That day was a shopping day in Siam Paragon mall, so me and my hubby were wandering around inside the mall. Suddenly, my hubby suggest to find a cafe to sit down, relaxing our feet, and enjoy some afternoon snack and tea. By that reason, in real my hubby just want to sit, drink tea, and enjoy reading his book, which he just bought. So I asked him to choose the cafe, and finally we ended at L’Espace cafe by Mandarin Oriental Hotel. Although the cafe looks quite cool and relaxing, but we don’t like the atmosphere where there are so many people passing by and sometimes they peek at us, like we are some object to be seen in the middle of the mall.

The Tea Tier Tray

We ordered a set of afternoon tea to share, because I didn’t want feel to full, so did my hubby. Beside the afternoon tea set, L’Espace also served various kind of dish and drinks. The service was not so special. The servers were polite but they were not pleasant and warm. I gave them bellow average for hospitality standard, as we remembered that L’Espace is managed by Mandarin Oriental. Finally the tea tray coming, they served and arranged it in a three-tiered tray.

The Top Tier

The three-tiered tray looks amazing. I couldn’t wait to try them all. It was my first time experience to enjoy the classic afternoon tea in a three tiered tray. The top tier tray was filled with some sandwiches and a croissant. The sandwiches was served with various kind of bread and topping. My favorite was the brown one with smoked salmon, and the orange one with prawn. The others just not remarkable.

The Bottom Tier

The second tray just filled with two kinds of preserves, and clotted cream. The bottom tray was filled with two scones, and some sweet cakes. The scone was taste quite good, although it rather mild and I could not smell the lovely scent of fresh baked cake. I was quite enjoying eat it up with the two kinds of preserves and the clotted cream. It was my first time experience to eat scone so I don’t have comparison. But I think it was quite good. The other sweet cakes just taste common and not remarkable too.

The Tea

L’Espace cafe uses Mariage Freres for the tea. It is a famous tea brand from Paris. The tea was served in a pot with a warmer candle below to keep the tea pot warm. I forgot the name of the tea flavor I choose, but the tea scent was fresh and so fragrance. We were surprised because they use tea bag for the tea. I was quite disappointed. Why does Mandarin Oriental cafe use tea bag? It just looks like inattentive cafe. Overall, it was a nice experience to enjoy afternoon tea complete with three-tiered tray, but I prefer to try the other place to enjoy my next afternoon tea.

Prachak Restaurant Logo

When I was searching for delicious duck noodles in Bangkok, Prachak restaurant name came out. Prachak was considered one of the best restaurant which specializes in Roasted Duck and Noodles. After I did some research in the internet, I found that Prachak restaurant is so popular among the local people too. It is a Thai-Chinese restaurant which have a long history since 1909. I was getting more excited to try because of that long history they had. The reviewers in some blog also said that their egg noodles taste excellent.

Prachak Restaurant Interior

First, it is quite difficult to spot Prachak restaurant in the middle of chaotic and buzzing Bangrat market area, and of course in the middle of hot and humid weather which make my head easily dizzy. Thanks to their restaurant web and map location which was so helpful. When we arrived, the first floor was full of local people enjoying their lunch, and then we got table in the second floor which was so quiet, only two tables occupied including us. The Prachak restaurant decor is very simple, and very typical decor just likes old Chinese restaurant in my city. Fortunately, the restaurant has air con inside. The server gave us English menu book, which is so helpful because there are food photos so we can ordered by pointing the picture to avoid miss communication.

A Half of Roasted Duck

When we were browsing the menu, we was shocked with the food price. Wow, their food price is so cheap. For a whole roasted duck only cost you for 400 bath (almost 13 USD), and the egg noodles with roasted duck cost only 45 bath (around 1.5 USD). Amazingly cheap, while in my country a bowl of noodles with roasted duck will cost you around 90 bath (3 USD), two times more expensive. Prachak restaurant has various kind of dish beside the roasted duck, like: pork dishes, wonton, dim sum, noodles, various kind of rice dishes, soup, stir fried dishes, and vegetables dishes. Finally, we decided to order a half roasted duck for share, and two bowls of egg noodles with roasted duck.

The Duck Meat Texture

When the Roasted Duck arrived, first thing to do was take a few shots before my hubby eat it. The Roasted Duck appearance looks quite messy, but I thought the messy looks more like a homey Chinese dish, with a melamine plate and the Chinese pattern on it. The Roasted Duck was served with brown aromatic broth and some sliced of cucumbers. Although the duck skin was not crispy, but it has soft texture, so when I ate the whole slice, the skin itself give a nice sweet soft texture. The duck meat texture was very tender, juicy, moist, and mouthwatering. The brown broth tastes sweet and fresh, really well balance flavor in my taste buds, the broth make the duck taste awesome. Did not take a long time for us to eat up the duck.

