Define Cafe @ Rama 3 Road, Bangkok - ดีไฟน์ คาเฟ่ @ ถนนพระราม 3 กรุงเทพฯ

Cuisine: Cafe

Map: Define Cafe @ Rama 3 Road, Bangkok - ดีไฟน์ คาเฟ่ @ ถนนพระราม 3  กรุงเทพฯ

Charged Price: THB140 per person without alcohol

Visited: 10 October 2015

Food: 3/10

Atmosphere: 5/10

Value for money: 3/10

Services: 5/10
Scale: [1=poor ---- 5=average/standard ---- 10=outstanding/exceptional]

Unarguably, hipster cafes have been spreading out everywhere in major cities. Bangkok is not exception. Especially within city centre, you may probably find cafe literally every corner of streets. Here on Rama 3 Road, within Soi 73 and on floor G of Siamese Nang Linchi, there is another hipster cafe that has not long been opened. It's "Define Cafe". Like many of its peers, the place is kept simply plain and white. Yes, it looks tidy and clean at this juncture. But to me, it is kind of boring really. If you are thinking of visiting this little place, driving is perhaps the only convenient way. You may park at Siamese Nang Linchee and have the parking ticket stamped for 2 hours free parking.

Define Cafe @ Rama 3 Road, Bangkok

located on floor G of Siamese Nang Linchi

bright and white atmosphere

stool corner

The menu is just like other places which comprises of typical coffee based beverage, a bit of frappe, and some alternative choices for non-coffee people. On the pricing wise, it is not expensive but not cheap. There are some hot food being served too. It was almost lunch time when we visited. So, why not at all to try something. The Breakfast Set (4/10) was then ordered. It comprised of toasts, scrambled eggs, ham, sausage, and cheese. Honestly, it is just edible in my light of view. Very plain and basic quality stuff. Everyone can just make this themselves at home within 5 - 10 minutes. Why would I bother having this kind of food if I do not live in Siamese Nang Linchi and do not have time to cook breakfast.

menu board

just things on counter

Breakfast Set (THB120)

For beverage, we had Cafe Latte (3/10) and Hojicha Latte (3/10). I noticed that coffee beans are from Pacamara which guarantees decent quality. However, their brewing skill is unacceptable honestly. My expectation had been high but there was only disappointment. The espresso seemed to be under-extracted. The milk foam was rough. Oh yes, latte art was attempted but it was like broken art really.

For this another hipster cafe, there is no way I will return to this place unless they decide to hire a proper barista. An urgent improvement is highly needed here.

barista!!!

Cafe Latte (THB70)

Hojicha Latte (THB90)

Define Cafe @ Rama 3 Road, Bangkok - ดีไฟน์ คาเฟ่ @ ถนนพระราม 3  กรุงเทพฯ

Floor G, Siamese Nang Linchi
Soi 73 of Rama 3 Road
Yan Nawa
Bangkok 10120

Thailand

Open Hours: daily from 08:00am - 09:00pm for Mon - Fri, 09:00am - 09:00pm for Sat, and 09:00am - 06:00pm for Sun

Tel: +66 (0) 80 083 8833
FB: https://www.facebook.com/definecaferama3

Luk Yu Tea House @ Stanley Street, Central, Hong Kong - 陸羽茶室 @ 中環士丹利街香港

Cuisine: Chinese / Cantonese (Dim Sum)

Map: Luk Yu Tea House @ Stanley Street, Central, Hong Kong - 陸羽茶室 @ 中環士丹利街香港

Price: HKD100 per person without alcohol (what we paid for)

Visited: 12 July 2014

Food: 6/10

Atmosphere: 6/10

Value for money: 5/10

Services: 5/10
Scale: [1=poor ---- 5=average/standard ---- 10=outstanding/exceptional]

Thinking of trying high end dim sum with elegant and classic ambient, Luk Yu Tea House may just be the answer for you. Luk Yu is located on Stanley Street in Central district of Hong Kong and is pretty close to Yat Lok, the superb roasted goose. Luk Yu can be rather busy daily through out the whole morning. Make sure of reservation if you are thinking to go. When we were there, it was not so busy and we were seated on the first floor. The thing about Luk Yu, as we have heard, is that the higher floor you go up, the less class it is: i.e. ground floor is the most elegant and classic in style and with more polite staff (if I understand correctly).

