Thiptara Thai Restaurant in Bangkok, Thailand

Many restaurants promise authentic experiences of one sort or another so it’s always nice when some place delivers on their promise. The Thiptara Thai restaurant in the Peninsula Hotel is one that does just that.

It’s not just the food here that is authentic but also the décor and the location right on the Chao Phraya River flowing through the middle of Bangkok. For any real Thai, dining next to water is always preferred over any other location and Thiptara’s tables command an up-close look at the muddy river that hosts so much traffic. It’s especially interesting at dusk as the lights slowly come on in the many commuter boats gliding up and down.

And the restaurant itself, although it’s outdoors with a few covered spaces, is decorated in rustic Thai style with weathered wood and traditional architecture. It’s a nice effect right down to the wooden gate at the entrance to the restaurant and the artifacts on the walls.

The food isn’t rustic, however, but is meticulously prepared and presented. The recipes are supposed to be basic Thai home-style cuisine and that may be so but the taste is definitely five-star all the way. From the perfectly cooked crispy soft-shelled crab to the spicy eggplant salad the flavors are all spot on.

Or try the deep-fried snowfish with a spicy sweet and sour sauce as well as the river prawns in a creamy curry-like sauce. Equally good is the white prawn appetizer with crispy morning glory which balances the textures of the two ingredients nicely. You’ll also find a number of curries, plenty of meat and poultry dishes – with the tenderloin beef imported from Australia – and even vegetarian selections.

Considering the overall result at Thiptara, it’s obvious that the restaurant’s creators have skillfully combined the ingredients needed to create an authentic Thai dining experience right on the banks of the Chao Phraya in Bangkok.

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See Q Bar in Bangkok, Thailand

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Since its inception almost nine years ago Q Bar has been populated by some of the hippest people in Bangkok. Personalities such as Mick Jagger, Matt Dillon, Oliver Stone, Eric Cantona, Michelle Yeoh, Steven Segal, Collin Farrell, Jackie Chan, Rick Yune, Michael Rapaport, Jay Sean, the Black Eyed Peas, the G-Unit, and the Backstreet Boys, have lounged about while soaking up the resident DJ's mix of chill-out and club tunes. Billed as the first New York style cocktail bar in the Thai capital, Q Bar attracts an edgy, cosmopolitan crowd.

Beautiful people and a variety of music along with what has always been Bangkok's best-stocked bar are what keeps people coming back so if that's your scene this is probably still the best place to go in Bangkok. it's not a large palce and is set on the site of an old Thai house that was converted into this two-story club. It looks a bit like what you might picture a S&M bar to look like from the outside -- dark and forbidding -- and the inside is slick and hi-tech looking. Regular DJs and occassionally special guest DJs spin tunes a variety of tunes depending on the night. The special attractions each night are as follows; Friday Night Fix w/Kimball Collins playing Freestyle House; Saturday Bangers & Mashups w/DJ Octo playing Remixes & Mashups of Hip-Hop, House, Rock and everything in between; Beat Therapy Sundays w/DJ's Tul and Tech-12 playing R&B & Hip-hop; Mondays - Fredrick Funk; Tuesdays - Fourplay w/Joeki playing Afro, Latin, and Percussive House; Block Party Wednesdays w/Sum-1 and Octo playing Hip-Hop Old 2 the New; Thursdays - Electro.

When we mentioned well-stocked bar we meant it, too. Check out the following list to get an idea of what you can find here: Q Bar has the most extensive stock of spirits and cocktails in Bangkok. Some highlights include: A Full page of Long Island Iced Teas including variations such as the "Paris Iced Tea" (substituting Chambord for Cola) and the Q Bar original "Bangkok Iced Tea" (substituting Red Bull for Cola).

