Deadly Bunny & Chubby Penguin: sweet

Showing posts with label sweet. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Cream Studio @ The Mercury Ville, Bangkok - ครีมสตูดิโอ @ เดอะ เมอร์คิวรี่ วิลล์ กรุงเทพ

Cuisine: Ice-cream

Map: Cream Studio @ The Mercury Ville, Bangkok - ครีมสตูดิโอ @ เดอะ เมอร์คิวรี่ วิลล์ กรุงเทพ

Price: see menu below

Visited: 19 June 2014

Food: 7/10

Atmosphere: 6/10

Value for money: 7/10

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

The Mercury Ville is the new concept of Mercury Tower that was refurbished after years of failure. The lower floors of Mercury Tower was lauched in 2014 as dining destination and named Mercury Ville. Cream Studio is an ice-cream boot that is located on the 3rd floor of this Mercury Ville. It is a rookie of ice-cream industry in Thailand. The place is tiny with only ice-cream counter and a few of tiny tables.

Cream Studio presents daily just less than 10 flavours of ice-cream. I believe that this gets changed from time to time. At my first visit, I was rather impressed with this place. Their ice-creams were smooth, thick and flavoursome. I had Sapporo Brownie (6/10) and Honey Purple Sweet Potato (7/10). The Sapporo Brownie tasted like ordinary chocolate but Honey Purple Sweet Potato was an interesting one. The sweet flavour of honey did not overwhelm the overall picture, that was what I like. My only concern was the texture of ice-cream. Though it was smooth and creamy, I still found some icy bits. My guess, this could be because of wrong temperature during process or storing. Well, let see during future visit how they would manage this.

Pricing wise, it is in the same range as Swensen's but the scoop size is a bit smaller. You may see in a picture below for range of other menu and beverage. To me, this is a good destination for ice-cream for those in Chidlom area like me. I won't be surprise if I find myself visiting this Cream Studio often.

Sapporo Brownie + Honey Purple Sweet Potato

Cream Studio @ The Mercury Ville, Bangkok

tiny spaces for eating in

the creamy menu

less than 10 flavours but changed occasionally

the contact

Cream Studio @ The Mercury Ville, Bangkok - ครีมสตูดิโอ @ เดอะ เมอร์คิวรี่ วิลล์ กรุงเทพ
Floor 3, Mercury Ville
540 Phloen Chit Road
Lumpini, Pathum Wan
Bangkok 10330

Thailand

Open Hours: 11:00am - 10:00pm daily

Tel: +66 (0) 2658 5556
FB: https://www.facebook.com/creamstudiofanpage

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Afternoon breaks at Hua Hin / Pran Buri : Eighteen Below Ice-cream @ Hua Hin and La a Natu @ Pran Buri

Towards the end of February / beginning of March, we had a chance to take a short break to relax at Pran Buri. Having heard rumour about the famous Hay Lobby and Eatery @ La a Natu Bed and Bakery and Eighteen Below Ice-cream @ Naeb Kehardt Road, Hua Hin, we did not hesitate to find sometimes to visit them. In brief, we are not so impressed with both places, especially Hay Lobby and Eatery in term of taste but they are ok when not crowded and happen to be nearby.

Cuisine: cafe food / afternoon tea

Map: Hay Lobby and Eatery @ La a Natu Bed and Bakery, Pran Buri, Thailand - เฮย์ ล๊อบบี้แอนด์อีทเทอรี่ @ ลา เอ นาตู เบดแอนด์เบเกอรี่ ปราณบุรี

Price: THB210 per person without alcohol (what we paid for)

Visited: 1 March 2014

Food: 2/10

Atmosphere: 8/10

Value for money: 5/10

Services: 3/10
Scale: [ 1=poor ----- 5=average/standard ----- 10=outstanding/exceptional ]

La a Natu is set right on the quiet beach of Pran Buri. The place has been resembled to give the natural relaxing ambient by using haystack for most of its accommodation. Hay Lobby and Eatery of La a Natu is well-known for afternoon tea and even the place itself is proud of its reputation. The Hay Lobby is not really a big which can probably accommodate around 30 guests max. The very best part is the cool and relaxing atmosphere. The dining room provides a good sea view but bear in mind of hot weather and strong sunlight in the afternoon.

