Santa Fe

Hobbit and I dined at Santa Fe for several times already but never took any pictures of what we ate. Maybe we knew since this Franchise is common in Thailand, the chances of us coming back is big. Well, today we craved for some steaks and decided to pay Santa Fe a visit again. So we drove to Seacon and settled at 1st floor Santa Fe. FYI, there are two Santa Fe's around Seacon Square. One is right at the top floor (same floor as the theater) and the newly opened which is at the 1st floor.

As usual we were greeted by all the sweet voices from the waiters/waitresses and one of them brought us to our seat inside the mini train. As the waitress waited for our order, she must have heard our little discussion and decided to speak in English. As Hobbit placed his order, I was still busy flipping through the menu salivating and can't really decide what to eat. I was torn apart between fish fillet and beef steak. So at first I said fish fillet and the waitress quickly wrote it on the menu. Then suddenly I turned to the promotion leaflet and wanted beef steak then. So I politely said "Can I change?" and did the gesture of canceling the fish fillet. Next I heard was "yes" and thought she had canceled my first order to the beef steak.

As we chatted away food started coming. Hobbit got his chicken steak first. Then I thought I saw two waiters each carrying a platter of what looked like a fillet and beef steak. Funny both the platters reached our table. Then just as I was about to say "I canceled my fillet" I noticed a familiar face on one of the waiters. Quickly my head told me that it's my former student Bur the singer! I then asked him if he's a student of my school to which he replied "yes". We then talked about the miscommunication and he politely said that he will take care of the mistake. Oh, how easy peasy! Thank you Bur.

When we were done with our steaks (yummy despite of my chewing problem), Bur came to our table and collected the now empty platters and asked me calling "ma'am"!! "How is the food?" Wow! I immediately wished all the waiters in Thailand would have those courtesy and politeness to ask such questions! Well, I thanked him again before we left for the help and left some tips behind. Good food, good service!

Khao Phat Lap Chiong

Thought of preparing something nice for Hobbit husband today. So I quickly rushed into the kitchen and prepared Chinese sausage fried rice. Hobbit arrived as soon as I was done with my cooking. From his reaction, he was very pleased because he can skip all the cutting and washing (which he does for me every time I cook)!

Ingredients:

2 bowls of cooked rice

1 stick of Chinese chicken sausage

1/2 onion

1 big red chili

1 tbsp chopped garlic

1 egg

light soy sauce to taste

salt and pepper to taste

1/4 tbsp oil

spring onion leaves and lime for garnish

1. Heat oil in wok until hot.
2. Add garlic and stir fry until fragrant.
3. Add chopped Chinese sausages.
4. Add the rice and stir fry until rice is evenly fried. Add a bit of water if needed.
5. Throw in the onions and chillies.
6. Break egg and spread it over the rice and continue to stir fry.
6. Season soy sauce, salt and pepper to taste.
7. Garnish and serve.

Dine @7

Pasted from my personal blog for I don't feel like blogging about this place twice. :)

Saturday or Sabbath for me is always a special day because Hobbit and I get to enjoy church and food. The location for food splurge this time was at Majestic Grande's Dine@7. This was our second time here. *A bowl of asparagus soup did convince me well to dine here again* Well, the splurge was just not because it was Saturday and it's our Food day but it was Jj's birthday. Ohh, the first thing I looked for was the asparagus soup but guess it was a Saturday so it was carrot soup instead. But hey, carrot soup was good too! With the exquisite buffet, the celebration began...

*I'm still wide awake...might as well make some polaroids...*

I skipped so many dishes this time. Come to think of the food right now *especially wee hours like this*, might have just stuffed tummy with no regrets...<_> *hungry*

Loved the orange design on the walls and everywhere...

The cake Auntie D whisked me to hide until it almost fell while on my clumsy hands under the table! LOL! Lucky enough Zic has incredible hulk's hands which came to the rescue.

The birthday celebrant blogged about his day here too.

