Top 5 Vegetarian Restaurants In Bangkok

Posted on June 3, 2014 by koomatzu

With such overuse of fishy-based key Thai ingredients, finding pure vegetarian food in Bangkok can be a difficult task. If you search hard enough though, you can find some real vegetarian restaurant gems around the city…

Unfortunately, most of the best vegetarian and vegan restaurants in Bangkok tend to be clustered around the Old City near Khaosan Road. Perhaps good news for tourists in the area, but not so much for central-living expats in Bangkok. Anyway, here are my top 5 vegetarian restaurants I’ve found so far – please drop us a comment if you can suggest any others!

Best Vegetarian Restaurants In Bangkok

1: Bonita Cafe – Cosy Vegan International Cuisine

If you’re staying in the Sathorn or Silom area of Bangkok, be sure to check out the homey little vegan restaurant, Bonita, within just a couple of minutes walking distance to the BTS Surasak station. Bonita has an international menu of vegan burgers, pizzas, pastas and all-day breakfasts ranging from around 150 baht to 300 baht. The atmosphere is lovely and cozy inside, plus the owners obviously put a lot of care into the quality of their dishes.

2 May Kaidee – Traditional Thai Casual

With standard key ingredients such as fish sauce and shrimp paste, it can be particularly hard to find proper vegetarian and vegan authentic Thai food in Bangkok. However, you can rest assured that the ingredients used at Thai restaurant May Kaidee cater purely for vegetarians and vegans. May Kaidee is a successful little chain of restaurants scattered around Bangkok with a total of 3 locations, 2 of which are in the old city of Bangkok near Khaosan Road – perfect if you are staying in the tourist area on holiday.

The Bangkok vegetarian restaurant serves up a range of juices and smoothies, as well as rice, noodle, vegetable, curry and tofu dishes for under 100 baht. The interior of the restaurants is nothing fancy, but casual and informal for a cheap and tasty bite to eat.

3 Ethos Vegetarian Restaurant – A Hippy Vibe With Delicious Smoothies

Located pretty much right next door to the neighbouring May Kaidee near Khaosan Road, Ethos offers a cosy ethnic atmosphere with an extensive vegetarian and vegan menu. With inviting floor seating and colourful lamps, the restaurant has an exotic vibe with welcoming little touches such as a mini library. Thai dishes cost between 80 and 200 baht, while international dishes vary between 150 and 250 baht.

There is a huge menu of quality dishes with a good range of Moroccan food and pastas. However, for myself, it’s smoothies are it’s biggest highlight. They’re particularly delicious with a great variety of special detox drinks and fruity mixes.

4 Chomp – Cocktails, Burgers and… Yoga?

This family friendly restaurant (again near Khaosan Road) offers more than just tasty vegetarian cuisine in Bangkok – it’s second-floor acts as a community hub for social events such as poetry readings, art exhibitions, comedy nights, yoga classes and jujitsu classes. In an authentic old teak house, the restaurant offers an industrial interior theme with red brick walls and modern furniture.

Chomp is open from the early hours till late night. Despite not being a strictly vegetarian restaurant, it offers a good range of great tasting international dishes including vegetarian burgers and pumpkin sandwiches, offering home-made breads, jams and pastas. Prices range from 200 to 400 baht per dish, and you can even enjoy a delicious cocktail from the extensive menu.

5 Rasayana Raw Café – A Raw Vegetarian Detox in Central Bangkok

With a peaceful patio garden just off Sukhumvit 39 in Phrom Pong, this raw vegetarian cafe is great for a lunchtime visit. The cafe serves up a choice of organic detox drinks such as vegetable juices, smoothies, wheatgrass juices and tonics. A typical meal costs from 170 baht per person and is quite a bargain for the quality of the food. The menu includes raw pizzas and pastas made with dehydrated vegetable bases; a range of salads such as pomelo and caesar (some of the tastiest you’ll find in Bangkok); taco cups and gazpacho soups; and a choice of lovely desserts such as lemon parks and key lime pie.

