Scala Restaurant @ Siam Square, Bangkok

Cuisine: Chinese

Map: Scala Restaurant @ Siam Square, Bangkok - ห้องอาหาร สกาล่า @ สยามสแควร์ กรุงเทพ

Visited: 25 November 2011

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

Food: 7/10

Atmosphere: 5/10

Value for money: 6/10

Services: 6/10

Scala Restaurant on happ-it.com 

Almost three decades that I from time to time give this restaurant a visit. This restaurant called "Scala" is situated under the classic Scala Theatre at Siam Square. Not many of you may have heard about this place. Most of visitors are old faces. I am fortunate enough that my family frequently visits this restaurant since I was young. This gem of Siam Square is famous for its Peking Duck which has really crisp skin and fat-less. The decoration of this place is somewhat old fashion but it does give a warm ambient. Personally, this is a must try restaurant.

Scala Theatre - โรงหนังสกาล่า

Entrance of Scala Restaurant - หน้าร้านห้องอาหารสกาล่า

Restaurant Ambient - บรรยากาศภายใน

This time we did order 4 kinds of Hors d'oeuvre. First one being Chicken Wine Sauce. This is one of the classic Chinese dish. Chicken was marinated with Chinese wine before being steamed. This dish is served cool. Chicken meat was really tender and savoury. The presence of wine was clearly noticed. Wonderful it was (7/10).

Second one was Fried Minced Shrimp on Toast. This is all time any children favourite. Basic dish but full of happiness when eaten. It does go really well with sweet plum sauce (7/10).

Chicken Wine Sauce - ไก่แช่เหล้า

Fried Minced Shrimp on Toasted - กุ้งโรยงา

The third one was Shanghai Noodles. This dish has salty and sour flavours as base which matches supremely well with Shanghai Noodle. This is a kind of dish that can be ordered every time of visit (6/10).

The last one was Shark's Fin Scramble Eggs. This dish was surely not one of the best here but still enjoyable. It is kind of dry comparing to the other restaurant. But many oldies may find it wonderful (5/10).

Shanghai Noodles - ก๋วยเตี๋ยวเซี่ยงไฮ้

Shark's Fin Scramble Eggs - หูฉลามผัดแห้ง

Next in line was the famous Whole BBQ Peking Duck. Not to mention the well roasted duck that goes perfectly with an ideal sauce, the skin was really crisp and I do mean crisp. Even more, the mentioned crisp skin contained no fat, thanks to the skilful staff who sliced the duck professionally. When wrapped in pancake with a piece of cucumber, you would just ask for more of this Peking duck (9/10).

Whole BBQ Peking Duck - เป็ดปักกิ่ง

Staff Slicing Peking Duck - พนักงานกำลังแล่เป็ดปักกิ่ง

This was then followed by Goose Feet in Earth Pot. In case you have never tried goose or chicken or duck feet, don't say "eiwww" and deny it. I say this dish is a treasure. Goose feet was well marinated and steam in a pot of various herbs until soft and tender and served with noodle and sea asparagus. Fantastic I say (8/10).

Goose Feet in Earth Pot - ขาห่านอบหม้อดิน

Fried Fresh Shrimp is another of my favourite since I was a kid. I is kind of light in flavour with hint of spring onion as base. However, this time I felt that the texture of shrimp was not as good as it used to be. Still tender but lack of crispiness (5/10).

Fried Fresh Shrimp - กุ้งแบบเซี่ยงไฮ้

Sweet and Sour Fish was kind of enjoyable. Nothing really special but cooked with good quality of ingredients. It was not that thick like Hong Kong style and with lighter taste. It did go well with steamed bun (6/10).

Sweet and Sour Fish - ปลาเปรี้ยวหวาน

Steamed Fresh Siam Goby Fish with Soy Sauce is something rather expensive these days. This restaurant still keep the price at reasonable level and also at reasonable size of fish. Of course, this was well cooked with great ingredients and steamed to just perfect level. Really smooth and tender, not too salty with a tiny hint of sweetness. Love it (7/10).

Steamed Fresh Siam Goby Fish with Soy Sauce - ปลาบู่นึ่งซีอิ๊ว

Last of the meal was Fried Egg Noodle Shanghai Style. This was a duck base dish. Duck meat left over from Peking Duck was used as an ingredient for this dish. Always savoury but a little oily. To me, this dish looks like another basic dish but once eaten you would just ask for more (7/10).