Website: Majestic Grande
The buffet lunch cost 350B/person.
Promotion: Bring 7 heads and pay for 6 only.

Som Tum Thai

Originated from Laos and settled first in the Isan region of northeastern Thailand, som tum is also known as Tam mak hoong in Thailand's neighboring country, Laos. It is a spicy salad made from shredded unripened papaya. Thus the English name - Papaya salad, as to how most of us called it. Usually som tum is served with sticky rice(khao niaw) and barbecued chicken(gai yang). It goes with rice noodles and raw vegetables too! More often, it is simply a snack by itself. The spiciness depends on a person's tastebuds. If you are like me, you can opt. for a non-spicy papaya salad or to be like most of the Thais, throw in 10-20 bird-eye chilies to get the kick out of it! To go the Thai way, be prepared for a burning tongue! :)

My Ingredients:

• Dark green papaya
• garlic cloves
• bird-eye chilies
• long beans
• palm sugar
• fish sauce
• salt
• cherry tomatoes
• peanuts

Directions:

1. Peel papaya skin. Two ways to get long strips: smack it lengthwise with knife or use cheese grater.
2. Use ceramic mortar and pestle to pound and mash garlic cloves and chilies. Add long beans and pound some more.
3. Add fish sauce, palm sugar and salt to taste. Pound and mix well.
4. Throw in half-cut tomatoes and pound gently.
5. Add lime juice to taste and pour in the papaya strips. Pound for a while at the same time use spoon to mix the juices evenly. Be careful while pounding as you don't want to dissolve everything.
6. Lastly, pour in peanuts to garnish. Pound lightly before serving.

Baan Tawan Katuang

One evening we decided to have an outdoor dinner and so we drove to a place called Baan Tawan Katuang. This was our second time here. The first time was I guess 3 years ago and the food was rated okay. This Thai restaurant is popular for their beers. Well, we didn't come for the beer but to try out their food. So we started out with the famous khra pao kai (Thai basil chicken fried rice) and som tam (Thai papaya salad).

Okay, lets get straight to the point. I was kind of disappointed when the food arrived. The portions of the two dishes we ordered were too small for two and the rice serving lets just say was just enough to make a small skinny kid full! We wanted to order more but was turned off by the prices that didn't quite match the servings. Oh well, better luck to those of you who wants to try out this place!

Himali Cha Cha

Our tastebuds went Indian again and this time our dining gang joined us in exploring Himali Cha Cha at Sukhumvit Soi 35. We Hobbits had been wanting to go to this place long time ago but never had the chance to. So this time we finally made it to this place.

Himali Cha Cha actually has three branches and is one of the oldest names in the town. It is quite a well-known place consider that it has been operating for decades. As we looked through the menu, this place serves a wide variety of exotic North Indian cuisine in a traditional style.

HCC restaurant is actually a house. If you are coming from Sukhumvit road, it is hard to miss this place because the sign is one of the first signs you will see. If you are walking or driving from Sukhumvit road, turn to Soi 35 and it is on your right hand side. It is surely impossible to miss on the sign. The parking space is very limited but this place is not always crowded. The quite atmosphere was the first to capture my attention. The inside is well-decorated with Indian portraits and tables are nicely set. If you happen to come in the afternoon where the weather is a little humid, remember not to sit too far from the main counter. What happened to us was that we sat way behind and the weather was humid. The air cond was off and we had to eat like sweaty cows!

Since I am just learning about Indian cuisine, I don't know the exact name of most of the dishes we ate. So let me show you some pictures of the food!

See this bowl of water with lime? It's for washing your hands and NOT for drinking. A story was told that a friend who was a first timer in India drank the whole bowl in an Indian restaurant he visited, thinking it was drinking water. :)

Sukhumvit Branch: 2, Sukhumvit soi 35; Tel: 02 2588843

Convent Road Branch: Convent Road, Silom; Tel: 02 2381478

Charoenkrung Branch: soi 47/1, Charoenkrung Road; Tel: 02 2351569

Sesame Steamed Broccoli

I almost forgot about the broccoli we purchased last week and it was sitting in the fridge waiting to screaming for us to do something with it before it rots. I, in moments of recipe block, couldn't think of any recipe for it. So many times, again, google became my resort.

