When we talk about going to Bangkok, it’s usually about three things: shopping, eating, and going for massages. With a preschooler in tow, it was tough for us to shop a lot (read our shopping tips HERE), and although we did manage to go for a massage together, it was tough keeping Noah entertained (more on that in a bit). What’s left was eating, and boy, we sure did a lot of that! I mean, everyone’s gotta eat, right?
We stayed at Siam Kempinski (read our review of the hotel HERE), which is directly linked to Siam Paragon, so we had many, many meals there.
On our first evening in Bangkok, we decided to keep things simple by eating at Siam Paragon, and after walking around a little, decided on Four Seasons. I can’t remember if we ate at Four Seasons when we visited London, but we definitely ate at a restaurant famous for its roast duck. Anyway, to be completely honest, the duck wasn’t as impressive as we expected it to be. The food was decent and not very expensive, which explains the long queue. Do go early, as the restaurant fills up by 6-630pm.
I’m not going to bore you with a laundry list of the places we ate at, because I kept forgetting to take photos of our food, and also because some are pretty common, and can be found in Singapore. We did enjoy the food at two particular Thai/International restaurants at Siam Paragon, and if you’re looking for Thai/International food while shopping there, you can check them out.
Taling Pling has three branches in Bangkok, and C found good reviews of the food online, so we decided to try it when we saw it on the ground floor of Siam Paragon.
We ordered the omelette with “lardlets” (according to the menu), which are actually small pieces of deep-fried lard, as it was one of the more popular dishes reviewed. Noah loves eating eggs, so whenever possible, we try to order an egg dish for him. This was quite tasty, but oily (duh). We also got the deep-fried soft-shell crab to share, and Noah enjoyed it too. The crab was quite meaty and juicy, which I liked, as many of the restaurants in Singapore that we’ve been to tend to fry it for too long, leaving it rather dry.
Taling Pling
Omelette with “lardlets”
Deep-fried Soft-shell Crab
For our mains, we had fried rice with crabmeat (Noah’s), Pad Thai (mine), and some curry with rice (C’s). I wanted to try the Pad Thai, since we were in Bangkok, and it didn’t disappoint. Noah also liked his fried rice, which came with large chunks of crabmeat, and ate most of it. I forgot to take a photo of C’s curry, but he slurped up the entire bowl, so I’m guessing it was pretty good too.
Fried Rice with Crabmeat
Pad Thai
Our verdict? The food was good, but service was appallingly bad, and I kept asking C where the signature Thai politeness/hospitality was. The waitress who took our order was grouchy, and sulked as she trudged around in the restaurant. It took ages for us to get the staff’s attention when we wanted to order an extra drink, and the food took quite some time to be served as well, even though the restaurant wasn’t that crowded. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!
The other Thai/International restaurant we visited at Siam Paragon was Midtown, located on the fourth floor. Most of the restaurants are on the ground floor, and those are the ones which are usually very crowded. C’s Thai ex-classmate was the one who brought us to the fourth floor, and there are actually quite a few good restaurants on that level too.
The service at Midtown was much better than Taling Pling’s, and the food tasted pretty home-cooked, so we ate there twice. I forgot to take photos of some dishes because we were too busy chatting, but if you’re looking for a simple meal in a quiet environment, you can try Midtown. Portion sizes are small, so if you’re feeling hungry, order more dishes!
Can’t remember the name of this vegetable
C’s Tom Yum Soup
Roasted Chicken
We also tried a ramen restaurant on the fourth floor of Siam Paragon, which apparently has one Michelin star, and it was really good! I can’t remember the name of the restaurant, but it’s next to Saboten (which we also tried and liked). The ramen was done to perfection, and the broth was tasty, without being too salty for Noah. Ootoya is another good Japanese restaurant located on the fourth floor, but we visited the branch at Terminal 21 instead. Noah finished his entire serving of rice and salmon there!
If you’re looking for desserts at Siam Paragon, the After You Dessert Cafe is extremely popular, judging by the long queues. Every time we walked past it, I would tell C that I wanted to try their signature honey toast, but the queues were always so long that we never made it in. We did get two slices of mille crepes to eat in our hotel room, but I think the honey toast would have been a much better option. It was my first time trying mille crepes, and I realised that I prefer a proper slice of cake instead, so C happily had to finish the mille crepes himself.
Mille Crepes
Mr Jones’ Orphanage at Siam Centre is also a popular place for desserts, perhaps more for its cute decor, but we did enjoy the brownie and ice-cream there. It was definitely one of the better brownies I’ve tried! Noah isn’t a fan of chocolate, so he spent his time cuddling the teddy bears there, and talking to them. When we were about to leave, we were most amused to hear him telling the bears, “I have to go now. You can’t go with me, because you belong here. You have to stay here, otherwise the uncle will scold me. Bye bye!”
Mr Jones’ Orphanage
Brownie with ice-cream
He loved the bears, as you can see
If you don’t mind taking a short walk to Siam Square, which is just across the road from Siam Paragon, you might want to check out Mango Tango at Siam Square Soi 5. They have a variety of mango desserts there, including the signature mango sticky rice, which C liked quite a bit. Do note that they require every person at the table to order at least one item from their menu, but the portion sizes aren’t that big, so there isn’t a real need to share anyway.
Mango Tango
Attack!
I thought the recyclable bags there had really funny captions, and was so tempted to buy some, but didn’t in the end, because I already have quite a few recyclable bags at home.
Spot the photobomber
I love the captions!
C felt like eating at Hard Rock Cafe on one of the evenings, so we walked to Siam Square for that. They were decorated for Halloween at that time, but thankfully, Noah didn’t seem bothered by it at all, perhaps because he was kept busy by the little activity book given to him by the staff. His kid’s meal was pretty good, though the portion-size was too big for him.
His activity book
Blurry photo, but check out his huge broccoli!
We really wanted to go for a massage that evening, and I read this blogpost to see if there were any good ones at Siam Square. We decided on Lek Massage at Siam Square Soi 6, just a short walk from Mango Tango, since they weren’t too crowded. Tip: go on a weekday evening if possible! To keep Noah occupied during our massage, we decided to let him have his first ever foot massage session, since his foot massage could be done in the same room as us, and we could keep an eye on him throughout. He was super amused by it, and kept giggling as the lady massaged his feet. However, he got bored after about half an hour, so the lady ended up playing with him instead, which we didn’t mind, since all we wanted was for him to be entertained while we got our massages.
Lek Massage
Super tickled by his foot massage
The Siam area really has many different restaurants and cafes, so you’ll really be spoilt for choice. My top three meals were all in the area, and top of my list is definitely Ping’s at Pathumwan Princess Hotel, while C ranked the wantan mee at Chatuchak among his top three. Siam Paragon’s Gourmet Market is a large supermarket with a wide variety of snacks and food, so don’t forget to check that out too!
PS. Most of the restaurants that we visited did not have highchairs, and those that did usually only had smaller and higher chairs for toddlers/preschoolers. There aren’t any safety straps on them, so do keep a close eye on your children when they’re in these chairs.
*This is the fourth post in our #GWTTinBKK series. Read about our hotel stay HERE, about our favourite restaurant in Bangkok HERE, and our shopping tips HERE. Please check back soon for the other posts in the series! In the meantime, you can take a look at some of our photos from this trip on Instagram, by searching for #GWTTinBKK.
*******
If you’ve enjoyed reading this post, do like my Facebook page here to get updates. You can also follow me on Twitter (@GrowingwtheTans), Instagram (@GrowingwiththeTans), and Dayre (@GrowingwiththeTans), for short updates on what’s going on in our lives. Thank you! 🙂
Comments