Do you have a favourite vegetarian or vegan restaurant in Bangkok? Let us know and leave us a comment!

Top 5 Cafes In Bangkok

Posted on March 15, 2014 by koomatzu

Bangkok is absolutely jampacked full of unique and refreshing cafes, there are loads to choose from. Whether you just fancy some hella tasty cake or a comfortable hangout to chat with friends, there are loads of cafes in Bangkok for just about all tastes.

My top 5 best cafes in Bangkok:

1

Mr Jones’ Teddy Bear Orphanage is perhaps one of the most charming and quirky cafes of all in Bangkok. As far as I know, there are two different branches of Mr Jones’s teddy bear orphanage in Bangkok – one in Thonglor and one in Siam Center. Both cafes are set out in a traditional English tearoom style, only they are also packed with quirky and cute details such as hanging teddy bears, miniature toy soldiers and ornate cake displays.

Price range: 80 to 250 baht

2

Agalico Tea Room is a beautiful tearoom in central Bangkok that has traditional English decor with a bright and modern twist. The interior is so impressive that they even have portrait photographers working on the upper olden period floors. Particularly for expats missing simple Englishness, Agalico Tea Room is a great cafe for tea lovers and cake lovers – they have pretty much every kind of Western tea available, complete with traditional teapot and teacups.

The main tearoom is light and airy with a refreshing white colour scheme throughout. Alternatively, you can sit outside in the large gardens and Pavilion. The cakes aren’t the best in Bangkok, however the ambience alone makes it one of Bangkok’s best cafes.

Price range: 120 baht +

3

The Double Dogs Tea Room in Chinatown has a mega selection of Chinese teas, perfect for green tea lovers. The inside of double dogs tearoom makes a stark contrast against the busy craziness of Chinatown just outside – elegant Chinese furnishings, welcoming staff and warm, ambient lighting make for a tranquil atmosphere. It’s fantastic for sampling Chinese cakes, treats and teas – they even have a special tea man serving up the all-you-can-drink tea buffet in miniature Chinese teapots.

Price range: 95 to 250 baht

4

Petite Audrey is a modern European styled cafe located right in the middle of the fashionable Siam Center shopping mall. There is often a queue waiting to be seated, always a good sign of food quality. There is a great range of both savoury and sweet food with generous sized portions of waffles and ice cream sundaes. It’s perfect the stuffing your face with cake in a sophisticated cafe environment!

Price range: 60 to 300 baht

5

Coffee Beans By Dao is an extremely popular restaurant cafe with middle-class Thai locals. The interior is nothing special or particularly interesting – maybe even a little gaudy – but the cake however, is to die for! Make sure to get the Tobelerone cake, my favourite cake in Bangkok for sure! They also have a very extensive savoury Thai & International menu as well as humongous cake selection. If you visit the branch in Chit Lom, there is a nice seating area outside on the road front, but take lots of mosquito spray!

Prices range: 120 baht +

Staying in Silom? Check out the Bug & Bee cafe next to the BTS Sala Deng station – this cafe specializes in crêpes, however has a great selection of affordable cakes and smoothies too. For cat lovers, or maybe just for shits and giggles, take a look at the quirky Purr Cat Cafe in Thonglor.

Top 5: Local Thai Eats In Bangkok

Posted on February 8, 2014 by koomatzu

Are you itching to try some real Thai food in Bangkok? Screw all the fancy Thai restaurants, when you dine out off the beaten path – local style – then you can truly experience Thai food in Bangkok.

Not only do the local Thai restaurants in Bangkok serve hearty and traditional cuisine, but they ‘re also super cheap if you’re travelling on a budget. At most of the Thai restaurants popular with the locals, you can dine from just 70 baht per person… And remember that these restaurants are popular for a reason.

Thai Style Restaurants

Local restaurants in Thailand have a very different vibe to the more mainstream restaurants which are aimed at tourists, they’re worth visiting if you want to see a real part of Thai culture that you could otherwise completely miss.