Steamed Broccoli Recipe Ingredients:

1 tsp. oil
1 tbsp. sesame seeds
1 tbsp. soy sauce
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. sugar
Steamed broccoli

Steamed Broccoli Recipe Cooking:

Heat oil. Brown sesame seeds in oil. Add the final three ingredients. Pour on top of steamed broccoli. Cover for a few seconds and tadaa!

source: Vegetable Recipes Cooking

Vientiene Kitchen

We visited Vientiene Kitchen yesterday out of desperation for Thai food. Five years ago, Hobbit lived and worked at the same road (Sukhumvit 36) where this restaurant is situated but nothing ever gave us a reason to stop by since there were several other good Thai restaurants around. This time around, the ones that we frequent was close when we arrived and Mac, our friend was desperate for some "khra pao kai" (Thai basil chicken fried rice). As soon as we stepped in, we fell in love with the Thai Northeastern style ambiance almost immediately.

The moment you step in, the waiter will ask if you prefer to sit the Thai style way while dining, which is to sit side ways on a sitting pillow or sit at the normal table, we chose the latter. The menus listed varieties of authentic Thai-Esaan and Laos cuisine. You can order almost anything Thai here and some Laos of course for this restaurant specialized fusion food from these two countries. Aom, our Thai friend made the order and ordered crispy shrimp cake, papaya salad, grilled chicken, basil chicken fried rice, sticky rice, and mix vegetable. I was happy for I've been craving for khao niaw and gai yang this week.

The food was glorious! If I knew this place served yummilicious gai yang, I would have recommended it to my parents. Oh well, maybe I should plan for their next visit. Since it was around early evening, the performers were getting ready with their traditional instruments for their show. Yes, they have a mini stage where according to the waiters, Thai classical dance and traditional music are performed to entertain customers. Not only that, they have karaokes too! Now, how authentic is that?

We spent almost 2 hours enjoying the atmosphere plus the food. It was indeed a good way to just sit and spend time with visiting friends. I noticed their website from the front cover of the menu. So here it is: Vientiane Kitchen

This place could be crowded during lunch time and in the evening, so I suggest that you make early reservation to cut the cue!

Park Food Hall

Have you gone to Park Food Hall, Emporium? It's one of my favorite place to dine exquisite food. With international menus, it's one of the best eateries (food court style) in town.

Well, today we decided to go all Mexican and Indian. Here are some pictures to make you salivate! :)

nacho supreme 179B


Murgh Peshwari 130B


Aloo Gobi 100B


Condiments


Plain Naan 45B

...and others without pictures:

Saffron Pullao 75B
Ice Coconut 70B

Total costs:
Service charge 5%
629Baht.

Place: Park Food Hall, Emporium 5th floor
Similar place: Market Place, Ground floor, Paragon, Bangkok

Stir Fry Chicken Cutlets with Kim Chi

Cooking is such a therapeutic activity. Today I experimented on Chicken cutlets with Kim Chi and it turned out delicious-miscious! Hehe! Let's see what were among the ingredients:

2 stems of Kim Chi cabbages, 1/2 kg chicken cutlets, fine slices of gingers, 1/2 tbsp mushroom sauce, 1/4 tsp pepper, 1/4 tsp salt, pinches of sugar, 1/4 cup of water, 1/4 of oil, and celery for garnish.

Heat oil in pan and slide in fine slices of gingers. Stir fry until ginger is fragrant. Throw in chicken cutlets and stir fry. Cover for a minute. Add Kim Chi and water and mix well. Add mushroom sauce, salt, pepper and sugar and stir the mixture for about a minute and cover for 2 minutes. When the mixture is sizzling, turn off heat and serve. Garnish with celery. Perfect recipe for cold days! :)