Fried Egg Noodle Shanghai Style - บะหมี่เซี่ยงไฮ้

Scala Restaurant @ Siam Square, Bangkok

Ground Floor of Scala Theatre

184 Soi Siam Square 1

Rama 1 Road

Pathum Wan, Pathum Wan

Bangkok 10330

Thailand

ห้องอาหาร สกาล่า @ สยามสแควร์ กรุงเทพ

ใต้โรงหนังสกาล่า

184 ซอยสยามสแควร์ 1

ถนนพระราม 1

แขวงปทุมวัน เขตปทุมวัน

กรุงเทพ 10330

Open Hours: 11:00 - 14:00 for lunch and 17:00 - 22:00 for dinner daily

Tel: +66 (0) 2251 2863

Four Seasons @ Siam Paragon, Bangkok

Cuisine: Chinese

Map: Four Seasons @ Siam Paragon, Bangkok - โฟร์ซีซั่นส์ @ สยามพารากอน กรุงเทพ

Visited: 4 November 2011

Price: THB550 per person without alcohol (what I paid for)

Food: 5/10

Atmosphere: 4/10

Value for money: 5/10

Services: 2/10

photos of Four Seasons on happ-it.com

Here we are at last, the famous Chinese restaurant from London "Four Seasons" on ground floor of Siam Paragon. Many people have heard about its famous roasted duck, many have even tried, and many have fallen in love. If you have experienced Four Seasons before in London, you may probably notice that half of customers in London branch, especially at Bayswater, is Thai....interesting. For decoration of this place, just simply forget the cosy decoration: this place is just designed to represent some Chinese atmosphere and that's it: many small tables, pack and crowded.

Before giving this place a visit, we would like to give you a few suggestions. First, they do not take reservation, so do not bother give them a call to book and they do open everyday. Secondly, the queue can be long as it is newly opened but we are not sure what the situation would be in the future. What we did experience was 2 hours queue at 17:30hr T__T and there will be many people who try to get their queues cut. They may also tell you promising to give you a call when your turn comes but what we did find out was that they never gave us a call ~_~. Last but not least, it is a Chinese restaurant, hence, do not expect great and friendly services here: just go and enjoy your food.

Four Seasons @ Siam Paragon, Bangkok

The Long Queue T__T

Rather Crowded Atmosphere

The Red Menu ^^

The first menu of the meal was Deep-fried Beancurd with Salt and Pepper - เต้าหู้ทอดเกลือพริกไทย. This dish was rather impressive in terms of skill and technique. Each piece was crisp on the outside and soft inside with mild flavour of salt, pepper and springs (6/10).

Deep-fried Beancurd with Salt and Pepper

Deep-fried Squid with Salt and Pepper - ปลาหมึกทอดพริกเกลือ is usually one of our favourite dish. But deep-fried squid did let us down a bit. It was crisp but almost hard and the portion and size of each piece was rather small (4/10).

Deep-fried Squid with Salt and Pepper

For the famous dish that every table did order "Four Seasons Roasted Duck - เป็ดย่างโฟร์ซีซันส์", at the price of THB1,100 you get a whole duck as can be seen in the photo below. Each piece was tender with thick meat. The sauce was also enjoyable: salty base rather than sweetness. If the skin was more crisp, this dish would be more wonderful (7/10).

We do like this dish though many people say it is rather normal. But pricing is not totally attractive from our point of view. THB1,100 for a whole duck is pretty similar to fine cuisine in a hotel.

The Famous Four Seasons Roasted Duck

Thick and Tender Meat

Next in line was Aromatic Crispy Duck Served with Pancakes - เป็ดอโรเมติก. Thai people may be familiar with Peking Duck, this Aromatic Duck is something similar. Instead of wrapping crisp skin of duck within pancake, you also wrap meat into pancake for Aromatic Duck. We say we like it but we don't love it. Skin was indeed crisp which was good. But the meat was rather dry and coarse. If it was more tender, it would be fantastic. For the sauce, it was thick and a little sweet, not bad (5/10). However, taking into account of THB1,500 cost, we say (3/10).......rather expensive T__T.

Aromatic Crispy Duck Served with Pancakes

Aromatic Ready to be Wrapped ^^

Here it comes, our favourite dish: Double Cooked Belly Pork with Preserved Vegetables in Hot Pot - หมูสามชั้นอบหม้อดินผักกาดดอง. It is simply pork belly that is slow cooked with preserved vegetables. Rich taste of soy sauce base flavour with combination of sour hint of preserved vegetables. Pork belly was supremely tender. This went really with boiled rice. Fantastic dish it is (7/10).

PS. This dish is surely unhealthy though, but still nice ^^.

