by : Reiko Breakfast, Products, Tofu

Vegan Brunch in Bangkok
バンコクでヴィーガンブランチ

My husband and I both had craving for the western-style brunch for a while.

There is something about a plate full of breakfast food like a toast, “eggs,” and “sausage”.

I found good firm tofu at the grocery store I usually go to, and it worked great as scrambled eggs.

At the same store I found this vegan meat and decided to make breakfast sausage patties with it.

It’s a simple version.

I just added fresh herbs, garlic powder, and salt.

The texture is strangely similar to that of real meat.

They turned out great.

I was happy with both the texture and the taste.

According to their website, the main ingredient of this Meat Zero ground meat is soy protein, and the red color is from beetroot coloring extract.

https://www.meatzerobrand.com/en/meat-zero-plant-based-ground-meat/

I have mixed feelings about this as usual.

Since we switched to the mostly plant-based diet, I’ve been going back and forth regarding the use of high-processed vegan meat products.

A part of me does not want any in my diet, and another part of me thinks it’s okay to have a little bit.

I don’t think it is going to resolve any time soon, but I do know that I want to start making my own vegan meat again soon (once I’m a bit more comfortable in my new kitchen).

I love our little dining table for two.

My husband made us iced coffee with oat milk (yum!).

Very satisfied!

Do you like your scrambled “eggs” with ketchup or without?

I’ve been looking for good vegan butter.

I do see several vegan options here in Bangkok, but I haven’t found any which has the ingredients that I’m comfortable with.

So, for now I’m using peanut butter for my toast.

Good news is that I just got an immersion blender a few days ago, so I am planning to make my own vegan butter soon!

Leave a comment
by : Reiko Bangkok Restaurants, Eating Out, Products

Vegan Snacks I like in Bangkok
バンコクで見つけた私のお気に入りヴィーガンおやつ

The fried taro ball is one of my favorite snacks.

They are crispy outside and chewy inside, slightly sweet, and addictive!

Some vendors have these colorful versions.

They taste the best when freshly fried.

They will lose their wonderful texture after a while.

So don’t wait.

Eat them quickly.

This is candied cassava.

It’s chewy, sweet, and delicious.

I can’t find it myself, but a friend of mine found and got this for me.

It came with coconut milk on the side.

I took this picture (above) after I poured the milk over it.

But I personally liked it without milk.

I read about the Thai sweets called “Yoksod Ball” somewhere, and I spent a whole afternoon dedicated to finding it.

They come in two parts.

The green pandan balls are soft, chewy, and slightly sweet.

Enjoy them with coconut milk.

My husband found it at a shop called White Story which sells some interesting food and snacks.

These crackers are super tasty.

I’m not 100% sure if it is vegan, but I think it is…

White Story sometimes has a big sale like this, so I like to visit regularly. 🙂

This is something I just recently discovered.

It’s called Roti Sai Mai.

There are two parts.

The crepe-like thin pancakes are “roti”, and the long candy threads are called “sai mai”.

And this is how you eat it.

I was pleasantly surprised.

I liked it better than I had thought I would.

The texture is very unique as you can expect, but it somehow works.

It’s so unique that if you find it, you should try it at least once.

This is originally from Ayutthaya, but I’ve heard that there are several vendors who sell this in Bangkok.

I got mine from a vendor on the second floor of the Ekkamai Gateway mall, but he seemed to be a part of the temporary market, so I’m not sure how long he will be there.

2 Comments
by : Reiko Products

Where Are We Finding Fun Vegan Food in Bangkok?
バンコク、ヴィーガン食品はどこで見つかる？

There are still a lot more restaurants I want to talk about, but today I want to take a little break from that and talk about shops in Bangkok where we are finding fun vegan food.

Baimiang is one of the shops we like to stop by frequently.

Although their selection does seem to focus mostly on relatively “healthy” food, it’s not a vegan store, so you do need to check the ingredients of each item to make sure what you are getting makes sense for your diet.

My husband likes to get this granola from this shop.

There are several different flavors, but this earl grey tea one is his favorite.

We’ve also tried this vegan brownie.

It was not overly sweet, and it was moist, chocolaty, and very good.

My only complaint was the size; it was quite small (well, to be fair everything seems small when you come from the U.S.!).

I will definitely get this again.

This is a chain store, and I’ve seen at least two locations in the Ekkamai area, including the one inside Gateway Mall.

Baimiang – https://www.baimianghealthyshop.com/en (Thai (mostly) and some English)

Lemon Farm is a larger store, which is probably categorized as a small grocery store.

Again, it is not a vegan store, but there are a lot of fun vegan items here.

I really liked this store.

When we had a question, staff tried to explain things in English using the translation function on their cell phone, while keeping a smile on their face the whole time.

They were so sweet!

Here are a few things we found interesting at the store.

Organic Matcha Coconut Ice Cream.

This looked and sounded good!

Vegan yogurt in glass jars!

Plant-based meat.