Q Bar Features over 60 different Vodkas from around the world in their famous Vodka freezer where they are chilled to -19C;  Beside the rather pedestrian tequilas found everywhere in Bangkok, Q Bar offers its tequila connoisseurs a rare treat of over 20 fine Tequilas; Rum - Bacardi Limon. Bacard "O", Havana Club 7 Year Old, Bundaberg, Myers's Dark, Captain Morgan Spice Rum, and others. Recommended cocktail: MOJITO. Scotch Whiskey - Besides a fine array of deluxe and premium blended scotch whiskeys, Q Bar has an excellent selection of Single Malt Scotch Whiskeys; Bourbons - Jack and Jim, but where else are you going to find Blantons, Booker's, Basil Hayden's, Four Roses, Wild Turkey 12 yr. Old, Knob Creek and more; Liqueurs - You'll find a full range of Liqueurs including, Godiva, Goldschalger, Limoncello, Ramazzotti, Jagermeister, sherry and port, grappas, Chambord, Frangelico and many, many more.The bar also features one of the largest selections of liquors in any freestanding bar in all of South East Asia and pours a full New York standard 1.5 oz (45ml) in each standard drink (50% larger than the Bangkok standard). Q Bar also features special liquors not found elsewhere such as Absinthe.

And if you get hungry you can go early and eat on the Balcony (where you can also smoke) and enjoy local, western and fusion dishes. 

 

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Senor Pico's in the Rembrandt Hotel -- Bangkok, Thailand

Mexican restaurants in Bangkok are not as plentiful as some cuisine categories but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t some quality Mexican food here. One of the oldest Mexican restaurants in Bangkok is Senor Pico’s which is located in the Rembrandt Hotel on Sukhumvit Soi 18 and it offers diners a wide variety of casual Mexican food, Some Tex-Mex specialties and more formal Mexican dishes.

It is styled on the original Senor Pico's restaurant opened in San Francisco at Ghirardelli Square in 1965. This restaurant was created by Victor Jules Bergeron (Trader Vic) the world renowned restaurateur who created the Trader Vic’s chain, while Senor Pico's Bangkok opened its doors in October 1993 with the same commitment as its founder – to provide the best food, drinks and service in the Mexican tradition.

The drinks list naturally contains frozen Margueritas as well as imported Mexican beers, and you are served red and green salsas with nachos to munch on while you make your choices from the extensive menu. Amongst the Appetizers (Aperitivos) highlights include Quesadilla Zacatecas, a grilled Mexican cheese pizza topped with guacamole and sour cream and an inventive dish, Chile Con Queso, a spicy cheese and chili Mexican style fondue served with tostadas to dip in the warm cheese sauce. According to anonymous sources the secret recipe to this Mexican fondue is garlic, butter, cheese, wine and jalapeno peppers, making a very tasty combination.

As mentioned above Senor Pico’s has a wide variety of dishes and they fall into two basic categories: there are the more casual , and familiar, Mexican and Tex-Mex dishes like burritos, enchiladas, tacos and fajitas and there are the more formal main dishes like beef, chicken, pork and seafood main courses.  
From this section you can choose between dishes like imported sirloin steak, roast pork, sauteed prawns in their shells or two dishes that I tried which were the red snapper with a rich tomato-based sauce and the halibut with rice and a pineapple chutney. I also ordered the nachos, a classic Tex-Mex dish, along with the tasty tortilla soup, another classic dish, and the prawns with chipotle mayonnaise dip.

 If you still have room for more there is an extensive dessert menu with items such as the mouthwatering Kahlua and chocolate pie or rum ice cream with meringue chunks, sprinkled with nuts and covered in chocolate sauce. The best way of topping all this off and ensuring that you still have the will to move after your meal is Senor Pico's distinctive coffee mixed with chocolate and brandy and topped with whipped cream. This is served with a cinnamon stick to stir giving it just a little spice and helps it to act as the perfect digestive. On the menu you also find an extensive list of salads and vegetarian food for the health conscious and some great tasting nonalcoholic drinks.
You can take time out between courses to enjoy the unusual but excellent live music performed by a Cuban band "Fascination."  Their style is similar to the famous Mexican mariachi bands but they also combine salsa (the dance) with their guitar and drum sound encouraging people to get up and dance the night away as well. Wednesday nights are “Muchachas Nights” with 50% off all Margarita cocktails for ladies from 9 PM onwards.

