Maximizing our long-labour's-day-weekend, we decided to make a short trip to Bangkok for a little getaway and provide extra happiness for our taste buds and tummies! It was quite a relaxing vacation and we skipped most of the touristy places as we both have done so in our previous trips. In this post, I'll be covering on our accommodation - Oh My God! our hotel was SO WORTH IT like I can't even emphasize how money worthy it was! - and food destinations that we managed to stuff ourselves with in the span of just 4 days!
ACCOMMODATION
Hotel entrance
Modena by Fraser Bangkok is located right in front of Exit 1 of Queen Sirikit MRT Station. When I say right in front, I meant literally in front of the hotel's entrance! It made traveling around Bangkok city so much more convenient as we didn't had to walk far at all to hop on a train! We took the cab from Don Mueang airport and it was only 390 baht.
Reception
A 4-star hotel with a minimalist themed interior that gives out a hipster and trendy feel, from pictures it sure looks like it cost us a bomb! Well, guess what? We paid only about MYR250 per night! When we first checked in, I couldn't digest how money worthy the hotel was!
Free refreshments for hotel guests
Hotel bar
Elevators
Ivan previously stayed in the same hotel, and the hotel's database system managed to capture the record! We were given complementary snacks and drinks for it!
FOOD & WHAT TO DO
Dean & Deluca, FYI Centre
Pier 21 (Terminal 21)
This cafe is just right next to the hotel and it was Ivan's go-to coffee place the previous time he was there. The hotel is actually a part of a bigger building call the FYI Centre, and it has a lot of hipster looking cafes and restaurant, including Dean & Deluca. Not a big fan of coffee myself, but yays for nice looking cafes!
Pier 21 (Terminal 21)
Pier 21 is actually a food court inside of Terminal 21, a huge mall just right outside or actually connected to Asok BTS / Sukhumvit MRT. The mall was built with an airport theme where each atrium and floors has different setups mimicking some of the popular cities in the world such as London, Paris and Rome.
We ordered from a stall that's located right at the end of the food court. It was so comforting to have that as our first meal in Bangkok after a long journey there.
Oh, Pier 21 as a prepaid card system whereby you will first need to get a card and load an amount of your liking into it. And as you purchase food from different stalls, they will just deduct the amount from the card and if you run out of money in there, you may reload and it's refundable if there's balance in it.
Sukiyaki Soup with Mixed Chicken, Pork, Prawn & Squid
Stir Fried Sukiyaki with Pork
Beef Noodles
Total: 158baht
Dairy Queen
We do not have this in Malaysia, and was introduced to it by Ivan and holy moly, it was so so good! I have a thing for Kit Kat, and the moment I saw there was a Kit Kat flavour (45 baht), I didn't even bother looking at what other flavours they have to offer. It was so delicious and ice cream and Kit Kat is like the best of both worlds! I didn't know also that it's a thing whereby you topple the whole cup over to see if the ice cream falls out, which if it does, they will give you another for free! I was too anxious to try it so Ivan had the honours to do so! We had this in Terminal 21 too and I'm sure it's quite common to find around Bangkok.
Paul
As for this, we do have it in Malaysia, but there's this particular pastry that it's not available in Malaysia - Canele (70 baht). It's Ivan's favourite and I understand why now - because it's so chewy! It actually tasted rather chocolate-y to me, but it's actually vanilla and rum. This is such a red flag for being a food blogger eh when I can't even identify the flavour 🌑
Total: 572baht
Chinatown
Nearest train station: Hua Lamphong
Was brought to this place by Ivan as well (duh, he's the food encyclopedia haha). It's a proper shop located in Chinatown that sells Chinese food. We were there about 9pm and it was still packed with people! Service is extremely fast as well. Nearest train station: Hua Lamphong
Nai Ek Roll Noodles
Deep Fried Crispy Pork
Roll Noodles Soup
Braised Pork Rice
Total: 400baht
Nutella & Stick Biscuits
Never knew Nutella produced this until I saw it in Gourmet Market in Terminal 21. Such a comforting snack which ended up being my breakfast on one of the mornings in Bangkok.
Mango Sticky Rice
Of course, the most cliche must-eat! I'm just fascinated by how any mango sticky rice you buy, the mango is guaranteed to be sweet. If you didn't manage to get this while you're in Bangkok, and if you're flying off from Don Mueang airport, after immigration, opposite of McDonald's, there's this restaurant that sells local food and their mango sticky rice is delicious!
120baht from Chinatown
7 Eleven Corn Chips (Chocolate Flavour)
This tasted like childhood to me! Available only in 7 Elevens in Thailand. Do give it a go!
Got this image from Google, the one we tried is the chocolate flavour
Boat Noodles (Victory Monument)
We found out about this place here : http://www.bangkok.com/magazine/boat-noodles.htm , "To find boat noodle alley, your best bet is to take the BTS to Victory Monument (Anusawari). Follow the long, elevated skywalk north over the roundabout, take the steps down as soon as you pass over the canal and the row of restaurants on the right-hand side should be easy to find."
If you get confused of the direction explained, just follow it as far and as much as you can and then spot for this restaurant which should be on your right when you come down from the stairs, and the staffs wears purple. The restaurant is along Thanon Phahon Yothin road.
