by : Reiko Bangkok Restaurants, Bread, Restaurants

Cinnamon Milk Bread – soft and silky & (un)FASHION Cafe

I like crusty bread, but I also like soft and pillowy bread.

Variety is important.

I added cinnamon to the dough, but I intentionally didn’t thoroughly mix it because I wanted to create a marbled look.

Before going into the oven.

It looked so pretty!

Out of the oven.

I was relieved that the marble design stayed.

It was so soft and delicate.

You have to be careful so that you won’t mush it.

I used this recipe (Japanese) as the base.

This bread was great either with black tea or coffee.

There are so many cafes in Bangkok, and I have been enjoying checking them out.

When we lived in Minnesota, we had a few favorite cafes that we frequented, but the cafe scene was nothing like this.

The number of cafes in Bangkok is insane, and the market is very competitive.

We had seen this cafe many times while strolling, but it was our first time to actually go inside.

Because of the unique building I was curious about the inside.

It’s not a large space, but it’s a comfortable place, which makes you feel like you are at someone’s old house.

If you climb up the narrow stairs there are a few more tables upstairs.

I didn’t really see anything special on the menu I wanted to try, and I ordered a cup of hot tea (and it came with a few crackers (lol)).

The tea was not anything special (it was a tea bag tea), but it was okay because I came to this cafe mostly to check out the atmosphere.

They do offer non-dairy milk options (extra 25 baht), but I didn’t see any vegan options in their dessert glass case.

There is a vintage shop attached to the cafe.

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by : Reiko Asian Food, Main Dish, Potatoes/Squash, Soup/Stew

Red Curry with Roasted Sweet Potatoes; with my favorite curry paste

Thai red curry has always been one of our favorite dishes.

I like it for many reasons, including that it looks like a dish I spent a whole day in the kitchen preparing because of its complex flavor.

But the truth is it’s one of the easiest dishes to make!

And here is my secret.

This curry paste is great.

There are many brands that sell curry paste in Bangkok, but it’s my favorite because 1) it’s plant-based, 2) the ingredients are very good, 3) no preservatives, 4) it’s made in Thailand, and 5) most importantly it’s delicious.

The first ingredient listed is lemongrass!

Oh, I forgot to mention it’s gluten free as well.

The only problem is that it’s hard to find.

We found it at Lotus’s for the first time, but we don’t see it there anymore.

We now get it from an online store because we cannot find it at any grocery stores.

I usually cook vegetables first, add water, and cook the vegetables, and then add the paste and coconut milk.

I tend to like my curry a bit sweeter, so I add a little sugar, but other than that I don’t need to do anything.

The paste is really flavorful.

This time I added sweet potatoes I roasted separately.

This orange-colored sweet potatoes I get from Happy Grocers are so good when roaseted.

It was finished off with basil and a lime

A squeeze of fresh lime juice brightens up the flavors and cuts through the richness.

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by : Reiko Noodles/Pasta

Plant-based Ramen; how to turn spaghetti into (almost) ramen noodles!

I was in the mood for ramen, but I didn’t have ramen noodles at home.

I knew I could get them easily because the local grocery store I regularly go to does carry them.

But it was one of those days I didn’t feel like leaving the house.

I thought about making ramen noodles from scratch.

I did that before.

But I was too lazy to do so.

But sometimes “laziness” leads to a new discovery (lol).

When I googled hoping to find easy ways to make ramen noodles, I ran into some interesting information, which suggested cooking spaghetti in water with baking soda.

I was skeptical, but it sounded like a better idea than making noodles from scratch.

It turned out pretty good!

This cooking method created a similar smell/taste and also a similar chewy texture.

I used a tablespoon of baking soda for 1 litter of water, plus a little salt.

First, I boiled water, took the pot off the heat, then added baking soda and salt (it foams, so you should be careful if you try this), and then put it back on the heat, and added spaghetti.

I recently got a jar of Shio-Koji (salt with rice malt), and I’m loving using it as it adds umami to any dishes, including this ramen soup.

I got mine at Sala Bran Cafe.

Initially I was afraid that the jar was too small, but I only use a little each time, and I like the idea that I use it up when it’s still fresh.

For the toppings I had edamame, sauteed mushrooms, sauteed veggies (onion, cabbage, carrot), basil, and roasted seaweed.

So good.

My craving was definitely satisfied.

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by : Reiko Bangkok Restaurants, Restaurants

Bangkok Bold Kitchen – The Best Pomelo Salad

When we stayed at Anantara Riverside Bangkok, initially we were planning to have dinner at one of the restaurants inside the hotel.

However, we quickly realized that plant-based food options were limited, and nothing really stood out for us.

Luckily there were some restaurants at the mall which was located on the second floor of the sister hotel, Avani+ building.

Bangkok Bold Kitchen was appealing because they had a vegetarian section on their menu.