Senor Pico’s will satisfy any cravings you may have for Mexican food while you’re here as well a whole lot more so give it a try when you’re in Bangkok.

See http://bangkokdining.ning.com/profile/blog/list for info on Bangkok restaurants.

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Giorgio's Italian Restaurant in Bangkok, Thailand

Although the concept of "innovative" cuisine may be an overused one in some applications, the style of Italian cooking that has emerged from the nouvelle-Ital­Cal kitchens of California and elsewhere has influenced a whole generation of chefs and spread the word about the possibilities of cooking Italian-style dishes with the best fresh, local ingredients available to the chef. This is the concept that is currently in practice at Giorgio's, the Italian restaurant at the Royal Orchid Sheraton Hotel in Bangkok.

This style of cooking has evolved gradually from the nouvelle beginnings of the late 70s to become the dominant cuisine in some areas, most notably Southern California. Although it was French cuisine that first took on nouvelle characteristics, hence the word "nouvelle" to describe it, Italian food slowly but surely stole the spotlight from the French. It's hard to say why, surely, but the result has been an explosion of restaurants serving what they describe as either 'trendy" or" sophisticated" Italian food. And it's no flash in the pan fad either, no pun intended.

In fact, many of the chefs we've interviewed here in Bangkok name Italian as their favorite cuisine to cook, so the phenomenon of innovative Italian cooking will probably be with us for quite some time. It's a good thing, too, because when it's done right, it's a fabulous way to prepare food and one that guarantees a never­-ending variety of tasty dishes.

At Giorgio's, the menu ranges from the tried and true traditional dishes with a few little twists to completely new offerings that depend totally on the creativity of the chef.

Seafood and fowl, beef and pork are all covered here as well as separate sections for pizza and pasta specialties. The wine list is all Italian, fittingly, and we chose a 1993 Pighri cabernet to accompany our dinner, which proved to be a very nice selection, full-bodied and fruity.

Anytime carpaccio is on the menu we feel compelled to order it as our starter to see if the chef has respected this traditional dish or mutilated it in some way in a quest for an individual statement on the nature of carpaccio in general. Fortunately, the former was the case her, and our plate contained nothing but lean beef and veal, parmesan, olive oil and a little basil. It was close to perfection.

Although we liked the looks of many of the meat dishes on the menu such as a gratinated grilled New Zealand beef, pan-fried veal medallions with asparagus and a roasted pork fillet, we opted for a seafood evening, ordering gratinated scallops, risotto with lobster and asparagus and grilled seafood. By doing so we also missed out on trying such pasta dishes as pappardelle with salmon and crabmeat sauce, pumpkin gnocchi and penne with spicy tomato sauce and clams but they would have to wait for another time.

The grilled seafood with broiled spinach was delicious, tender and moist seafood without any overpowering flavors to mask the taste. The gratinated scallops were also quite well done, not overcooked as many places serve them, preserving the succulent taste and texture. The risotto was a little less successful, owing to a little dryness, but the flavors of the asparagus and lobster were strong and well defined, not getting lost in the rice.

It was a nice experience and, surprisingly, our cabernet complemented all of the seafood well. The strolling minstrel adds a bit of atmosphere to the comfortable room which features tiled floors and beamed ceilings with comfortable leather chairs and banquettes.

Giorgio's is one of those Italian restaurants that could lay claim to the descriptive word "innovative," being not on the cutting edge but certainly not at the center of traditional Italian cooking and also able to offer a few surprises anytime you visit.

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Vivaldi Italian Restaurant in Bangkok, Thailand

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The Amari Atrium Hotel's Vivaldi Italian restaurant in Bangkok has been open for about 12 years and in that time it has assumed classical proportions. Not the food itself necessarily, which is more on the trattoria side but the whole concept of dining Italian-style: beautifully prepared food, a relaxing decor, great wines and a special ambience. 
That Vivaldi has managed to successfully combine all of these elements says something about the preparations that must have been made prior to the opening of the restaurant and the continuing attention to details over the years.
 