Egg Noodles with Roasted Duck

While we were eating up the duck, we were also eating the noodles. The egg noodles itself taste so tasty and slurpy in my mouth. Just look at the noodles color and texture, I already predict that it will taste so delicious, and my predict was right. The noodles have a very nice yellow color, which is so appetizing, firm texture, and it was perfectly cooked. Plus, Prachak gave a generous portion of sliced Roasted duck for 45 bath price noodles. Overall, I was so satisfied with my lunch at Prachak, and I definitely will back there again when I visit Bangkok. And just for information, Prachak is located near BTS Saphan Taksin. For more detailed, just visit Prachak website.

Lek Seafood Neon Sign

If I was going for holiday in a country, I always interested to try their seafood dish. There is one place in Bangkok which popular among tourist and local people, for a good place to enjoy tasty Thai seafood dish, which is Lek Seafood. First, I heard Lek Seafood from my hubby. He browsed in internet, and he searched for restaurant who have delicious Thai seafood dish. The Lek Seafood location is in very strategic area, so it would not difficult to find the restaurant. That night, my hubby and I were heading to Chong Nonsi station via BTS (Bangkok Train Sky), and after we got out from the platform, we could easily spot Lek Seafood from their neon sign. The Lek Seafood location precisely below the BTS platform.

Tom Yam Goong

Luckily, we got indoor place that night. I could not imagine if we got outdoor place, because we don’t like to eat in a hot and humid place without aircon. Overall, their service was good, the server explained the menu patiently in English. We ordered four kinds of dish that night, all in a small portion so we could try them all without getting too fulled. The first dish was Tom yang Goong. The broth smell so aromatic. I tasted the broth and it taste superb tasty. No wonder why their Tom yam Goong taste terrific, just look at the spices and herbs ingredients they used. It was really a lot of herbs just to make a small bowl. That’s why it taste so aromatic too. I can say that it was the best Tom Yam Goong I ever eat.

Lap

My hubby ordered this Lap. I forget what kind of Lap it was, since in Thai there are various meat kind they used for Lap. Lap is a sour salads of minced meats (mainly pork, chicken, beef, or duck), chopped lemongrass, fish sauce, chillies, and garnished with mint. The combination between chopped lemongrass and fish sauce make a unique flavor which I think is very similar with Vietnam style flavor. I did not say that the Lap was not good, but I am not a big fan of sour salads but my hubby is. He was enjoying eat up the Lap, he said it taste great. Good for me, so I could stock my tummy for the other dish.

Grilled River Prawns

Next dish was Grilled River Prawn. At a glance, the Grilled River Prawn looks so tasty. Just look at that nice red orange color at the prawn skin, which means they grilled it perfectly, with crispy skin and juicy soft prawn meat in the inside. They said it was fresh river prawn that they served, and it really was. The river prawn did taste sweet, fresh, succulent, and have a little bit of smokey taste from the charcoal grilled. I like it even tough the prawn just grilled without sauce added, so we can taste the real fresh river prawn meat taste like.

Grilled Squid

We also ordered another grilled dish, which was Grilled Squid. The Grilled Squid was served with spicy sauce. From the appearance the Grilled Squid did not appetizing. I think the grilled squid just looks like plain dead squid in a plate. I did not interest to try it, but my hubby persuade me to try it first. Honestly, the squid meat was rubbery and I must chew many time to digest it. Although the spicy sauce was nice, but it could not help at all. If the main ingredient is not good, it definitely will ruin a whole dish.

Phat Phrik

I am not sure if the name of this dish is Phat Phrik, because I really forgot the dish name. Plus, the dish is not remarkable in my mind. For sure, this dish is a stir fried fish with chillies, garlic, vinegar, and vegetables. It taste just like another common stir fried food. I already ate ate at Lek for twice, and I always back for their Tom Yam Goong which is so delicious and aromatic. I also tried their oyster omelette, which was quite good, but I did not take the picture because it just looks likes plain scrambled egg. And we also tried their stir fried bitter melon, and just taste likes another stir fried vegetables. I heard that their steamed sea bass which cooked in lime and ginger is excellent, maybe I will back for try the sea bass, and of course to eat their Tom Yam Goong again.