Double Cooked Belly Pork with Preserved Vegetables in Hot Pot

Lastly, we had Egg Noodle with Roasted Duck and BBQ Pork - บะหมี่เป็ดย่างและหมูแดงอบน้ำผึ้ง. It was just noodle topped with roasted duck and bbq pork, nothing else special. Of course, roasted duck was good but bbq pork was below our expectation. We felt that what we used to have in London was better and more tender. Noodle part was just any typical noodle you can find elsewhere (4/10).

Egg Noodle with Roasted Duck and BBQ Pork

Four Seasons @ Siam Paragon, Bangkok

Floor G, Siam Paragon

Rama 1 Road

Pathumwan, Pathumwan

Bangkok 10330

Thailand

โฟร์ซีซั่นส์ @ สยามพารากอน กรุงเทพ

ชั้น G สยามพารากอน

ถนนพระราม 1

แขวงปทุมวัน เขตปทุมวัน

กรุงเทพ 10330

Open Hours: 11:00 - 21:00 daily

Tel: +66 (0) 2610 9578

Web: http://www.fs-restaurants.co.uk/

Xin Tian Di @ Crowne Plaza, Bangkok

Cuisine: Chinese

Map: Xin Tian Di @ Crowne Plaza, Bangkok - ซินเทียนตี้ @ คราวน์พลาซ่า กรุงเทพ

Price: THB800 per person (what I paid for)

Visited: 31 July 2011

Food: 6/10

Atmosphere: 6/10

Value for money: 5/10

Services: 6/10

During past weekend we happened to have a chance to visit Xin Tian Di @ Crowne Plaza with our family for dim sum lunch. Just to bear in mind that Crowne Plaza Bangkok was formerly known as Pan Pacific Bangkok. This Chinese restaurant is located on 22nd floor and is decorated in Chinese style (of course) and perhaps a little old fashion. We were actually recommended by our family's friend that this restaurant is famous for its Prawn with Wasabi Cream Sauce. Hesitation was definitely neglected and we came straight to try out. 

On the service side, staffs here were pretty friendly, polite, and helpful but may lack some knowledge but not a big deal though. For those who do not know where about Crowne Plaza Bangkok is, it is on Rama IV road and right next to BTS and MRT Silom station. Hence, it is pretty surely easy to find.

Xin Tian Di @ Crowne Plaza Bangkok Lumpini Park

22nd floor it is!!!

The Atmosphere

Let us started off with Baked Char Sui in Pastry. This did taste good and well balance. Loads of filling of char sui. Pastry texture was crisp but thinner would be more appreciated (6/10).

Baked Char Sui in Pastry - พายหมูแดง

Deep-fried Taro Filled with Roasted Pork is another of our favourite choice. The taste was right, sweetness from taro and salty taste of roasted pork to combine, but smoother texture of fill would be better (5/10). 

Deep-fried Taro Filled with Roasted Pork - เผือกทอดไส้หมูแดง

Pan-fried Turnip Pudding was ok. Rather soft in texture and tasted just like many other places. Not a big fan of this though (4/10).

Pan-fried Turnip Pudding - ขนมผักกาดทอด

To have dim sum without all time famous Shui Mai (5/10) and Har Kow (5/10) is probably wrong. Shui Mai, in contrast, was a little better than Har Kow here. As Har Kow had rather thick flour skin and size of prawn was not so big. Shui Mai on the other hand was a little tough but tastier.

Steamed Shrimp Dumplings (Shui Mai) - ขนมจึบกุ้ง

Steamed Shrimp Dumplings (Har Kow) - ฮะเก๋า

Shanghai Xiao Long Bao here was not one of the best in town surely. Thick skin and not so juicy and flavourful filling (4/10).

Shanghai Xiao Long Bao - ซิวหลงเปา เซี่ยงไฮ้

Next was Steamed Rice Flour Tubes with Roasted Pork. This one was delightful. Thin and soft rice flour tubes with tasteful roasted pork with sauce that was sweet and salty. Really enjoy this one (7/10).

Steamed Rice Flour Tubes with Roasted Pork - ก๋วยเตี๋ยวหลอดหมูแดง

Steamed Sweetened Cream Bun was just as expected. Just another cream bun with sweet tasty filling. Nothing special but always enjoyable (5/10).

Steamed Sweetened Cream Bun - ซาลาเปาไส้ครีม

Prawn with Cream Wasabi Sauce, the signature dish of Xin Tian Di, did its job rather well. Definitely a great one to try out but do not expect something amazing. Great texture of prawn and crisp on the outside with juiciness in its taste. Creamy with hint of spice of wasabi. Another enjoyable dish (7/10).

Prawn with Cream Wasabi Sauce - กุ้งทอดวาซาบิครีมซอส

The last dish of this meal was Home-made Tofu. The tofu was well fried and had soft texture. The coupling sauce was wonderful with hint of chilli oil, not spicy though. We love this one the most for this meal (7/10).