The mixture of classic and modern architectural features gives the room the relaxing feeling mentioned above. Stone pillars and modern sculptures coexist harmoniously with the soft lighting and rattan chairs in muted tones. The charcoal stone oven creates a striking showpiece as well as providing delicious pizzas.
 
On a quiet holiday afternoon the room was peaceful and serene, offering plenty of time to reflect on the restaurant's skillfully prepared food. The large menu contains sections from soup and pasta, appetizers and salads and seafood and meat. Desserts and Italian coffee are also included. The house red wine is dry and light and very drinkable with a wide variety of foods as we were to prove.
 
Before any of the ordered items were brought, a small portion of polenta with a mushroom preparation was brought as a complimentary pre­appetizer and gave an indication as to what to expect from the rest of the meal. Polenta, a simple cornmeal bread, was the cornerstone of a meteoric rise of Italian trattoria-style restaurants in the USA several years ago and its inclusion on any menu signifies a nod to the trendy way of cooking Italian food that became so popular in that country.

It was certainly the case here as the carpaccio appetizer indicated. Beautifully presented, the dish eschewed many of the nouveau pretensions that many chefs needlessly add to prove their powers of innovation. Some dishes should be left alone and this one was except for the small heap of sauteed mushrooms in the center of the plate. The raw tenderloin, virgin olive oil and shaved parmesan cheese shone on their own the way they are supposed to and provided a delicious and welcome start to the meal.
 
The cream of seasonal greens soup that was brought next contained tasty, little bits of seafood and had a pizza dough crust baked over it with little bits of sun-dried tomato in it. It was light and smooth and quite refreshing in its simplicity.
 
Equally refreshing was the wonderful warm seafood salad (Insalata Vivaldi) which followed and included spinach, pancetta, artichoke hearts and tiger prawns and may well have been the best dish of the day. Everything came together perfectly in this salad and the presentation was simply beautiful. If this is a signature dish of the restaurant, then it is definitely on the right track.
 
The veal medallion entree was almost a letdown after the brilliant salad that preceded it. Topped with asparagus and more shaved parmesan, the medallions were tender and juicy and themselves sat on a bed of risotto­type rice in a light white parmesan sauce. Again, the presentation was very striking and appetite inducing.
Also sampled was a bit of the grilled steak which was a sirloin covers with sauteed forest mushrooms and capers and herbs and was outstanding as well.
 

After a feast such as that dessert was unfortunately out of the question but the home-made gelati, marscapone cheese mousse and apple tart, among others were very inviting.

In retrospect, it was probably the finest Italian meal we've encountered in six months of relentlessly haunting the dining rooms of the best hotels and restaurants in Thailand. Should Vivaldi continue on its present course, Bangkok will have a top quality Italian dining room that combines all of the elements needed for a great meal in the tradition of classic and not-so-classic Italian cuisine. Here, the trendy and the traditional mix to give the diner a superb dining experience and, ultimately, that's what it’s all about, isn't it?

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Felice Trattoria Italian Restaurant in Bangkok, Thailand

The many forms that Italian cooking can take are one reason that makes it one of the most popular cuisines worldwide. There's always variety in an Italian restaurant and that variety can take many forms. It can be a variety of different regional cuisines from the many provinces of Italy, which all possess their own specialties and methods of preparation. It can be the different ingredients that are used. And it can also come from the differences in older, classical Italian cooking and more modern, updated versions of the same food.

Such is the case with Felice Trattoria at the Felix-Arnoma Hotel in Bangkok. The trattoria name would usually indicate that the food served inside was of a basic, everyday type that most people would eat on a regular basis, sort of an upgraded Italian diner.

The food and furnishings found at Felice Trattoria are a bit different from fhe typical trattoria, however. Chef Giovanni Chessoni, originally from Sicily, has assembled a menu that bears only some resemblance to most trattoria food. The positive aspect to this is that the food happens to be good. Some things better than others ascend to the rating of excellent, but overall the quality is very high.