There's quite a selection of food available than just boat noodles. Do try their 'grilled fish ball' (or something like that), that you can find them making it at the side of the restaurant. It was packed when we got there for lunch, but it was worth the wait!
Total: 220baht
Chatuchak Market (Mo Chit BTS / Chatuchak Park MRT)
Opens only on Fridays - Sundays. Well known for 'cheap' (touristy) shopping and food!
Coconut Ice Cream
It's everywhere! Not sure if there's THE one that serves the best, but we managed to get a dose of ours and was pretty satisfied. Haha. However they were running out of toppings when we ordered so we just spammed corn on ours.
50baht
Fried Chicken Bowl
This is located near the main food area. It was quite a huge bowl for only 50 baht! It's fried chicken! Who can resist especially when you can smell it from afar!
Pad Thai
It was late in the afternoon and we hadn't had lunch. We just wanted something to fill our stomach with no specific preference. Opposite from where we bought our fried chicken, there's a few small stalls joined together with only about 4 seats for each stalls selling fried rice, omelettes, pad thai, and other mainstream thai food. We decided to just take a seat and try out luck and damnnn it was good!
Seafood Fried Rice
Total: 120baht
Swensen's @ Esplanade Bangkok (Thailand Cultural Centre MRT)
When we first landed in Bangkok, a guy that sold us sim cards told us to try out Swensen's mango flavored ice cream / shaved ice. We did get to Swensen's eventually, but we opted for something more familiar. Can't remember what was it called but close enough to be a vertical banana split.
Esplanade Bangkok is another huge shopping mall in Bangkok, which is also conveniently located in front of the Rod Fai Ratchada Night Market.
When we first landed in Bangkok, a guy that sold us sim cards told us to try out Swensen's mango flavored ice cream / shaved ice. We did get to Swensen's eventually, but we opted for something more familiar. Can't remember what was it called but close enough to be a vertical banana split.
155baht
Rod Fai Ratchada Night Market (Thailand Cultural Centre MRT)
Oyster Omelette
There's 2 Rod Fai Market in Bangkok - Ratchada and Srinakarin. The one in Ratchada is easily accessible by MRT (Thailand Cultural Centre station), and is significantly smaller than Srinakarin. But if you're looking for a place to chill and drink, there are quite a number of pubs there in Ratchada, and of course there's quite a lot of food and shopping as well. But not as much as Srinakarin.
Pad Thai (Rod Fai)
Total: 200baht
Rotee (Cheese + Egg + Banana)
80baht
Rod Fai Srinakarin Night Market
The one in Srinakarin is catered more for locals but we did see quite a number of tourist there as well. If you go to Instagram or Google about Rod Fai market, you may stumble on pictures of antiques being displayed in the market - and that is in Srinakarin. One of the downside of Srinakarin is that it is not so easily accessible by train. From Ratchada, we went straight to Srinakarin via cab and that cost us about 200 baht one way, which wasn't that expensive at all. If you do have the time to spare in Bangkok, I would recommend Srinakarin - especially the section where all the antiques are displayed, which some I believe are for sale too.
Cheese Toast
59baht
Caramelised Pork
10baht each
Nhong Rim Klong
Don't ask me how I manage to locate a place like this - ask the food encyclopedia 🌚 Basically most of the food sold here has crab in it! It's actually pretty well known as well, and we waited for about an hour before a table was available for us. This tiny stall is right next to a longkang / an un-maintained canal. Haha. If you walk along it towards the back, there's a tiny food court selling local delights catered to local working people. If you're interested to try Bangkok's version of 'chap fan' / economy rice, perhaps you can give it a go there! We were there just for coffee and fruits while waiting for a table for a crabby lunch!
We literally showed images we found online to the waitress and that was how we ordered. So, I don't exactly know which it is from the menu. Feel free to show them my shots if you would like to try what we ordered too! The total meal here cost us about 1400 baht but it was really worth it! Oh, do try their homemade milk tea too!
WARNING: This is really spicy!
Octave Sky Bar (Marriot Bangkok)
On our last night in Bangkok, we wanted to watch some pretty sunset and decided to do so on a roof top bar. If you Google roof top bar in Bangkok, you will get a lot of results! It was quite a tough call for us as well, and we depended on tripadvisor for reviews on price, dresscode, etc and decided Octave would be good for us! It was rather easy to get there as well by train - Thong Lor BTS and about a few minutes walk!
We were there at around 6pm and they were having half price for cocktails. In total we spent only 500 baht there.
Candid shot but I find both our expression hilarious! I accidentally pressed the shutter button while I was angling the camera.
Ben & Jerry's
@Siam Paragon - Siam BTS
@Siam Paragon - Siam BTS
209baht
Fill In The Blank
On our last day we were left with a few hours in the morning before our flight home to KL. We had plans to visit a cafe or two on the day before but only realised then that many cafes are closed on Mondays. I did a lot of search on the best cafes to go to in Bangkok, and this one popped up a lot of times, and it was quite nice!
Penne Alfredo
Big Breakfast
Pancake with Ricotta, Raspberry and Ice Cream
Total:990baht
That sums up our 4 days in Bangkok! Nothing short of fun and happiness in the tummy and of course a great company and yays to our first overseas vacay together! Can't wait for our next one.
Chao!
Sincerely, Mels
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