Home-made Tofu - เต้าหู้ทอดทำมือ

We did also have Pio Cesare, Moscato D'Asti 2008 to go with the meal. Not so bad at all, loving it actually. Delicate with sweetness (lychee sense) and light floral note. ^^

Pio Cesare, Moscato D'Asti 2008 ^^

Xin Tian Di @ Crowne Plaza, Bangkok

22nd Floor Crowne Plaza Bangkok Lumpini Park

952 Rama IV Road

Suriyawong, Bang Rak

Bangkok 10500

Thailand

ซินเทียนตี้ @ คราวน์พลาซ่า กรุงเทพ

ชั้น 22 โรงแรมคราวน์พลาซ่า

952 ถนนพระราม 4

แขวงสุริยวงศ์ เขตบางรัก

กรุงเทพ 10500

Open Hours: 11:30am - 02:30pm for lunch and 06:00pm - 10:30pm for dinner

Tel: +66 (0) 2632 9000

Web: http://www.panoramabangkok.com/

Din Tai Fung @ Central World, Bangkok

Cuisine: Chinese

Map: Din Tai Fung @ Central World, Bangkok - ติ่น ไท่ ฟง @ เซ็นทรัลเวิลด์ กรุงเทพ

Price: THB340 per person without alcohol (what I paid for)

Visited: 15 July 2011

Food: 7/10

Atmosphere: 5/10

Value for money: 6/10

Services: 5/10

The famous restaurant of Taiwan "Din Tai Fung" has been opened on the 7th floor of Central World not so long ago. We wished to try out when we heard that there would be a great Chinese restaurant from Taiwan going to open on the space. As everyone may know, the queue has been ridiculously long ~ 30-45 minutes to be seated. Nonetheless, we were lucky to be there early this time so no queue.

We were at first impressed with the open kitchen. This surely show how hygienic they are. Secondly, services were also not so bad and rather friendly: indeed above the standard for this kind of restaurant in Bangkok. The atmosphere is also rather good. The high ceiling gives a more relaxing feeling. Many windows also make the place look larger than it is. Perhaps, just the table that is too small. We would recommend that you may consider ordering a few dishes at a time, eat them then order more. We experienced that food did come out really fast. This place is also wonderful for tourist as Central World can be accessed easily via BTS Siam Square station.

Din Tai Fung @ Central World, Bangkok

The Store Front

Window Display of Samples

The Open Kitchen

We, of course, had to try the famous Steamed Pork Dumplings (Xiao Long Bao) - เสี่ยวหลงเปา. Truly speaking, this was a nice one but not amazing. The skin was really thin. Pork stuffing was soft and juicy. However, Crystal Jade @ Erawan also serves Xiao Long Bao as good as this (7/10).

Steamed Pork Dumplings (Xiao Long Bao)

Xiao Long Bao in Vinegar Sauce

The second dish was Shrimp and Pork Wanton Served in Superior Chicken Broth - เกี๊ยวกุ้งน้ำ. The soup was light and refreshing, delightful in fact. The main difference of wanton was the filling was loaded with shrimp, otherwise it was just a wanton (6/10).

Shrimp and Pork Wanton Served in Superior Chicken Broth

The last one was Special Braised Beef Soup - ซุปเนื้อตุ๋น. We love this one. The beef was super tender. The soup was wonderful, strong flavour of herbs but not so thick in the texture (7/10).

Special Braised Beef Soup

Overall picture of this famous chain, Din Tai Fung, is great. It was perhaps that we went out of busy time, i.e. 04:00pm, hence we were lucky to be seated right away. If we have to queue for 45 minutes like others during lunch or dinner, that would absolutely not be the case. You may probably want to give it a try anyway to see how the legendary taste like. Another thing is pricing which is rather high for its value. Otherwise, services are friendly and hygienic is good. 

Din Tai Fung @ Central World, Bangkok

Central World Shopping Centre Level 7

4/1-2, 4/4 Ratchadamri Road 
Pathumwan, Pathumwan

Bangkok 10330

Thailand 

ติ่น ไท่ ฟง @ เซ็นทรัลเวิลด์ กรุงเทพ

ชั้น 7ศูนย์การค้าเซ็นทรัลเวิลด์

4/1-2, 4/4 ถนนราชดำริ

แขวงปทุมวัน เขตปทุมวัน

กรุงเทพ 10330

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

Tel: +66 (0) 2646 1282

Web: http://www.dintaifung.com.tw/en/area_a_detail.asp?AreaNO=292&AreaCountryNO=101