 ซอยหลังสวน

ถนนสารสิน

แขวงลุมพินี เขตปทุมวัน

กรุงเทพ 10330

Open Hours: 11:00am – 02:00pm for lunch and 05:00pm – 10:00pm for dinner

Tel: + 66 (0) 2652 0370

Rakuza Tokyo @ Grass Thonglor, Bangkok

Cuisine: Japanese

Map: Rakuza Tokyo @ Grass Thonglor, Bangkok - ราคุซะ โตเกียว @ กราส ทองหล่อ กรุงเทพ

Price: THB1,200 per person without alcohol (what I paid for)

Visited: 8 July 2011

Food: 6/10

Atmosphere: 6/10

Value for money: 4/10

Services: 7/10

After popping by Mugendai a few times, Rakuza Tokyo on the ground floor of Grass Thonglor looks rather yummy and we then had this chance to try it out. First of all, this place is surely not a cheap place. Food choices are both traditional style and fusion style. Decoration is rather modern and we could not really feel the ambient of Japanese except the sushi bar at the front. What we love about this place was the services, every staffs are lovely and polite. Again, it is situated in Grass Thonglor, hence parking valet is the option we suppose, else taxi or BTS Thonglor.

Rakuza Tokyo @ Grass Thonglor

Sliced Fresh Tuna with Black Truffle Ponzu Sauce - ทูน่าสไลด์ตกแต่งด้วยซอสเห็ดทรัฟเฟิลและพอนสุ was a yummy choice. Rather good and quality tuna with sour ponzu sauce was enjoyable but could not really feel the hint of truffle though: perhaps our tongues had gone numb (6/10).

Sliced Fresh Tuna with Black Truffle Ponzu Sauce

Forgot to take a proper note for this one, hence apologise if the name of the dish was wrong T__T. Boiled Salmon in Soy Sauce - แซลม่อนต้มซีอิ๊ว was rather typical. Strong taste but not too salty, a delightful one to try (5/10).

Boiled Salmon in Soy Sauce

Soft Shell Crab Salad with White Miso Dressing - สลัดปูนิ่มราดน้ำสลัดเต้าเจี้ยวขาว was just ok. Just a plate of salad with soft shell crab that was not properly fried. We would prefer it to be more crisp though (4/10).

Soft Shell Crab Salad with White Miso Dressing

As sushi lovers, we thus could not miss out sushi as one of option in the meal. Overall, ingredients were fresh but tasted not so spectacular. Rice was also not so special but acceptable. We think that chef skill would have so much influence on the taste and texture of sushi (5/10).

Norwegian Salmon Sushi - ข้าวปั้นปลานอร์วีเจียนแซลม่อน
Uni (Sea Urchin) Sushi - ข้าวปั้นหอยเม่น
Ikura (Salmon Roe) Sushi - ข้าวปั้นไข่ปลาแซลม่อน
3 Kinds of HonMaguro Sushi Tasting Plate (Otoro, Chutoro, and Akami) - มากุโระคัดพิเศษ 3 อย่าง (โอโทโระ, ชูโทโระ และ อะคะมิ)

Norwegian Salmon Sushi

Uni (Sea Urchin) and Ikura (Salmon Roe) Sushi

3 Kinds of HonMaguro

Another of my favourite was Aji Tataki - ปลาทูสดสับกับต้นหอม. As long as aji is fresh, you would hardly be disappointed with this dish. A typical Japanese dish that always goes well with ponzu sauce. It had a bit of chewiness and fat to combine (6/10).

Aji Tataki

Negi Toro with Potato Strips - โทโรสับบนมันภูเขาเส้น was a near impeccable combination. Crisp potato strips with fatty negi toro and spring rolls, what more would you want. This is just a matter of quality of ingredients. It also tasted of sweet flesh of negi toro (7/10).

Negi Toro with Potato Strips

Shirauo Kara Age - ปลาเงินทอดกรอบ was not so great as expected. The best one so far was the one at Nippon Tei. Here, the size of fish was rather big give softer texture and hence less savoury (5/10).

Shirauo Kara Age (Deep-fried Silver Fish)

Rakuza Tokyo @ Grass Thonglor, Bangkok

264/1 Grass Thonglor

Sukhumvit 55

Khlong Ton Nuea, Watthana

Bangkok 10110

Thailand

ราคุซะ โตเกียว @ กราส ทองหล่อ กรุงเทพ

264/1 กราส ทองหล่อ

ซอยสุขุมวิท 55

แขวงคลองตันเหนือ เขตวัฒนา

กรุงเทพ 10110

Open Hours: 06:00pm - midnight daily and noon - 02:30pm during weekends

Tel: +66 (0) 2714 9897

Web: http://www.facebook.com/RakuzaTokyo

NYCC: New York Cheesecake @ Crystal Design Centre, Bangkok

Cuisine: Dessert

Map: NYCC: New York Cheesecake @ Crystal Design Centre, Bangkok

Price: THB180 per person (what I paid for)

Visited: 26 June 2011

Cake: 4/10

Atmosphere: 4/10

Value for money: 5/10

Services: 3/10

Having heard the rumour about this NYCC: New York Cheesecake @ CDC for a long time, we just a while ago had a chance to visit this place. It is just a tiny, and we really mean tiny, as there are probably max 20 seats that are rather pack. Ok, let forget for the atmosphere. This is perhaps the only place in Bangkok that imports all cakes from various shop in USA daily. It is apparently said to serve the best cheesecake in Thailand. Surprisingly, the price is not so high considering imported stuff and the size is large unlike other local shop. Sincerely admire the owner's way of thought of importing cakes, do not have to invest much and keep fix cost down.