A typical experience dining in a local Thai restaurant is casual, where diners share food platters in the middle of the table, are served drinks from shabby metal trolleys, drink from 5 litre beer towers and maybe even get to hear a Thai folk music performance from a local singer. A really popular feature of some local restaurants in Thailand, also seems to be the do-it-yourself barbecues, where patrons cook their own food on the table in front of them.

For the best local Thai restaurants in Bangkok, here’s my personal top 5:

1

Banrie Coffee is by far my best Thai restaurant in Bangkok. It’s open 24 hours a day, has live music, cheap beer towers, a cute beer garden, laid-back atmosphere and simple good food. Banrie Coffee is perhaps a little more sophisticated than your average local Thai restaurant, it’s more of an evening hangout for both young Thais and expats in Bangkok. But not only is it a cool hangout, but this Thai restaurant also has an extensive menu of Thai cuisine at an affordable price, complete with a fairy-lit urban garden.

2

SD Bar BQ is an all-you-can-eat buffet style restaurant in Bangkok, totally Thai style and packed full of cheerful locals. It’s not got the cheapest of prices by local standards, but for the range of dishes on offer and the unlimited food, it’s really not bad value at 129 baht per person. In fact if you’re looking for a place to sample a complete range of Thai cuisine, SD Bar BQ Buffet might be just what you’re looking for.

The layout of SD barbecue is casual and authentically Thai – tables are set out in long lines of benches with holes in the middle to barbecue your own food. Yep, this is a typical do-it-yourself barbecue-style restaurant (and it get’s pretty damn hot too) – of course there are other pre-cooked options available too if you don’t feel like cooking your own food. (Tip: another good barbecue restaurant in Bangkok worth visiting is the rooftop restaurant Bar-BQ)

3

Yong Lee is a Chinese-Thai style restaurant which has been around for almost 50 years and definitely looks it’s age. With grease splattered walls and tattered old menus, this is about as local as it gets. The restaurant itself is nothing fancy but the food is still pretty good for an off the beaten path visit.

Food at Yong Lee can be a little more adventurous, with Chinese fried bowels and beef tongue soups, however there are also a range of traditional Thai dishes too. Yong Lee is great for a casual lunch off the beaten track in Bangkok.

4

The Good View is a more extravagant restaurant compared to many other typical, local Thai restaurants in Bangkok. In fact, this is probably the most expensive restaurants out of my top 5 local Thai restaurants in Bangkok.

Located on the riverside, the restaurant has sophisticated wooden decking, a fairy-lit terrace and an indoor bar area with live music performances and a dance floor. It’s still pretty off the beaten path though, and has an extensive Thai, Western and Japanese menu with plenty of typically Thai beer tower’s available. If you’re after a special or romantic night out in Bangkok, Thai-style, then try Good View.

5

Sabai Jai Gai Yang, like Yong Lee and SD barbecue, is another humble little eatery in Bangkok. With a battered menu, plastic tablecloths and a modest karaoke-style folk stage, the restaurant maintains a casual yet lively atmosphere. It’s specialty is grilled chicken, however it has an extensive menu of Thai dishes and is great for sampling the local cuisine.

Picture by leolaksi

Ethos Vegetarian Restaurant Bangkok

Posted on January 2, 2014 by koomatzu

Good vegetarian restaurants are hard to come by in the meat loving city of Bangkok, however Khaosan Road is one of the best areas of Bangkok to get your fix of vegetarian and vegan cuisine.

Ethos Vegetarian and Vegan Restaurant

Tucked down a hidden away Bangkok backstreet just off Khaosan Road, Ethos is a modest little vegetarian eatery with a cozy and inviting interior. You’ll need to take your shoes off at the door – something that makes me personally feel all the more comfortable and at home in Thai restaurants – and then take a seat in the small Bangkok restaurant.

