KiSara @ Conrad Bangkok Hotel - คิซาระ @ โรงแรมคอนราด กรุงเทพฯ

Cuisine: Japanese (sushi)

Map: KiSara @ Conrad Bangkok Hotel - คิซาระ @ โรงแรมคอนราด กรุงเทพฯ

Charged Price: THB1,250 per person without alcohol

Visited: 17 April 2015

Food: 5/10

Atmosphere: 7/10

Value for money: 4/10

Services: 6/10
Scale: [1=poor ---- 5=average/standard ---- 10=outstanding/exceptional]

Here is a brief visit to one more Japanese restaurant in a hotel in Bangkok. It's KiSara at Conrad Bangkok Hotel. It was my first time here really since its reborn from the previous Drinking Tea Eating Rice. The place is still and almost the same in term of atmosphere with kind of contemporary Japanese concept. There is a teppanyaki counter right in the middle of the large dining hall which can accommodate around 10+ guests. Adjacent to teppanyaki counter, but enclosed with glass screen, there is a sushi counter as well.

What I like about this place is the spacious and private surrounding. Each table is separated from the others. Forget about being overheard on your conversation here. Nevertheless, feeling more like business privacy talk, requesting for a private room is also available.

KiSara at Conrad Bangkok Hotel

spacious and comfortable dining hall

sushi counter

As in typical Japanese restaurant in hotels, the menu comprises of variety of dishes: from sushi to hot pot to noodle and etc. This time we opted to US Angus Beef Shabu Shabu (7/10) which was nice indeed. The quality of beef was good, though not the very top class. We at least enjoyed it a lot. The set of shabu shabu came along with mixed vegetables. The dipping sauces are the standard sesame sauce, which was delightful and savoury, and ponzu based sauce. While waiting for shabu shabu, we also had Salmon Skin Roll (5/10). There is nothing spetacular about this one. But just crunchy texture roll with standard satisfaction. Again, I am not a fan of modern sushi but I would not say I don't like this dish. It's ok.

I would say that this place offers decent food and service. Atmosphere is great too. It is in general more suitable for business type of meal. However, family is also ok. But I would not say it is the one for romantic type of meal. In term of pricing, it is not cheap but not ridiculously expensive. Would I return to this place? Um.....why not, if it's from time to time.

Salmon Skin Roll (THB320)

US Angus Beef Shabu Shabu (THB1,600)

dipping moment!!!!

decent quality of US beef

vegetable for good health (^.^)

KiSara @ Conrad Bangkok Hotel - คิซาระ @ โรงแรมคอนราด กรุงเทพฯ

87 Witthayu Road
Lumphini, Pathum Wan
Bangkok 10330

Thailand

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

Tel: +66 (0) 2690 9999
Web: http://www.conradhotels.com/bangkok
FB: https://www.facebook.com/conradbangkokhotel

Liu Chinese Restaurant @ Conrad Bangkok

Cuisine: Chinese (dim sum)

Map: Liu Chinese Restaurant @ Conrad Bangkok

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

Visited: 6 October 2013

Food: 4/10

Atmosphere: 5/10

Value for money: 3/10

Services: 5/10

As far as I remember, my latest visit to Liu Chinese Restaurant @ Conrad Bangkok was more than 5 years back. I kind of faintly recall my experience back then. For this time, we gave Liu a visit during Nine Emperor Gods Festival - เทศกาลกินเจ and some of our parties only consumed vegetable during the festival. Liu, without fail, also served vegetable menu during such season.

I have to say that my overall impression with Liu this time was not so great. Service was average but below 5 stars Hotel standard. Food was so-so. Value for money, of course, was not excellent for sure. Anyway, I would presume that this Chinese restaurant is one good place for a family meal. The restaurant is large and comes with various size of tables. There are also many private rooms which can be great for large group with indeed large noise or business talk. The decor is in traditional Chinese theme with wooden furniture as main parts.

Liu Chinese Restaurant @ Conrad Bangkok

Typically, dim sum dishes are parted into fried dishes and steamed dishes. For fried dishes at Liu, they were not impressive. Many dishes were not well fried leaving excess oil holding within the food. The followings are what we had:

deep fried bean curd roll with cheese - ฟองเต้าหู้ม้วนชีสทอด
deep fried prawn dumpling and salad dressing - เกี้ยวกุ้งทอดมายองเนส
deep fried egg custard buns - ซาลาเปาครีมทอด
taro dumpling - เผือกทอดซอสนมสด

The overall impression for fried dim sum at Liu would be around 3/10. I would put it as below expected standard. There have been many occasions that I come across better fried dim sum. For example deep fried egg custard buns were somewhat chewy when it was expected to be crisp outside and soft inside, and the filling was too sweet. Well, we perhaps visited Liu on a wrong day for dim sum.

deep fried bean curd roll with cheese (THB110)

deep fried prawn dumpling and salad dressing (THB110)

deep fried egg custard buns (THB90) / taro dumpling (THB110)

inside of deep fried custard buns

For steamed dim sum, they were better and more enjoyable from my perspective: 5/10 for steamed dim sum. Steamed dumpling range was on average in term of taste. For steamed rice flour rolls, we had the one filled with deep fried dough in which it is usually a nice dish on its own. However, I found that the dough was not crisp to give such joy. Anyway, here are what we had:

steamed rice flour rolls filled with crab stick - ก๋วยเตี๋ยวหลอดปาท่องโก๋
steamed minced pork buns - เซี่ยวหลงเปา
steamed minced shrimp and scallop with wasabi - ขนมจีบกุ้งหอยเชลล์วาซาบิ
X.O. sauce siu mai - ขนมจีบซอสเอ็กซ์โอ

steamed rice flour rolls filled with crab stick (THB130)

here is the square cut of steamed rice flour rolls

steamed minced pork buns (THB110)

steamed minced shrimp and scallop with wasabi (THB90)

X.O. sauce siu mai (THB110)

Dessert may be what we enjoyed the most at Liu, though they are not the best. Coconut ice-cream in young coconut (5/10), for example, creamy and not overly sweet. While chilled sago and pomelo in mango cream (5/10) was as well pleasant. Refreshing with balance between sour from pomelo and sweetness from mango. Perhaps this is the dish I, personally, like the most here at Liu.

With all of these dishes, I could say that if this was not just a wrong day for Liu, I would definitely not be returning to this Chinese place in the 5 stars hotel unless there is a big improvement.

coconut ice-cream in young coconut (THB150)

creamy and smooth coconut ice-cream

chilled sago and pomelo in mango cream (THB120)

closer look to chilled sago and pomelo in mango cream

Liu Chinese Restaurant @ Conrad Bangkok

87 Witthayu Road

Pathumwan

Bangkok 10330

Thailand

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

Tel: +66 (0) 2690 9999
Web: http://conradhotels3.hilton.com/en/hotels/thailand/conrad-bangkok-BKKCICI/index.html
FB: https://www.facebook.com/conradbangkokhotel