NYCC: New York Cheesecake @ CDC

The Tiny Shop

The talk-of-the-town "New York Cheesecake" of NYCC was good as rumour said. But we found that the one we ate in the shop and the takeaway one were different. The one ate at the shop was perhaps did not thoroughly thawed and left icy bits behind as well as rather hard texture. However, the takeaway one was much smoother and delightful. The good point of this cheesecake was it was not too sweet and rich (6/10).

New York Cheesecake

We a chocolate lover, we did decide to try Chocolate Cheesecake. What we found was truly opposite of our expectation. The texture may be as smooth as the New York Cheesecake but taste rather awful (if we are not too harsh). Too sweet and cannot taste much of chocolate (2/10).

Chocolate Cheesecake

Black Forest Cake was also not so great. Cake text was a bit coarse. Cherry filling was too little but not so sweet. We would expect more from imported stuff though otherwise there is no point of importing (3/10). So far we found that one of the very best Black Forest Cake in town was the one from Oriental Shop.

Black Forest Cake

Well, this one was just Ice Latte. How much could it go wrong with Ice Latte (5/10).

Ice Latte

NYCC: New York Cheesecake @ Crystal Design Centre, Bangkok

1420/1 Crystal Design Center (Build Z1 – 108)

Pradist Manudham Road

Khlong Kum, Bang Kapi

Bangkok 10240

Thailand

Open Hours: 10:30am – 09:00pm for Monday – Thursday and 10:30am – 10:00pm for Friday - Sunday

Tel: +66 (0) 2102 2065

Singapore Patisserie & Tea Room: Ah Teng's Bakery & TWG Tea Salon

Cuisine: Tea Room & Patisserie

Visited: 28-29 May 2011

During our short trip to Singapore at the end of May, we had a chance to visit 2 tea room, one being Ah Teng's Bakery @ Raffles Singapore and the other one was TWG Tea Room @ ION Shopping Mall.

Ah Teng's Bakery @ Raffles Singapore

Map: Ah Teng's Bakery @ Raffles Singapore

Price: SGD9.00 per person (what I paid for)

Food: 5/10

Atmosphere: 6/10

Value for money: 4/10

This Chinese style tea house of Raffles Singapore serves rather quality bakery daily. The area of this place is sharing with the adjacent Empire Cafe. We love the classic colonial decoration of this place, a bit of old fashion but look really calm and fabulous in style.

Ah Teng's Bakery @ Raffles Singapore

Menu Board

The Chinese Style Surrounding

We did not have much chance to try many different things, including the famous banana pastry, but photos were taken to share here.

Lychee Raspberry Tart

Tropical Fruits Choux a la Creme

Sacher Cake

Chocolate Banana Cake

Cheese Cake

Scone Set with English Breakfast Tea had soft texture but would be much appreciated if it was warm. It came with clotted cream that was not so rich in taste and jam was not a home-made one (5/10).

Scone Set with English Breakfast Tea

Black Forest Cake tasted rather standard. Though it was an enjoyable one but more smoothness and cherry would be preferable (5/10). 

Black Forest Cake

Strawberry Jelly Lemon Panna Cotta was just a typical panna cotta with jelly but delightful to have though (4/10).

Strawberry Jelly Lemon Panna Cotta

Ah Teng's Bakery @ Raffles Singapore

1 Beach Road

Singapore 189673

Open Hours: Sun-Thu 07:30am - 10:00pm and Fri-Sat 07:30am - 11:00pm

Tel: +65 (0) 6412 1816

Web: http://www.raffles.com/EN_RA/Property/RHS/Restaurants_Bars/Ah_Tengs_Bakery.htm

TWG Tea Salon & Boutique @ ION Shopping Mall, Singapore

Map: TWG Tea Salon & Boutique @ ION Shopping Mall, Singapore

Price: SGD14.00 per person (what I paid for)

Food: 4/10

Atmosphere: 4/10

Value for money: 5/10

TWG is a well-known tea house of Singapore. There are a few houses around Singapore Island. We managed to go there during weekend and without surprise, the shop was packed with customers. For TWG Tea Salon & Boutique @ ION Shopping Mall, the place is rather tiny and can accommodate around 30 guests only. The decoration is elegant but we do not like the large window that allows outsiders to look through though. What impressed us was the long list of fine tea with description, there were around 100 choices of tea to be chosen (just guess ^^).

TWG Tea Salon & Boutique @ ION Shopping Mall

The Entrance

Shelf of Tea

Pile of Muffin

We chose Rwanda Express for the choice of tea. It was a light black tea with hint of caramel. This should be great with pastry that is thick and creamy. Scones came with tea jelly and whipped cream rather that clotted cream. It was dry in texture but tea jelly was interesting (4/10).

Rwanda Express

Scones Set

Raspberry Mille-feuille was wonderful. Unlike scones, this had soft and smooth filling of vanilla chestnut cream with crisp pastry. Loads of raspberry. Not so sweet on the overall (7/10).

We did also try a few macarons: Napoleon Tea & Caramel, Earl Grey Fortune & Chocolate, and 1837 Black Tea & Blackcurrant. Disappointed really but unique. Blending of TWG tea into maroons was interesting but did not go well from our perspective (3/10).

Raspberry Mille-feuille

TWG Tea Macarons

TWG Tea Salon & Boutique @ ION Shopping Mall, Singapore

2 Orchard Turn, #02-21

Singapore 238801

Open Hours: 10:00am - 10:00pm daily

Tel: +65 (0) 6735 1837

Web: http://www.twgtea.com