Breakfast at Suk 11, Bangkok

Being on holidays ... sleeping in ... aah, so lovely! But we found ourselves wanting to get up when staying at Suk 11, as to not miss out on the morning breakfast. We would always head downstairs just in time, and it was always so nice looking down into the communal area that was bustling with morning madness, coffee's, breakfast, check in's and check outs.



We'd go straight for a tea and a plate of the daily offerings. Today we have little banana's, sticky rice parcels with coconut braised banana and a little cup filled with taro, black rice and corn swimming in a sweet coconut milk.



I could never resist a slice of toast with Thai-ya. What we were calling a Thai version of Kaya jam, that was made with coconut, sugar and Thai tamarind tea.



Always a good start to what was always a great day in Bangkok!

Soi 38 Night Markets, Sukumvit

Staying over the Sukumvit side of town we had all these new places to explore. One thing we heard is that Soi 38 turns into a bit of an evening food market that runs until about 3am. Perfect! We take the MRT and upon leaving the station look down to see Soi 38 alive .... this is a good sign!



I start with a coconut milk shake and we take a walk.



We settle back at the beginning for some firey pad Thai. The guy working the wok at the front is giving a little show with each wok of noodles being fried, and his little cart is plastered in awards and newspaper articles.



We order the noodles and also a plate of crispy pork and vegetables. The pork arrives first, so we beginning picking at this.



I then sneak away to take a few shots of him cooking our noodles ...



Then the pad Thai arrives. It looks pretty good, but the flavor just isn't quite there. We pile on the chili, peanuts and fish sauce.



The whole time we're eyeing off the sticky rice and mango cart across the way.



We get a mango sticky rice to go.



And enjoy it back at Suk 11, sitting in the little Soi and watching the night go by ....

Happiness is a full stomach.

Shabushi; shabu shabu in sushi train form all you can eat for two hours for 229 baht most amazing concept ever, what else to say.


The Waiting




The set up


You have three types of soup to choose from, we have tom yum. Yum.


And it begins


Mmm pork


Chicken


Cabbage


Minced chicken


Water spinach


Mmmm more pork


Tofu


Baby corn


Enoki


Octopus


Two types of noodles


Black fungus


Lets not forget the tempura and gyoza


Eat the rainbow


The drinks


Finish off with a smidge of ice cream


The damage, try not to freak out.

Afterwards we managed to roll over to the Imax and one of us watched monsters and aliens 3d whilst the other had a little kip. Though I don't know how with 3 storey 3d aliens all around.



Shabushi
Skytrain level
MBK center
Bangkok.

Arab Quarter, Bangkok.

You know how when you've been longing for a certain type of food for so long that when you finally get the chance to eat it you tend to go over board?? Well that was kinda the case for us in the Arab quarter of Bangkok. We had been taken to Nefertiti before and we longing for some really arabesque food. I love that you can be standing on the very Thai streets in Sukhumvit then with in a few meters be wisked away to the middle east. The music and the decor and the food all serve to transport you across the world.



Due to our longing we were just looking at the menu saying one of those, one of those, ooh don't forget one of those, we ended up with much more than necessary but we were very happy. First up a plate of pickles and a couple of yoghurt drinks, theres a little nod of the head to the county of residence with a bowl of chilli sauce given on the side of the pickles.





Following this is a plate of babba ganoush, and another of tabouleh the creamy babba given a little pepper with a puddle of olive oil in the center. We are given a tower of flatbreads to scoop all this up with and while this is happening the dolmades and lamb shish arrive.







The dolmades come with a bowl of youghurt garlic sauce, giving a rich creamyness to the sour leaf wrapped rice. The lamb having been grilled on the shish had then been removed and plated with a crushed tomato sauce.





We dipped, ripped, scooped and slurped all the while around us hookahs were being smoked, people were meeting, and a cacophony of music and and street sounds washed over us. Heaven.
On your next trip to Bangkok we highly recomend a trip to the Arab quarter it's a blast.

Oh how I love Thai salads ...

On our walk back from Yong Lee we were contently full ... Until we spotted a hawker selling the delightful yam nam.



This is one of my most favorite Thai salads, fermented pork along with boiled pork skin is tossed with crispy red curry rice cakes, ginger, shallot, peanuts, lime, chilli and fish sauce.



Served along with it, a bag full of crunchy cabbage wedges, cucumber and a forest of Thai herbs. We sat back at the outdoor oasis at Suk 11 and enjoyed this tasty treat.



It was a fair effort, but we both much prefer the hawker we've found over the Phra Artit side of town and her flavour packed yam nam.

Yong lee, Bangkok

So within minutes of dropping our bags at Suk 11 we were off into the sights and smells of Bangkok's jumping streets in search of our first meal. We had never stayed over this side of the city usually preferring to stay near Bunglumpoo and taxi across for the occasional foray.

Now with time to properly explore and none of our usual favourite haunts to distract us we wandered, and it wasn't to long before we had found a place interesting looking enough to drag us in. With rows of BBQ ducks hanging in the window there was definitely more of a Chinese feel to the place and the menu confirmed.



As we read the menu item after item jumped out at us we were so excited to see such an array of dishes that we were undecided even as we were asked for our selection. Then as we started to order our decisions were made for us.

"We'll have the wild boar", "ahh sorry sold out" "ok we'll have the deer" "ahh sold out" and so on till we were left none but the stir fried beef tongue with peppers, we added a plate of the delicious hanging duck along with some rice.

Quickly enough we we given two condiments a sweet soy and chilli and vinegar



followed by the duck nicely roasted, all crispy skin and tender meat.



.. but the real star of the show was the tongue and peppers.



Wow. the meat so tender and flavorsome, braised to perfection, with the flash fried peppers it had us wishing there were more of the interesting dishes on the menu.

Sitting on the street corner enjoying this fine food we relised it's no mystery why we keep coming back to Bangkok



Yong lee
Sukhumvit