Half of the tables inside Ethos Vegetarian Restaurant are standard table-and-chair, while the other half of the seating is on the floor, on comfortable cushions with low tables. The layout of low tables, ambient warm lighting, and bohemian decor give a kind of Moroccan edge to the vegetarian restaurant. The laid back atmophere makes for a relaxing break away from the hectic Khaosan Road. It even has it’s own little travel library to keep you entertained.

With it’s English menus and backpacker location, Ethos definitely seems to aim it’s vegetarian food mainly at foreign tourists and expats. However despite it’s primarily foreign clientele, many of the staff don’t speak very good English (or Thai for that matter), so be aware that service might be a little difficult if you have special dietary requirements or are particularly fussy. It’s not really a problem though – you’re already in Thailand after all so you should probably have learnt to deal with the language barrier by now anyway!

The menu at Ethos

Ethos Vegetarian Restaurant has a rather large menu with a great range of both Thai and international vegan and vegetarian dishes. As well as savoury dishes though, they also have a vast menu of different healthy smoothies, teas and health tonics. You could easily just sit down and enjoy the drinks at Ethos without having to order a main meal.

The smoothies are particularly delicious and cost around 85 baht. In all honesty, they are possibly the best smoothies I’ve had in Bangkok. The blueberry and coconut shake in particular is great – not too sweet at all. As for the food on the Ethos menu – vegetarian Thai dishes cost between 85 and 205 baht and cover pretty much everything from stir fry basil with tofu and vegetables (Pad Ka Praw), Som Tam (spicy soup), stir fries and curries. They also have a side option of brown rice for 25 baht.

However, the Thai food at Ethos isn’t quite as tasty and tempting as the food on it’s international vegetarian menu. The menu has a decent selection of international, healthy vegetarian dishes such as veggie burger, falafel with home made pitta bread, salad and houmus, chickpea ‘meatball’ spaghetti, pesto pasta with almonds, and eggplant lasagna. The international menu at Ethos typically ranges from around 150 baht to 220 baht.

How to get to Ethos Bangkok

Ethos Vegetarian Restaurant is located down an alleyway near the bottom of Khaosan Road in Bangkok. You need to walk to the end of Khaosan near Burger King and cross over to the opposite side of the main road on the Khaosan junction. Start walking left up this main road until you see a small alleyway on your right, just a couple metres ahead. Enter the lane and you’ll notice the Ethos sign on the adjacent alleyway.

Royal Dragon Restaurant Bangkok

Posted on December 20, 2013 by koomatzu

Set on huge grounds amongst mighty pagodas, glistening lily ponds and rollerskating waiters, The Royal Dragon Restaurant in Bangkok boasts a place in the 2008 Guiness World Records as the biggest restaurant in the world.

Biggest Restaurant In The World

With coach loads of lively Chinese tourists excitedly snapping away on their cameras in the front entrance, Bangkok’s Royal Dragon seems to be more of an attraction than a restaurant. With hardly any western or Thai visitors, the biggest restaurant in the world is hugely popular with Chinese holiday makers in Bangkok… I guess if the biggest restaurant in the world specialised in bacon sandwiches and English roast dinners I’d be pretty damn enthusiastic about it too.

Curbing the edges of the central area are rows of smaller karaoke rooms (each with around 25 person capacity) as well as larger rooms for special events. Standing proudly as a back drop to the Chinese landscape, you can’t miss the huge, grand pagoda and smaller floating boat rooms – the layout makes for a pleasant wander round after a big meal.

I went to the Royal Dragon restaurant during the daytime – at this time, the staff seem to shove people into the little karaoke rooms which have a surprisingly claustrophobic feel for the biggest restaurant in the world. Compared with the outer embellishments and ornate architecture, the karaoke rooms are really nothing special – if visiting during the day, try and request decent seating rather than being stuck in one of the less attractive karaoke rooms.

Bangkok Royal Dragon Menu

The menu at Royal Dragon has quite an impressive range of traditional Chinese dishes. Standard dishes range from around 200 baht for simple stir fry dishes such as chicken and oyster sauce, up to 1000 baht for more elaborate dishes such as Chinese roast duck.

