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Archive for October, 2010

Family Fun Center in Bangkok

17 Oct

I’m here at Charl E. Chang’s Pizza Factory, Bangkok’s latest indoor adventure playground and restaurant for all the family.


It is probably one of the few places in Bangkok where it is safe to bring your kids to play and eat at the same time. It is a bit like the play area at KFC but on a much larger scale. They use international standards for both the play area and the restaurant. You could easily transplant this place to America and not break any food & safety laws.


Entrance costs only 150 baht per child under the age of 13. For that you can stay all day. You can even leave for a couple of hours and then come back later. But you cannot leave without your child. I’ve been here 5 hours so far with Nong Grace! For parents it is free to come and also free to use the computers and Internet. Even free WiFi! I’m not bored yet as I have been doing some work.


I’m really loving it so far. You know what it is like at the big shopping malls. You always have to keep your eyes on the kids. Here they have supervisors that will even play with them for you! Upstairs there is also an arts and craft center for no extra charge. That is where she is now. No need for me to follow her around. Impossible for her to leave through the electric gates without me. Very safe.


The restaurant has an excellent American menu for both adults and children. The kid’s menu is only 105 baht and Nong Grace got to eat as much free ice cream as she liked! Here she is on her 4th helping this afternoon. We will be coming back for their Halloween Party for sure. More information at their website www.charlechangs.com

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Vegetarian Peanut Candy Bars

11 Oct

When I was in Chinatown yesterday to experience the Vegetarian Festival, one activity I saw being done there a lot was for a peanut candy bar. This guy is preparing one of the first stages.

In Thai, this is called khanom toob tub (ขนมตุ๊บตั๊บ) which I think mainly comes from the sound of these two guys pounding the peanut candy again and again.

I have had peanut candy bars before and they are usually hard and chewy. However, this one is a bit different and seems to be very popular during the Vegetarian Festival in the community that I visited.

What you end up with is something that is dry and flaky. They sold it in bags for 20 baht each. It is not something that you try to eat in the car like I did. It will make a mess. It is the kind of snack that you will need a spoon. But, it is incredibly addictive and I have already finished eating all five bags that I bought!

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Giant Candles

10 Oct

The Vegetarian Festival in Thailand is in full swing and and many people, dressed in white, are visiting their local Chinese shrines. Tonight I was delighted to be shown around the neighbourhood of @BkkGreg who lives on the edge of Chinatown in Bangkok.

For ten days I am also taking part by only eating vegetarian food. But, the festival is more than that and all the Chinese shrines around Thailand are crowded every night with worshippers. One thing that they are doing is lighting candles.

And not just your ordinary candles. Some of them were massive. These ones here are not made from wax and they use light fuel to set them alight. They are about a meter and a half long and seemed to weight a lot.

After these candles had burned down a certain length, a group of men were on standby to carry them away to dump them into this furnace alongside the river in Bangkok. I’m not sure what the difference is between these candles but I will try and find out.

- Posted from my iPhone

 
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Vegetarian Festival

07 Oct

Today marks the start of the Vegetarian Festival in Thailand. In Samut Prakan it runs from 7th to 17th October 2010. We went to Thong Siang Vegetarian House in Samut Prakan to watch this opening ceremony.

The event was a signal for the nine Gods to come down to earth. Something similar happened all over Thailand today. During the following ten days, people will keep a strict vegetarian diet and also obey ten basic rules which will help cleanse their mind and body.

According to legend, the nine Gods come down from heaven to inspect the earth and to record the good and bad deeds of everyone. So, during the festival it is important for Chinese people to be on their best behaviour.

Refraining from eating meat means less animals being slaughtered which will gain them some merit. People taking part in the festival will often wear white and will visit their local shrines to pay respect to the spirits. If you want to visit a shrine then you should wear white too out of respect.

In addition to not eating meat, strong smelling vegetables cannot be eaten. Such as garlic, onion, spring onion, Chinese chives and Chinese parsley. In Thailand, many popular Thai dishes are replicated by using tofu and extra mushrooms.

The symbol for the festival is a small yellow flag with the words in Thai “jay” which means “vegetarian”. In Thai culture, yellow represents Buddhism and good moral conduct. When looking to buy vegetarian food, we need to look out for the small yellow flags on the foodstalls. This t-shirt has a cartoon of a pig saying “thank you” for eating vegetarian!

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Serenade Restaurant, Grass Thonglor

04 Oct

On Sunday I went with some friends to check out a new restaurant that recently had a soft opening on Soi Thong Lor in Bangkok. It is at a place called Grass Thonglor. The menu and portion sizes haven’t been finalized yet but everything should be ready for their grand opening on October 14th.

COMPETITION: I’ve managed to get hold of TWO 1,000 baht vouchers for this restaurant which I’m going to give-away to TWO of my lucky followers on Twitter. To enter the competition is easy, all you have to do is tweet the following any time between now and Tuesday evening (12th October).

Win a 1,000 baht voucher to eat at Serenade Restaurant, Grass Thonglor http://bit.ly/cCZ67D /via @RichardBarrow

You can tweet this as many times as you like in order to stand a better chance of winning. However, you must be following me as I need to send you a DM if you are the winner. Every entry will be entered into a “randomizer”. Good luck!

Glazed lemon pork belly on pickled carrot

Grilled Cobia Fish with paprika buerre blanc and grilled capsicum

lamb shank

Garbanzo bean, bell pepper and roast tomato saute

Veal Foreshank

I was really happy to have this sneak preview of what is to come later in the month at Serenade. The food was certainly of a high standard and the two foreign cooks should be rightly proud of their creations. Serenade will certainly become  an important restaurant on Soi Thonglor.

- Posted from my iPhone

 
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Posted in Food and Eating

 

Krispy Kreme Opens in Bangkok

03 Oct

The re-opening of Central World in Bangkok last week was overshadowed by the opening of a doughnut shop at the nearby Siam Paragon mall. Personally, I don’t know what all the fuss has been about. But apparently, Krispy Kreme is a popular doughnut chain in America. I had never heard of them before, but due to a successful marketing scheme using social media, it quickly became the talk of town. It also helped that they were giving away free doughnuts for the first people in the queue on the opening day.

The opening happened last week so I was really surprised when I visited Paragon this afternoon to see such a big crowd outside the doughnut shop. The queue even snaked outside where people were standing patiently in line five deep. I’m not sure how many hours these people were planning to stand here. I think it has all become a fashion statement now or even a status symbol. People want to be seen in this queue and then later walking around town with a box of Krispy Kreme under their arm. I wouldn’t be surprised if some enterprising Thai businessman started selling fake boxes at MBK. After all, they have fakes of every other brand there.

- Posted from my iPhone

 
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Ice Skating at Central World

03 Oct

One of the attractions at the newly re-opened Central World in Bangkok is “The Rink” which offers Bangkok people the opportunity to ice skate right in the middle of the shopping mall. The rink is located in the Forum Zone in front of B2S. It apparently cost 100 million baht to make. Prices are about 250 baht per session or a one month membership for 3,000 baht. Nearby Siam Discovery are also planning an ice skating rink soon.

- Posted from my iPhone

 
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