The dining area was clean and spacious.

I liked that there were a lot of vegetarian options, and many (if not all) seemed vegan.

(I should let you know in advance that we liked the restaurant so much that we went back the next day for lunch. So the pictures you see here were taken from our dinner and lunch.)

This is their Pomelo Salad.

It was not listed on the vegetarian page, so I have a feeling that there may be fish sauce in the dressing.

(I did not notice any “solid” non plant-based food included in this salad.)

It was one of the most positively reviewed dishes, and it was absolutely delicious!

Hands-down the best pomelo salad I’ve ever eaten.

We didn’t think much of these leaves that came with the salad first, but then we realized that there were several leaves, more than what you would place as a garnish.

So we came to the conclusion that we were supposed to eat the salad with these leaves.

Oh my goodness!

I’m glad that we realized that quick enough because the salad tasted even better with these leaves!

This is a MUST-TRY dish at this restaurant.

In fact, the main reason we went back to the next day was we both wanted to eat this salad again.

(My husband even suggested that we should each get one!!)

Another dish I liked was “Caramelized coconut and peanut fresh spring rolls with cucumber relish” from their vegetarian menu.

The filling (coconut and peanut) was packed with umami, and interestingly it had a very nice texture, almost meat-like.

The dipping sauce was pretty sweet; it wasn’t bad, but I would have preferred vinegar-based sauce.

Having said that, I will definitely order this again.

Their flavor is not the only thing that is bold.

Their menu is also bold and offers unique dishes that you don’t see at other Thai restaurants.

This dish was a good example that reflects their boldness.

On the menu it was described as “Rice noodle and fresh vegetables salad with crispy mushrooms” (from the vegetarian menu).

When the server brought this to our table, I was shocked (in a good way).

This was not what I expected.

Yes, there were noodles, and there were crispy mushrooms, but the amount and the variety of vegetables and herbs were insane!

You basically make your own salad from the platter.

The salad came with two small bowls of sauce.

One you see in this picture was spicy, and the other was sweet, and you decide how much you want to use based on your flavor and spice-level preference.

Our server told me that this was only “a little spicy”, but the spicy sauce was “very spicy” for me.

I loved everything about this salad, the freshness of the leaves and herbs, the super crispy mushrooms, and the overall flavor of the sauce.

Except that the sauce was a bit too spicy for me.

It’s such a great dish, and I would happily order it again if they could make the sauce less spicy.

You may think I should just use the other sauce, but the other sauce is basically syrup, so I would still need something to balance the sweetness.

I may have to work hard to improve my Thai speaking skills so that next time I could politely ask them to make the sauce less spicy or get me a different type of sauce.

Anyway, those were the three dishes I really liked.

The following were a few more dishes we tried.

This was listed as “Glass noodle and vegetable spring rolls” (from the vegetarian menu).

I was in the mood for spring rolls, and I quickly decided to order this.

What I didn’t know was that they were deep-fried and not fresh.

In the U.S. “spring rolls” typically mean fresh, and deep-fried ones are called “egg rolls”.

I have seen deep-fried ones sold as “spring rolls” here, so I should have double checked before ordering.

These were not bad, but just not special.

I also tried their “stir fried eggplants with Thai basil”; this was listed on the vegetarian page as well.

I’m an eggplant lover, and I jumped on this one.

Since the menu indicated that this dish was moderately spicy, I asked them not to make it spicy.

The portion was big, but unfortunately it was rather a boring dish, as it lacked flavor.

I wonder if removing the spiciness also took away the flavor somehow…

We had this for dessert on our first visit.

I don’t remember exactly what it was called, but I believe it was described as something like steamed buns with corn coconut custard.

The buns were soft and light, and the custard was creamy and had the right amount of sweetness.

It was very good.

I’m not sure if it was vegan though.

There are two locations, and we found out that the other location was closer to us.

I am looking forward to having the pomelo salad again and trying other vegetarian dishes, maybe curry next time.

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by : Reiko Bangkok Restaurants, Other, Restaurants

Anantara Riverside Bangkok – A Resort in the City

The past several years we have been spending most of the month of December in a warm place for our winter vacation.

It was always a nice getaway from the cold and dark winter in Minnesota.

This year we are already in a warm place, so we planned a “staycation”.

We left around noon and went to one of the greatest malls in Bangkok, Icon Siam, where we had a late lunch at their food court.

I don’t say this often, but I love their food court.

You need to know, however, that their food court is special, a must-visit spot for a unique experience, as it’s nothing like any other food courts you see in the States.

It’s massive and designed in a such a way that it is a popular destination for tourists and locals.

After lunch we went to the pier right in front of the mall for a hotel shuttle boat.

How cool is it that you can take a boat to your hotel!

The boat ride was comfortable, and the breeze and the sun felt good.