On two different visits, a number of items were sampled and all were marked by an inventiveness and presentation that was very modern and even innovative. It was, curiously enough, the appetizers that held our attention the most, and future visits would include sampling as many more of them as possible. The first visit included trying the asparagi arlecchino which consisted of gratinated asparagus spears topped with a light cream sauce and smoked salmon. It looked delicious on the menu and was in actual fact. the cheese didn't overpower the asparagus, a common mistake, and the sauce didn't overpower either.

Another must-try on the appetizer list was the fried calamari. The calamari itself was tender and not rubbery, the sign of freshness, but the coating was not as crisp as preferred. However, the chili mayonnaise made up for any other short-comings by being absolutely perfect -- just spicy enough and very tasty.

The third appetizer tried was the tonnino al rafano, marinated tuna fish with horseradish sauce and that also proved to be a winner, with the horseradish adding a powerful accompaniment to the marinade. Other selections that went untried included sauteed fresh clams in olive oil and prawns in paprika and asparagus vinaigrette.

The leek and potato soup that came next was a refreshing interlude before tackling the main courses, the favorite of which was the deep fried soft shelled crabs. They were tender and sweet and cooked to perfection in a crayfish butter sauce.

The other entrees included an assortment of grilled seafood served with alight balsamic sauce and sauteed tiger prawns in a creamy sambuca sauce with garlic and assorted herbs. Bith were good, solid dishes that were very nicely presented.

Dessert was impossible to include either visit so no comment can be made but considering the quality of the rest of the menu, it is probably worth exploring.

Presenting an interesting look at modern Italian cuisine is another form that successful Italian cooking can take and it works at Felice Trattoria.

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Ambassador's AM Cafe Has A Lot Of Choices In Bangkok, Thailand

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Pretty much every hotel has one: an all-day restaurant that serves breakfast, lunch and dinner and usually offers buffets and ala carte items. At the Ambassador Hotel on Sukhumvit Soi 11 in Bangkok, the restaurant is the AM Café and it does indeed serve buffets and ala carte items and also has a few surprises for its guests.

It’s not open 24 hours like some restaurants in this category but almost; it opens at 5 am and closes at 1 am. So you can get a very early breakfast or a late-night supper after a night out. I’ve eaten quite a number of times at AM Café’s lunch buffet and I must say that I’ve never sampled the ala carte dishes although I suspect that some of them must be featured on the buffet at times. And although the price here is rather modest, 399 baht++ at lunch and 495++ at dinner, the selection is good with some live cooking stations.

 This is a trend that has been going on for some time now as hotels try to make their buffets more appealing to guests. Gone are the days, in most places anyway, where the only hot selections are in chafing dishes slowly drying out unless there is a very large volume of diners in the restaurant. Now you’ll find chefs in open kitchens and at cooking stations s preparing everything from pastas to grilled meats to stir-fried items and other things. The AM Café offers a pasta cooking station and a sushi/sashimi chef preparing fresh Japanese delicacies along with all of the other varieties of food on offer here.

There are plenty of fresh salad ingredients and a good selection of prepared salads, both western and Thai. I always head to the Japanese section and get some sushi rolls and wasabi to start things off along with the soup of the day. Then it’s salad time and after that the main dishes. You’ll find a dozen or so main dishes each day for lunch and they change all the time. Standard western-type dishes based on beef, pork and chicken dominate but there are also some Thai dishes and the occasional Indian curry pops up. And if you’re in the mood for something different, like a sandwich or burger, for example, then you can always skip the buffet and order from the ala carte menu.

Or if you’re just not a big eater then the ala carte menu makes sense. You can get a good-sized hamburger here for only 190 baht++ so it’s easy on your wallet as well as your waistline if you don’t want to hit the buffet line. There are many other reasonably priced western items on the menu as well a large selection of even lower priced Thai dishes that are quite good. So when you come to the AM Café make sure you check both options — buffet or ala carte – before you make your choice. One or the other is bound to satisfy you.

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