Bekku Tonkatsu @ Jasmine City, Bangkok - เบคคุ ทงคัทสึ @ จัสมินซิตี้ กรุงเทพฯ

Cuisine: Japanese (Tonkatsu)

Map: Bekku Tonkatsu @ Jasmine City, Bangkok - เบคคุ ทงคัทสึ @ จัสมินซิตี้ กรุงเทพฯ

Charged Price: THB300 per person without alcohol

Visited: 12 February 2016

Food: 6/10

Atmosphere: 5/10

Value for money: 4/10

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

Rumour was around (good or bad, it is not the matter) a few years back when Bekku, which was situated at Thonglor, was shutted down. Now it has returned at the new location on the basement floor of Jasmine City on Sukhumvit Road. This new store at Jasmine City is much bigger than the old place. Things are kept in minimal concept. What's good about this new location is convenience and Japanese are around.

p.s. Notice the Son Goku at the front of the store and you won't miss the place.

Bekku Tonkatsu @ Jasmine City

store front with Son Goku

ordinary simple decor

Nothing much about the concept of this place really except another specialty in deep-fried pork cutlet. The procedure for katsu dishes here starts with choosing your choice of meat and then followed by side dishes set, which is refillable, as desired. You may also opt for rice only at the price of THB50 per person. In my humble opinion, THB50 for rice is obviously expensive.

As with other tonkatsu joints, you may start with milling your sesame before adding in tonkatsu sauce. Now you are ready to go. For us, we had a chance to try Pork Tenderloin with Daikon Sauce (6/10). I have to say my expectation was higher than this (at least it was). Pork was tender. However, I felt then it could be crispier with more juiciness and flavour. The daikon sauce is like ponzu sauce with lots of grated daikon. The other dish we tried is Katsu Don (6/10). Not bad but not great. The overall flavour was ok. Nevertheless, seasoning such as onion, egg, and etc. could be much more to enhance flavour. Otherwise, it is an enjoyable one.

If you were to ask me about this place. I gotta say it is ok but don't just waste your time travelling all the way here just to taste it like me. In case you are around the place, it might not harm you just to experience it.

milling sesame

pouring in the sauce

Pork Tenderloin with Daikon Sauce (THB290)

zooming in a bit more

Katsu Don (THB220)

Bekku Tonkatsu @ Jasmine City, Bangkok - เบคคุ ทงคัทสึ @ จัสมินซิตี้ กรุงเทพฯ

Floor B1, Jasmine City
2 Soi Sukhumvit 23
Sukhumvit Road
Khlong Toey Nuea, Wattana
Bangkok 10110
Thailand

Open Hours: Mon-Sat from 11:00am - 02:00pm for lunch and from 05:00pm - 10:00pm for dinner

Tel: +66 (0) 2661 6003
FB: https://www.facebook.com/Bekku-Tonkatsu-436587219880450/

Basil @ Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit, Bangkok

Cuisine: Thai

Map: Basil @ Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit, Bangkok

Price: THB750 per person without alcohol (what we paid for)

Visited: 6 December 2013

Food: 8/10

Atmosphere: 7/10

Value for money: 9/10

Services: 8/10

People always say that Thai restaurant at hotels is always one of the worst, else only made for foreigners. Well, it is a different story at Basil @ Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit. Not only the food is wonderful, services are also at high standard just as its neighbour Rossini's. All staffs are so helpful and friendly. Expectation on good recommendation to your taste can be met. As for atmosphere, the place itself has been established to present a rather modern style of Thai decor. The dimmed light gives a more warming touch (can be a choice for dating too). Anyway, the overall impression is a warm touch. As for myself, I am sure a regular at Basil so I would recommend any of you to give it a go. Unless you are those who thrive for strong and spicy taste, then you may forget about this place. It is more elegant and herbal style.

basil, it is

entrance of Basil

atmosphere and interior

Upon arrival we were served with amuse bouche which was Miang Kham - เมี่ยงคำ (8/10). In case you are not sure what Miang Kham is, Miang Kham is a northern Thai traditional snack with often shallots, ginger, garlic, lime, roasted coconut, roasted peanut, and palm syrup wrapped with chaphlu (piper sarmentosum). This was wonderful indeed: as good as ones from those famous shops.