One big benefit of visiting the Royal Dragon restaurant during the daytime in Bangkok – although you will miss out on the evening entertainment – is that you can sample the All You Can Eat Dim Sum buffet. Everyday between 11am and 2pm for just 220 baht, you can eat all your favourite dim sum dumplings, steamed buns and other Chinese appetizers to your hearts content. The all you can eat dim sum at the Royal Dragon Restaurant is a bargain – for four of us to eat unlimited dim sum plus a few beers, the bill came to just 1385 baht – tax and service charge free.

The all you can eat dim sum menu at the Bangkok Royal Dragon Restaurant includes steamed barbecue pork, pork dumplings and dipping sauce, shrimp rolled in seaweed, deep fried turnip, spring rolls, wonton soup, steamed buns, chilli birds feet, and a whole load of other unidentifiable meaty treats. To finish off, you’ll be served a dessert of tapioca ice and melon balls, plus some delicious steamed custard buns.

Like many other of the popular food establishments in Bangkok though, service at the Royal Dragon is a little over keen. After continual topping up of our dim sum buffet by the enthusiastic staff, we quickly found ourselves surrounded by a mountain of bamboo baskets 10 minutes into our meal. Claustrophobic much…

How to get to the Royal Dragon in Bangkok

The Royal Dragon Restaurant is quite a distance away from central Bangkok city but not far from the BTS route at least. You can take the BTS to Udom Suk or Bang Na (it doesn’t matter which) and ask a taxi to take you to BITEC Bang Na (pronounce in Thai: Bye-tec Bang Na). This is about a mile away from either of the BTS stations but takes just a couple of minutes to get to in a taxi – it should cost around 40 baht.

The restaurant is next door to the Bangkok BITEC centre. Alternatively, you could ask the driver if he knows Mang Gorn Luang, the Thai name for Royal Dragon.

Website: www.royal-dragon.com

Biggest restaurant in the world Bangkok, All you can eat Dim Sum Bangkok, Royal Dragon Chinese Restaurant menu

The Good View Restaurant Bangkok

Posted on December 14, 2013 by koomatzu

Good View is one of the more upscale local Thai restaurants of Bangkok. With live music from Thai bands, open air dining and plenty of beer towers on the go, a trip to Good View in Bangkok makes for a great authentic Thai style restaurant experience – complete with a tranquil, riverside view.

The Good View Riverside Restaurant

The restaurant itself is rather big with a large, wooden floored outdoor area and an indoor bar. The outdoor part of the restaurant at Good View is partially covered by a roof, featuring open views out onto the Chao Phraya river of Bangkok. You can either sit under the shelter of the roof, or on the open air seating lined along the riverside front of the restaurant.

Enveloped by the wooden seating area underneath the shelter part of the outdoor seating, is a small, natural grassed area with trees and plenty of greenery. Lanterns hang freely throughout the venue, hanging from the tree branches to give an elegant and charming ambience.

The Good View Menu

The Good View riverside restaurant has an extensive menu of Japanese, European, Chinese and traditional Thai dishes. Prices are a little high considering that the food there doesn’t taste much different from cheaper Thai restaurants in Bangkok. However portions are of a generous size and the pleasant environment makes up for it.

Prices start from 150 baht for a standard Thai dish such as Green Curry or Cashew Nut Chicken. Prices increase to 390 baht for steamed mussels in soy sauce and garlic, sushi, fish heads or grilled whole snappers. As Good View is an authentically Thai restaurant, it also has a large choice of sharer dishes in order for you to dine the traditional Thai way.

Sharers start from 150 baht per dish and include spicy banana blossom and prawn salad, or northeastern Thai-style grilled beef. Another Thai tradition, the beer tower, costs 560 baht per 5 litre tower. Soft drinks start from just 35 baht. Desserts are purely Thai style: Syrup and ice with fruit.