La a Natu @ Pran Buri

village style surrounding

Hay Lobby and Eatery

relax ambient for afternoon tea certainly

The pricing of menu is not so cheap nor so expensive, modest in fact for a hotel. However, we are not really so delight with the taste of it. The first impression goes for the tea. La a Natu is supposed to be famous for afternoon tea. But we were served with Twinings. Good god, I could not believe and it was tea bag instead of loose leaf. In addition, the staff tried to pour us a cup immediately after the tea had arrived out of the kitchen. For heaven sake, the tea was nowhere near being properly immersed and infused.

The next disappointment was the pastry set in the afternoon tea set (2/10). If I remember correctly, there were 7 kinds of dish that were served: cheese sandwich (I really mean the simply cheese only), scones with whipped cream and jam, panna cotta, cheesecake, brownie, carrot cake, and chocolate cake. The scones were the first one to make me laugh. It was sure not a scone with that spongy texture and served with whipped cream and somewhat sour strawberry jam which was supposed to be the classic homemade. The panna cotta was the worst. It melted after a while leaving us with creamy liquid with strawberry sauce (that tasted like the strawberry jam). Not so whether the weather was too hot or there was too little gelatin in the panna cotta. The rest of pastry were just ok to eat.

On the service side, it was nowhere near hotel standard. Notwithstanding the aforementioned tea pouring service, we encountered a long wait for bill checking. We waited for quite sometime for changes to be returned and when asking, the answer simply was they had run out of change and needed to go somewhere for exchange. I presumed that I should have been warned or else something could have been adjusted. Well, I guess I had enough experience of this place. They are not so professional in the service. We sure will never return to this.

pastry and tea menu

happen to be just Twinings

afternoon tea set (THB350)

again, really great ambient

Hay Lobby and Eatery @ La a Natu Bed and Bakery, Pran Buri, Thailand - เฮย์ ล๊อบบี้แอนด์อีทเทอรี่ @ ลา เอ นาตู เบดแอนด์เบเกอรี่ ปราณบุรี

234 Moo 2
Samroiyod, Pranburi
Prachuap Khiri Kha
77120
Thailand

Open Hours: all day but 02:00pm to 05:00pm for afternoon tea daily

Tel: +66 (0) 32 689 941-3, +66 (0) 81 731 8688
Web: http://www.laanatu.com/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/laanatubb

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Macaron by Dhara Dhevi Patisserie @ Central Chidlom Food Hall, Bangkok

Cuisine: French Pastry

Map: Macaron by Dhara Dhevi Patisserie @ Central Chidlom Food Hall, Bangkok

Price: THB30-55 per piece

Visited: 9 December 2013

Macaron: 7/10

This week we would not be reviewing a restaurant but a cake shop instead. If you are familiar with Chiang Mai and have sweet tooth, you would probably have heard about macaron at Dhara Dhevi Chiang Mai. Now you do not have to go all the way to Chiang Mai to taste the popular French snack, there is now a shop located within the food hall of Central Chidlom (next to boulangerie of food hall).

It was my first time with macaron of Dhara Dhevi so I selected only 6 flavours to taste: vanilla, jasmine, Thai tea, yuzu, cinnamon, and white truffle. The texture was rather good: soft and not cracking hard. The filling cream was as well smooth and not too sweet. I would prefer it, however, to have stronger scent and aroma. At the price range of THB30-55, it is not cheap and at the similar range as well as quality to that of Mandarin Oriental shop but at least enjoyable. It may not be comparable to the world famous macaron such as Laduree or Pierre Herme, at least it is one of the top you can find in Thailand. By the way, the white truffle flavour was somewhat weird for me. I was eating sweet/dessert and the truffle scent was beyond expectation really. Well, other people may like this flavour though.