Another great point here is the range of boiled rice. There are 3 choices available: jasmine rice, lemongrass scented rice, and brown rice. So I didn't hesitate to go for all options, though personally I am one who falls in love with brown rice. To start off our meal, we had moo thord takrai nga khao - หมูทอดตะไคร้งาข้าว (7/10). This is simply deep-fried marinated pork loin with white sesame and served with crispy lemongrass. I do like the tenderness and juicy flavourful loin. The alongside sauces comprise of 2 kinds which are sweet but balance. It was indeed a good start up for a meal.

amuse bouche with Miang Kham - เมี่ยงคำ

ready to be eaten Miang Kham

3 variety of rice available

moo thord takrai nga khao - หมูทอดตะไคร้งาข้าว (THB350)

Now moving on to seafood dishes (for good health ^_^). All four seafood dishes we had during the night were fabulous.

choo chee pla salmon - ฉู่ฉี่ปลาแซลมอน (7/10): This pan-fried salmon in red curry sauce was not bad at all. Not that spicy but filled with herbal touch. The red curry was mild and the fillet texture was perfectly cooked.

phad poh taek - ผัดโป๊ะแตก (8/10): Often that sauteed seafood with lemongrass and herbs are not my enticing dish. But poh taek at Basil is at an interesting pace. The dish came with seafood range, such as scallop, soft shell crab, prawn, and etc., in spicy sauce but such spiciness was from herbs, not chilli. I was sure enjoy the dish.

mok pla salmon - หมกปลาแซลมอน (6/10): I, at first, believed it was some kind of Hor Mok (steamed curry custard) but I sure was wrong. It was instead steamed salmon with chilli paste and without curry. Well, it may not be one of the best dish but enjoyable.

pla kapong sauce sam rod - ปลากระพงซอส 3 รส (9/10): This is one of my most favourite dish at Basil. The seabass in sweet and sour with chilli sauce was so balance. The sweetness, the saltiness, and the hot and spicy weighted out each other. Nothing over powering. The fillet was fried till crisp but inside texture was preserved with moist and tenderness. This is one that cannot be missed.

mok pla salmon - หมกปลาแซลมอน (THB480)

phad poh taek - ผัดโป๊ะแตก (THB620)

choo chee pla salmon - ฉู่ฉี่ปลาแซลมอน (THB540)

pla kapong sauce sam rod - ปลากระพงซอส 3 รส (THB670)

For curry/soup dishes, I went for mussaman gae - มัสมั่นแกะ (9/10) and tom kha gai - ต้มข่าไก่ (7/10). For mussaman gae, it is lamb curry with peanut base and the unique beauty of caraway. It is one of my favourite Thai dish of all time. It went amazingly well with boiled rice. To have this dish, it is perfect with rice so you must must must have rice along with it. The flavour was packed with herbs and rich. The texture was thick but smooth. Just the aroma was already irresistible. Highly recommend dish. Tom kha gai, on the other hand, is a famous Thai soup with coconut galangal as the main players. The plus point is the way it was cooked such that the fat was not broken out of coconut milk. Personally, a bit more of galangal and lime would make this a simple perfect dish.

mussaman gae - มัสมั่นแกะ (THB460)

lamb and potato from the curry

tom kha gai - ต้มข่าไก่ (THB540)

zoom up to chicken

Basil @ Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit, Bangkok

Floor 1 Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit
250 Sukhumvit Road
Khlong Toei Nuea
Bangkok 10110
Thailand

Open Hours: lunch from 12:00pm - 02:30pm Mon-Fri and dinner from 06:00pm - 10:30pm daily

Tel: +66 (0) 2649 8888
Web: http://www.sheratongrandesukhumvit.com/ and http://www.basilbangkok.com/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/sheratongrandesukhumvit