How to get to Good View Bangkok

Good View is located to the very south of Charoen Krung Road. You can ask a taxi driver to take you to the nearest landmark – Charoenkrung Pracharak Hospital – and then keep walking south towards the river from there for about 5 minutes. You can’t miss the restaurant it’s pretty big with a massive car park and signs on the roadside.

Thai-English phonetics are pretty bad, the hospital name is more accurately pronounced like: ‘Rong-pa-ya-baan Ja-roen-grung Bra-cha-rak’… Bit of a mouthful, sorry.

The indoor bar

Bonita Cafe & Social Club Vegan Food Bangkok

Posted on November 30, 2013 by koomatzu

With a passion for healthy vegan food, plus a welcoming, cosy atmosphere, Bonita Cafe & Social Club is a highly recommended hidden gem of a restaurant for all to enjoy in Bangkok – whether vegan, vegetarian or proud carnivore.

Hanging out at grandma’s house

The interior of Bonita Cafe & Social Club is decorated in a charming, mismatched style of flowery table cloths, fresh net curtains, embroidered welcome signs, vintage lamps and old china display cabinets. This – combined with old Beatles classics quietly resonating from the wide screen TV, and the odd cat meowing from behind the scenes in the hallway – creates the distinctive feeling of a visit to your gran’s house: cosy, nostalgic and safe.

The atmosphere at the Bangkok Bonita Cafe is made even more pleasant by the welcoming owners (actually, welcoming is an understatement) who obviously put a hell of a lot of love and effort into the restaurant. And just to add to this already relaxed vibe, the cafe even has a modest library area – an old vintage cabinet with a multi lingual selection of books to keep you entertained.

Healthy vegan food in Bangkok

According to their Facebook page, the owners of Bonita Cafe & Social Club are actually pretty serious runners – they even sell special Five Finger Shoes too; They obviously put a lot of care into making extra healthy and nutritious food for other sports enthusiasts. If you’re pretty sick of all the overly sweet and sugary food in Bangkok, you’ll most likely find Bonita to be a refreshing change.

Bonita Cafe & Social Club Menu

The menu at Bonita Cafe only has a couple of pages full of options – strictly vegan only of course – but despite this, it manages to offer a pretty diverse range of dishes. Starters average in price at around 80 baht while main courses range between around 150 baht and 300 baht. Meals can take up to 30 minutes to prepare; the owners obviously put a lot of time and care into food preparation.

The all day breakfast at Bonita Cafe consists of vegan bacon, vegan scrambled egg, vegan sausage, whole wheat toast, beans, grilled tomato, grilled mushroom, roast potatoes, americano coffee and a glass of orange juice – all for 295 baht. You can also opt for the club sandwich with vegan bacon, vegan scrambled egg and avocado; Teriyaki tofu and onion burger with humous; vegan hot dog; and vegan pizza with either bell pepper, mushroom or basil toppings. These dishes cost from 200 baht upwards and include a serving of garlicky roast potatoes and salad.

Other vegan delights at the Bangkok Bonita Cafe include tomato or creamy carbonara pasta (with whole wheat pasta option), and a selection of both sweet and savoury whole wheat pancakes made with coconut oil. Bonita also offers a selection of desserts including vegan, sugar-free chocolate mousse for 100 baht. Personally I thought that the chocolate mousse tasted pleasantly subtle and not too sweet at all (a rarity in the syrup-loving Bangkok city).

As for the drinks menu at Bonita Cafe, there are a great range of teas such as chamomile, earl grey and jasmine (with vegan milk options) for just 50 baht per cup, or healthy, sugar free smoothies from 75 baht a glass. All in all, if you are a vegetarian, vegan or health conscious foodie in Bangkok, you must visit Bonita Cafe & Social Club. Even if you aren’t vegan or vegetarian, don’t let the strictly vegan menu put you off visiting.

How to get to Bonita Cafe & Social Club

Bonita Cafe & Social Club is located in the Sathorn/ Silom area of Bangkok. Take the BTS skytrain to Surasak station on the Bangkok Silom Line. Take exit __ out of the station, stick to the main road and keep walking until you have passed the large school on your left hand side. The next turning should be Pan Road – walk up Pan road on the left hand side for a couple of minutes and you’ll find Bangkok Bonita Cafe & Social Club about half way up the road opposite the Family Mart.