After a 15-20 minute ride the boat we arrived at the hotel.

We stayed at Anantara Riverside Bangkok, which is the white traditional Thai building with an orange roof.

The more modern-looking building right behind is Avani+ Riverside Bangkok, which is a “sister” hotel to Anantara and they share facilities.

The property is full of lush greenery, and you forget you are still in the metropolitan city.

The lobby is located in the main building.

It’s an older hotel, but you can tell it’s maintained very well.

I really liked that they decorated the space in the traditional Thai manner matching the architecture.

Anantara consists of three buildings.

Our room was on the left wing of the main building, but it was easy to move between the buildings, as they are connected with covered corridors.

Here is the entrance to our building.

The decor of this area was simple but sophisticated, and I felt like I was in a museum.

We requested a room with a full view of the river.

Our room was on the second floor, and the river view was amazing.

The bathroom was nice and large, and I LOVED the big bathtub.

Oh, by the way we stayed on our wedding anniversary, and they set this up for us.

Very sweet.

There are several different restaurants and bars inside the hotel, and after our check-in we decided to have a cup of tea at Mocha and Muffins, mainly because they offer some vegan desserts on their wellness menu.

We ordered a vegan key lime cheesecake.

It was pretty, and I really wanted to like it.

But unfortunately, it was disappointing.

The “cheesecake” part tasted like a mass of mashed cashew nuts, dense and lacking flavor.

When we squeezed the juice from the lemon slice that came as a garnish over the cake, it tasted better, so we asked for extra lemon wedges, and we poured a lot of lemon juice, which made it a little better (lol).

The property was beautiful in the evening as well.

This was the evening view from our room, and it was absolutely lovely.

We initially planned to have dinner at one of the restaurants in the hotel, but since plant-based food was limited, and nothing stood out for us, we had dinner inside the shopping mall which was located at the lower (2nd floor) floor, below Avani+, which we had easy access to.

(I will have a separate post about our dinner, because it’s noteworthy and deserves a full post.)

After dinner we were not ready to go back to our room and decided to check out the rooftop bar, which was on top of Avani+.

The bar was hip!

It’s called “Seen”, and it’s a place where you want to be seen for sure.

We were not in the mood for alcohol, but luckily there were some nonalcoholic options.

I highly recommend this bar.

I mean look at this view!

It was breathtaking.

Many small tables were occupied by well-dressed couples.

It’s a bar you want to bring your date if you want to impress her (or him) (lol).

One of the things I was excited about our stay at this hotel was the breakfast buffet.

I read a lot of positive reviews.

There was a wide variety of food offered, Western and Asian, hot and cold, fresh and cooked.

I had no problem finding plant-based food either.

You can choose a table indoors or outdoors, but without hesitation we picked outside.

It was a beautiful morning, warm but not hot or humid, sunny but partially cloudy.

These fresh fruits were all perfectly ripe and delicious.

This big breakfast made me full and happy.

We were able to have our check-out time extended until 2:00 p.m., and I enjoyed relaxing in our room plus another bath time.

I highly recommend Anantara Riverside Bangkok for many reasons, including the resort-like atmosphere, the beautiful river view, and easy access to the facilities at their sister hotel, Avani+.

It’s great for tourists, but it’s also a wonderful choice for Bangkok residents for their staycation.

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by : Reiko Bangkok Restaurants, Restaurants

Birthday Lunch at Vegan Mahanakhon & Birthday Vegan Cake from May Veggie Home

I picked Vegan Mahanakhon for my birth-month celebration lunch.

This building is rich in history, and it has been very well preserved.

It’s built entirely with teak wood and the blend of traditional Thai design and Western Colonial influences make this building unique.

A sleepy kitty greeted us (lol).

The dark wood with the white walls creates the perfect background for bright-colored flowers.

Refreshing welcome drinks tasted so good after we walked for 30 minutes from the metro station.

The menu is like a high-quality magazine with professional photos.

They serve traditional Thai dishes, including some interesting unique dishes that you don’t see at other restaurants.

And they are all vegan.

Amazing, isn’t it?

Thai tea.

Excellent.

I saw pictures of this appetizer platter on the google review page, and I was so excited about it.

It was great that we could try various appetizer dishes without getting too full.

Everything was created with amazing attention to detail, and they were all scrumptious!

It’s really a masterpiece.

Other than the appetizer platter we had a hard time choosing dishes because everything looked and sounded so good.

But we decided to try something different and new (to us) for salad, and we ordered Thai-Style Neem with Vegan Sweet Fish Sauce.

The slight bitterness of the “neem” went very well with the sweet sauce.

For the main dish we ordered Massaman curry.

It came with roti, but we additionally ordered two bowls of rice.

It was absolutely delicious as well.

The flavor was rich and perfectly balanced.

It was one of the best restaurants we’ve been to.