I’ve never seen this brant, so it’s probably not available in the U.S.

I’m always skeptical about mass-produced vegan meat, but if the ingredients are good, I will try them.

Organic Pumpkin Bread.

This looked good too.

I’m a sucker for anything with pumpkin :).

These are some of the things we bought.

I eat oatmeal for breakfast every morning, and I was happy to see they sold whole oats, because some grocery stores only sell instant/quick oats.

We’ve been there twice already within a week, and I have a feeling that we will be going there regularly.

Lemon Farm – https://www.lemonfarm.com/en/ (English)

We found this cute shop when we went to the vegan restaurant, Kynd Kulture, I talked about in my previous post.

It’s in the same building.

I believe the staff said everything in the store was vegan.

We didn’t spend a lot of time here because we were too full after lunch (!), but I would love to pay closer attention to their selection next time we go.

Plenti – https://www.baimianghealthyshop.com/en (English)

Leave a comment
by : Reiko Products, Restaurants

July 2023 Food from Restaurants/Stores
2023年7月レストランご飯・市販品

We had takeout from http://www.himalayanmomo.com/ Himalayan Restaurant when we had a friend over.

We had vegetable momos and the eggplant dish.

We go there because of their momos.

They are so good.

Often times we just get momos. That’s it.

If I want something else, I get their eggplant dish, but this time it was not as good as usual unfortunately.

The eggplant was overcooked and almost dissolved, which was disappointing.

This is Vegan Breakfast Hash at Keys Cafe and Bakery on Robert Street downtown St. Paul.

They have many locations around the Twin Cities, but you should be careful because they have different menus from one location to another.

This is pretty much the only vegan option at the restaurant, but we like it because it has really everything you want for breakfast.

Here is the menu of this location.

https://keyscafe.com/restaurants/st-paul-robert/#menu

Vegan East is a local vegan bakery.

They started their business out of their own home, and now they have two store locations in Minneapolis.

I used to go to their house to get a cake!

I’m so happy for their success.

My husband had this lemon blueberry cupcake (gluten free).

I enjoyed this Pina Colada cupcake.

Both were delicious!

Great place to get cupcakes, cinnamon rolls, ice cream sandwiches, or order a whole cake for a special occasion.

https://www.veganeast.com/

And here is Herbivorous Butcher that every vegan in the Twin Cities knows!

They sell vegan meat, vegan cheese, and vegan sandwiches (and some other meals).

Their shop is really something unique, and everyone, vegan or not, should visit it if they are in the Twin Cities.

This is our favorite thing at this shop, Italian Cold Cut Sandwich.

(This is a half of the sandwich ↑）

The only complaint is that the whole is a bit too much, and a half is a little too small for me…

I don’t eat a lot of “fake” meat or “fake” cheese, but I do get craving for this sandwich once in a while, and this is DELICIOUS!

https://www.theherbivorousbutcher.com/

We didn’t know anything about this little popup market in a small town, in the Lino lakes area.

We happened to be in the area and saw this lady with a sign, saying Gluten Free + Vegan.

It was so unexpected, and we were curious to see what she had.

We got this Lavender Cookie.

We also had this Cherry, Lemon, Berry crumble cake.

They were both delicious!

I like discovering small local vegan creators.

https://www.facebook.com/violetsglutenfree/

I used to go to Uptown all the time, but it has been a while since last time I was in that area.

We went kayaking at Bde Maka Ska Lake, and after that we decided to have lunch nearby.

I heard about this place offering vegan dishes, and we decided to try it for the first time.

This restaurant was spacious.

They had nice outdoor space in addition to the front area.

My husband had red curry with mock duck and a vegetable spring roll.

I had Pad Thai with mock duck and a vegetable spring roll.

They were both lunch special (one entree and one appetizer) and very reasonable (I believe it was $13 each).

My pad Thai was good, but I wasn’t too impressed.

The flavor was not what I expected for Pad Thai.

It tasted maybe a bit Americanized?

The spring roll was okay, but pretty basic.

I would also have preferred vinegar-based dipping sauce.

My husband liked his curry.

https://www.amazingthailandusa.com/

Now this is something I found at Trader Joe’s, and we decided to try for the first time.

There were twelve in the box!

This was small but TASTY!

I will definitely buy this again.

The problem (or not) was that I can’t stop eating just one.

I have to have at least two!

The chocolate at the bottom of the cone is my favorite part.

This is from Trader Joe’s too, and we like it so much that we buy it repeatedly.

You are supposed to add water, eggs, and oil or butter to the mix.

I just use flax egg (flax seed meal + water) in place of eggs to keep it vegan.

It works just fine.

These are so good!

What I like the most about it is its texture.

There is a reason they call it “mochi”.

It’s super chewy, and I LOVE it.

I hope you enjoyed this post!

I’m thinking of adding this type of post mixed in with my home-cooked food going forward. 🙂

I’m excited to share more local plant-based food/restaurants.

Leave a comment