Library Cafe @ Soi Sukhumvit 24, Bangkok

Cuisine: Cafe

Map: Library Cafe @ Soi Sukhumvit 24, Bangkok - ไลบรารี่ คาเฟ่ @ ซอยสุขุมวิท 24 กรุงเทพ

Price: THB300 per person (what I paid for)

Visited: 30 June 2011

Food/Drink: 3/10

Atmosphere: 6/10

Value for money: 3/10

Services: 3/10 (almost like self-service)

Having lived in Bangkok for more than half of my life, I have been noticing that there are so many new cafe being opened during the last few years. I could perhaps sincerely say that none of those cafe is really outstanding. They all seems to serve decent drinks and beverages but lack of quality and touching food and bakery to go with. For this time, allow me to talk about a Japanese style cafe called "Library Cafe" which is situated in Soi Sukhumvit 24 (there is also another branch at Rama IX Road).

Walking into the cafe, you would probably feel that this place rather nice and cozy. It is surely a good place to hang out with friends or perhaps spend a slow afternoon with a cup of latte or tea during weekend if you do live around there. Glancing over the menu board, we found that it was rather difficult to eat as things were written in Japanese style: large variety of drink choices. To go with the concept Library Cafe, there is a bookshelf in the middle of this cafe with collection of books of the owner for visitors to read. Just one more point, this place may look attractive in giving it a visit but bear in mind that there is very limited parking space. Otherwise, BTS Phrom Phong is about 5 minutes walk away.

Library Cafe @ Soi Sukhumvit 24

Chill and Friendly Atmosphere

Library, it must be!!!

No Shoes Please for 2nd Floor

This place is also famous for its "Library Waffle" but to us, it tasted just like Khanom Khrok Singapore (ขนมครกสิงคโปร์), nothing more special. It was rather crisp. Personally, we would prefer to have the typical Khanom Khrok Singapore, pricing is too high (3/10).

We did also try 2 choices of drink Merry Apple Tea and Iced Macha Latte. Well, they were nice but too sweet to my taste. Again, nothing spectacular, just a drink that is enjoyable (4/10).

Library Waffle - ไลบรารี่ วาฟเฟิล

Merry Apple Tea - ชาเมอรี่แอปเปิ้ล

Iced Macha latte - ชาเขียวลาเต้เย็น

Since we were here during evening, we decided to just try out some dishes. Let us not going into details but just over all picture. Pricing is again rather high for food at a cafe like this and the portion was tiny. We felt that some dishes were those kind of frozen food that had been prepared using microwave oven (but we could be wrong though). Nevertheless, some dish such as Spicy Potato Fries was rather delightful as a side dish to accompany. Surely, this is a cafe, not a restaurant and we would not expect much about food. Overall, this is still a nice place to have a chit-chat with friends. Try it out if you have a chance to pass by this famous cafe.

Carbonara - คาโบนาร่า

Spicy Potato Fries - สไปซี่โปเตโต้ฟราย

Baked Spinach - ผักโขมอบชึส

Pork Lasagna - ลาซานญ่าหมู

Grilled Veal Sausage - ไส้กรอกลูกวัวย่าง

Just Bread and Butter - ขนมปังกับเนย ^^

Rice with Beef Green Curry - ข้าวเขียวหวานเนื้อน่องลายพริกขึ้หนู

Gyoza Soup - เกี๊ยวซ่าน้ำ

Library Cafe @ Soi Sukhumvit 24, Bangkok

2 Soi Methi Niwet, Sukhumvit 24

Sukhumvit Road

Khlong Ton, Khlong Toei

Bangkok 10110

Thailand

ไลบรารี่ คาเฟ่ @ ซอยสุขุมวิท 24 กรุงเทพ

2 ซอยเมธีนิเวศม์

ซอยสุขุมวิท 24, ถนนสุขุมวิท

แขวงคลองตัน เขตคลองเตย

กรุงเทพ 10110

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

Tel: +66 (0) 2259 2878

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