What I like about Luk Yu is the way they have kept the traditional style of serving: staffs come with a tray of various dim sum choices to be chosen. This is a place where traditional style is served with much less noise that other places. However, this elegant and classic thing does come at a price. Expect to pay up to HKD200 a head for a proper dim sum breakfast. The thing I noticed is there was not many tourists here and many who visit this place are seemed to be those wealthy end of the class.

Luk Yu Tea House @ Stanley Street, Central, Hong Kong

rather elegant looking entrance

old fashion dim sum serving method

Staffs here do not speak very good English. However, do not worry much about your ordering. Ask for English menu, from then you can compare with what they have in the tray. One to be noticed is served tea. It is not just the typical jasmine tea or oolong tea. Tea served here is Pu Erh Tea which is a famous dark tea mainly from Yunnan province of China. This has its distinct aroma and flavour as well as is well known for its good for health (suppress cholesterol if I was correct).

Pu Erh Tea (HKD32 per person)

menu in Chinese

menu in English

Here is the range of what we had for the light breakfast: 1) tofu sheet dumpling, 2) steamed garoupa roll, 3) Chinese mushroom and chicken meat in glutinous rice, 4) fresh shrimp dumpling, and 5) steamed barbecued pork bun. All were at average kind of taste. Nothing is so delicious in particular. The one that I may suggest is Chinese mushroom and chicken meat in glutinous rice. I did enjoy this dish at some level. It is not the wow kind of delicious, I repeat. However, I felt that the flavour of stuffing was balance and the chewy texture of the glutinous rice dough was delightful.

The bill came around HKD100 per head for this light breakfast which was expensive for what we got from my view. Nevertheless, I did enjoy experiencing the ambient here. For the last point, I would just like to briefly mention about the service. When we were there, staffs were quite nice and polite. However, we have heard some rumours about the impoliteness of staffs at Luk Yu. Perhaps we were there on a good mood day of their staffs (^.^).

tofu sheet dumpling????

steamed garoupa roll, if I was correct (HKD50)

stuffing of the roll

Chinese mushroom and chicken meat in glutinous rice (HKD98)

fresh shrimp dumpling (HKD42)

steamed barbecued pork bun (HKD42)

stuffing of the bun

Luk Yu Tea House @ Stanley Street, Central, Hong Kong - 陸羽茶室 @ 中環士丹利街香港
24-26 Stanley Street
Central
Hong Kong

Open Hours: daily 07:00am - 09:00pm

Tel: +852 2523 5463-5

Loca Vore and Takieng @ Renaissance Phuket Resort and Spa, Mai Khao, Phuket - โลคา โวเล และ ตะเกียง @ โรงแรมเรเนซองส์ ภูเก็ต รีสอร์ทแอนด์สปา หาดไม้ขาว จังหวัดภูเก็ต

Almost half a year has gone by and here is the last topic from the Phuket trip during December 2013. As we chose Renaissance Phuket Resort and Spa at Mai Khao to stay over the vacation, we, thus had some chances to try restaurants within the hotel. The two we would like to present this time are Loca Vore and Takieng.

Cuisine: International / Buffet

Map: Loca Vore @ Renaissance Phuket Resort and Spa, Mai Khao, Phuket - โลคา โวเล @ โรงแรมเรเนซองส์ ภูเก็ต รีสอร์ทแอนด์สปา หาดไม้ขาว จังหวัดภูเก็ต

Price: ~ THB700 per person without alcohol

Visited: 18 December 2013

Food: 6/10

Atmosphere: 8/10

Value for money: 7/10

Services: 8/10
Scale: [ 1=poor ----- 5=average/standard ----- 10=outstanding/exceptional ]

Loca Vore is the destination in the hotel where food are served all day. In the morning, this is where hotel clients have a beautiful breakfast. The atmosphere is tremendous and we really love it. If the weather is not too hot nor to humid, al fresco is a must must thing (at least we would recommend it). What can be more relaxing than a breakfast with a nice view and good food. The place is rather big in fact. Thus, 30 guests all at the same for breakfast is sure not a problem here. The service is also great here. Staffs are friendly and helpful.