Bonita Cafe & Social Club in Bangkok, Vegetarian Vegan Food in Bangkok, Healthy restaurants in Bangkok

Purr Cat Cafe Club Bangkok

Posted on November 27, 2013 by koomatzu

The Purr Cat Cafe Club in Thonglor is a kooky Bangkok tea room owned by a local Thai soap star. If you love animals or you simply want to hang with a crap load of mega fluffy cats with bulgy bum faces while classily drinking tea from a pot, then make sure you get yourself down to the Bangkok Cat Cafe!

A visit to the Purr Cat Cafe Club in Bangkok

The cat cafe is in a cute little building set back just off of the main road. On arrival, you need to remove your shoes outside where you’ll be greeted by a charming butler-type lady with a welcoming change of slippers for you. After feeling all homey and cosy, you’ll then be led over to a sink station to wash your hands – if you touch the cats with unwashed hands or break any other of the cat rules, you’ll be fined 1000 baht.

After being shown into the next room (more like a midway decontamination room), your host will then proceed to squirt anti bacterial gel onto your hands before allowing you to enter the mighty cat lair. Very sterile and perhaps over dramatic but I do love a bit of weird, OCD cleanliness for cats.

Inside the Cat Cafe

The interior of the Purr Cat Cafe Club features a prominent, miniature cat staircase which leads to a second little cat floor full of sleeping felines. There are mainly two seating areas for customers: a play area on the floor with fluffy mats and low tables, and a comfier seating area along the window.

When you take your seat, you’ll be handed a list of rules and a food menu. You don’t really have to worry about the rules too much – it’s pretty much common sense stuff like ‘don’t punch the cats’… You probably need help if you’ve gone to a Cat Cafe to punch cats to be honest.

The Purr Cat Cafe Club menu includes an extensive choice of teas and coffees, plus a few sweet and savoury dishes such as caesar salad, ice cream and chocolate cake. The prices are fair – a pot of tea costs 150 baht, coffees cost around 100 baht and a serving of cat shaped cookies with chocolate dipping sauce costs 80 baht.

I think it’s more of a cafe to just drink rather than eat to be honest – it feels a bit wrong eating in a room packed full of cats climbing on the tables and sitting next to you while licking their tiny, little cat gonads. I personally think that the cats should be the ones washing their hands.

One of the cats fell asleep on my camera bag, that was awkward. I’m still picking the cat hairs from my camera to this day… Sorry for having to wake you, little bum face cat dude 🙁 🙁 🙁

How to get to the Purr Cat Cafe Club in Bangkok

You can have a taxi take you to Sukhumvit Soi 53 or, alternatively, take the BTS Sky Train to Thonglor station. The Purr Cat Cafe Club in only a 10 minute walk from the station – take exit 1 and then turn into Sukhumvit 53. The Cat Cafe is a 5 minute walk past a couple of wine bars on the left hand side. Just keep an eye out for the sign.

Yong Lee Thai-Chinese Restaurant, Bangkok

Posted on November 20, 2013 by koomatzu

The simple and modest Yong Lee restaurant in Phrom Phong is a great little Bangkok eatery to sample some hearty, local Thai cuisine with a Chinese twist.

Eating locally in Bangkok

In the typical Thai eatery fashion, Yong Lee has an open shop-front peering out onto the street past a jungle of tropical potted plants. The inside is simple and humble in layout: a scattering of plastic chairs, worn wooden tables and old fashioned floor tiling from way back in the 60s. The restaurant has obviously been popular for a long time; apparently established in 1944 according to one of the many browning newspaper cuttings framed proudly on the inners walls.