We felt everything was very reasonably priced (especially coming from the United States).

The service was wonderful as well.

I’m already planning to have another memorable meal there…

Oh, and I got a cake, too.

My husband ordered it for me!

(I specified the flavor (vanilla) and the design :))

It’s from May Veggie Home .

I wanted my cake to be decorated with fresh fruits, and it looked exactly how I wanted.

This cake was not only pretty but also delicious.

The cake and the cream both had the perfect level of sweetness.

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by : Reiko Sweets

Almond Biscotti

Biscotti is one of my favorite snacks to make.

It looks fancy with the Italian name, and when you hear you have to bake it “twice” you may quickly assume it may be hard to make.

But it’s probably one of the easiest things to make.

I was craving for biscotti with nuts, and I was happy with the result.

The only thing that could have been better was almond extract.

Extracts in general is a bit challenging to find in Bangkok, but I recently found a baking specialty shop that sells pure almond extract.

I think it’s time for me to check out the shop.

I used this recipe (Japanese) as a base.

It was tasty (the right sweetness too), and I will use it again.

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by : Reiko Drinks

Pineapple Rosemary Green Tea & Passion Fruit Mint Earl Grey: Plus Karmakamet Cafe

In the morning the first thing I drink is a glass of water.

Then I drink a cup of hot green tea with fruit and breakfast.

After that I mostly drink water either cold or room temperature throughout the day.

But I also enjoy creating flavored tea, using fresh fruits and herbs.

This pineapple rosemary iced green tea was very refreshing.

I liked it slightly sweetened.

This one was passion fruit mint iced earl grey.

When I have a lot of passion fruits, I freeze it and make passion fruit cubes.

It’s one of my favorite snacks.

I usually throw a cube in my mouth, or put a few in a cup with some sugar and enjoy it as a quick sorbet, or add a few cubes to cold beverages like the one above.

The frozen passion fruit slowly dissolved and added nice sweetness and tartness to the tea.

It’s fun to make your own drinks, but I also like to go to cafes to get inspiration.

We visited this beautiful cafe the in the same building as a Karmakamet shop, one of the most popular aroma brands in Thailand.

I don’t remember the name, but it was something Christmassy.

It was certainly festive-looking.

They were also very serious about their coffee.

I’ve never had decaf coffee served in this fancy manner!

I would suggest checking out the shop first and then enjoying a tea or a drink in the cafe.

You can choose a table outside, surrounded by the plants, or inside where you feel like you are in an old movie setting.

The shop shows the history of the company.

It looked almost like a museum than a store.

Plan to spend some time, checking out various fragrances and taking pictures.

The shop was as photogenic as the cafe.

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by : Reiko Bread

Garlic Rosemary Sourdough Bread – not the prettiest but still adorable (to me)

My sourdough baking journey part II (Part I was in the U.S.) has been great!

There have been minor ups and downs, and I’m still learning, but I feel I got the hang of it for the most part.

We always enjoy plain sourdough bread, but I do like to add some flavors once in a while.

This time I added fresh rosemary and garlic powder.

My scoring is not consistent, and this was a bad one…

It was not the prettiest bread (frankly quite ugly (lol)), but since this was MY “baby (sourdough bread)”, I still found it adorable.

Also, the bottom burnt (I know the reason, and I can prevent that next time), and I had to cut the part off.

But the rest was fine.

I was initially afraid that I put too much rosemary and garlic powder, but when I sliced it, I quickly realized that I could have added much more.

Add a lot more next time; a note to myself.

A good thing about bread-baking is that you learn something new every time you bake.

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by : Reiko Bangkok Restaurants, Restaurants

Mother May I – Elegant space, perfect for indoor/outdoor events

There are so many hidden gems in Bangkok, and Mother May I is one of them.

(Or maybe it’s not that hidden as there was a large group of tourists posing in every part of the property for photos (lol).)

It’s located in a residential area, on a small street, away from the city’s hustle and bustle.

We found it by chance during our afternoon leisurely stroll.

The gate is inviting, and on the other side of the gate is a charming garden.

Currently decorated with the Christmas theme.

The terrace is lovely as well.

I was so sure I wanted to have a table on the terrace, but once inside I was equally impressed.

Since it was quite hot outside, we decided to stay inside, where it was nicely air-conditioned.

They mostly serve Thai food with some western dishes.

They also offer some vegan/vegetarian dishes, but nothing jumped out.

Since we were not hungry anyway, we just ordered something to drink.

Kumquat Thai Tea.

This was tart and refreshing.

Rose Longan Tea.

The flavor was unique and very good.

We enjoyed these drinks, but since they were both quite sweet, we felt we should have ordered one of them unsweetened.

It was such an elegant space.

Pretty spacious too.

It will be perfect for mother’s day celebration, girls brunch, or even a wedding.

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