At the price of THB700 per head for buffet breakfast, we would not say it is cheap. But this is not as well so expensive for the range of food you get. Choices vary from pastry and bread counter to the counter of typical breakfast like sausages and bacon to the healthy fruit juice station. The favourite part for kids may get the ice-cream corner where there are around 10 choices of ice-cream to be chosen from. For us, the egg station has always been the must go destination. We had egg benedict which was enjoyable.

Well, this is sure another top hotel breakfast in Thailand. Still the one we like the most is the breakfast at Evason Hua Hin but Loca Vore is indeed in a comparable standard.

Open Hours: daily for breakfast, lunch, and dinner from around 6am to 9pm

_________________________________________________

Cuisine: Thai

Map: Takieng @ Renaissance Phuket Resort and Spa, Mai Khao, Phuket - ตะเกียง @ โรงแรมเรเนซองส์ ภูเก็ต รีสอร์ทแอนด์สปา หาดไม้ขาว จังหวัดภูเก็ต

Price: THB850 per person without alcohol (what we paid for)

Visited: 18 December 2013

Food: 7/10

Atmosphere: 8/10

Value for money: 7/10

Services: 7/10
Scale: [ 1=poor ----- 5=average/standard ----- 10=outstanding/exceptional ]

Takieng is the Thai restaurant of Renaissance Phuket Resort and Spa. It operates during dinner period only. The style of this place is kind of chill and relax. There are also outdoor seats with good view of the beach. During high season, I would recommend anyone who is going to visit Takieng to make reservation as the place can be full. Hotel guests seem to like this place a lot. To be honest, the ambient is clam and relax, service is friendly, food tastes nice, and pricing is in the acceptable range. These are why Takieng can be popular amongst hotel guests though local Phuket food is very famous.

Thai food at Takieng comprises of both typical Thai food and local Southern Thai food. All of which came at moderate taste, meaning taste of herbs and spices was presented well but each dish was not too hot nor too spicy. For us, we had 3 dishes here: 1 Southern dish and 2 ordinary. The first one was phad meang goong sieb - ผัดเหมียงกุ้งเสียบ (7/10). Meang is a local Phuket vegetable that is similar to spinach but a little crispier texture and with unique aroma. When stir-fried with smoked shrimp, it can be pretty delicious. Takieng also made this pretty nicely as in those local stores.

Next was choo chee ped krob - ฉู่ฉี่เป็ดกรอบ (6/10). This dish was enjoyable. The curry paste was full of spices but not really spicy which suits my liking but might be the case for other locals. The dish came with tomato and lychee, similar to gang phed ped yang (grilled duck in red curry sauce), which helped balancing the hot flavour. Lastly, it was pla krapong with takieng sauce - ปลากะพงซอสตะเกียง (7/10). This tasted pretty much like tom kha. Instead of using chicken, sea bass was deep-fried and served with herbal coconut milk sauce. I like this one a lot.

For us, Takieng is a decent Thai restaurant that we would not mind dining every evening if we were to stay at Renaissance Phuket Resort and Spa during a vacation. Driving into Phuket town from Mai Khao can take half an hour and this can be tiring, so why not at all to have decent food in the hotel.

complimentary crackers

phad meang goong sieb - ผัดเหมียงกุ้งเสียบ (THB250)

choo chee ped krob - ฉู่ฉี่เป็ดกรอบ (THB420)

zoom up to duck curry

pla krapong with takieng sauce - ปลากะพงซอสตะเกียง (THB840)

zoom up to sea bass

Open Hours: daily for dinner from around 05:30pm

555 Moo 3
Mai Khao, Talang

Phuket 83110

Thailand

Tel: +66 (0) 76 363 999
Web: http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/hktbr-renaissance-phuket-resort-and-spa/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/renphuket