I’m not going to lie, it’s pretty grubby inside – browning food splatters decorate the walls like badges of honour, and a thick covering of dust lines the shelves and their neglected knick knacks. However, just like the ‘Greasy Spoon’ cafes in England, the grubby ones always come through with some of the best food – good old greasy fry ups! I don’t know what the equivalent to a Greasy Spoon would be in other parts of the world… greasy diners in America?

Anyway, I digress, my point is that Yong Lee is pretty grubby, BUT it’s also authentically Thai in the same way that a greasy spoon is authentically British!

Thai-Chinese cuisine at Yong Lee

Yong Lee serves a choice of wholesome, simple food in a traditional, family run, independent Thai restaurant. The owners are of Thai-Chinese descendant and speak a little English as well as Thai and Chinese. The menus have been well-used and tattered over the years – a good sign of a typically popular Thai restaurant. Menus are conveniently written in both Thai and Chinese with pictures on the specials menu too.

Dishes at Yong Lee are a little pricier than standard Thai street food prices but still pretty reasonable – Most standard meals cost between 90 and 140 baht on average. You’ll find a variety of traditional Thai dishes such as Tom Yam and fried cashew nut chicken, as well as more adventurous Chinese style dishes such as beef tongue soup, steamed bass in plum sauce, and fried pork bowels. Mmm fried pork bowel.

How to get to Yong Lee Restaurant

Yong Lee is located just a couple of minutes walk from BTS Phrom Phong station. If coming via BTS, use exit 3 and enter Sukhumvit Soi 39. Cross onto the right hand side of the road and you’ll find Yong Lee’s on the main road after about 200 metres. It’s kind of hidden behind overgrown, potted plants so just look out for the entrance of the brand new, posh looking ‘Gallerie Apartments’ next door.

Double Dogs Chinese Tea Room, Bangkok

Posted on November 17, 2013 by koomatzu

Love tea? The Double Dogs Tea Room in Bangkok’s China Town is pretty much the king of tea rooms. Chinese tea rooms at least anyway…

With a calm ambience, and a spacious, simple interior with plenty of authentically Chinese finishing touches, Double Dogs provides a cozy and welcoming environment for some quiet tea drinking in Bangkok. Located just off the hectic main street of Yaowarat, the tea room makes a stark contrast as a peaceful escape from the outside hustle and bustle of China Town.

The calming Double Dogs tea room is filled with charming, old-style, Chinese wooden furniture; brightened up by harmonious lamps and lights in all corners; and elegantly decorated with oriental scrolls and cabinets full of traditional teapots. A huge cabinet runs across one wall of the main tea room which displays a huge range of traditional teapots for sale. Similarly, the counter area teams with lucky cat knick knacks, exotic teas and all things Chinese that customers can buy.

All you can drink tea at Double Dogs

Bangkok Double Dogs have an ‘all you drink’ offer on a selection of special teas. For 180 baht, you can treat yourself at the ‘tea buffet’ to a choice of five teas such as Wulong, Phu-er, Jasmine white tea, Chrysanthemum and Shui Xian tea.

Once you’ve ordered your first cup of tea, the friendly staff will bring over a delightful dish full of accompanying Chinese and Japanese snacks such as almonds, dried fruit and seaweed crackers. Perhaps the best part of the ‘tea buffet’ though, is watching the tea master guy work his thing at the tea station full of dozens of special, tiny teapots.

Double Dogs Tea Room does also have a standard tea menu however – you don’t have to go for all you can drink tea. They also serve a range of snacks and Chinese desserts to enjoy with your tea. What’s especially great about the Double Dogs sweet menu, is that you can choose a selection of four Chinese cakes and snacks for 95 baht. This is great if you’re an indecisive dessert orderer, or for simply sampling and sharing the intriguing Chinese treats such as peanut rolls, red bean buns and taro mooncakes.

How to get to Double Dogs Tea Room in Bangkok

Double Dogs is located on the main Yaowarat Road directly opposite Yaowarat Soi 4. The area around this section of Yaowarat Road is great for wholesale and bargain shopping – in particular, it’s ideal for exploring the side streets and their cheap jewellery and accessory shops.