Bangkok Restaurant 曼谷美食 [Hongmin Thai-Chinese Restaurant] - Delicious Dimsum & Thai Chinese Food in MBK Mall Bangkok

I rarely travel too far off to look for good food in Bangkok during my business trip. It is quite a bit of hassle travel to Chinatown just for dinner myself. I discovered this restaurant in MBK mall that serves equally good Thai-Chinese food at reasonable price.

Hong Min Restaurant at MBK Mall - ground floor.

One of my favourite dishes - Oyster Omelette on sizzling hot plate THB150 (i find Ping's shark fin one nicer than here). The taste is more salty, and lack of beansprout crunchy taste. 

Wanton clear soup - this is forgettable THB120 

The Fried Spring Roll is definitely a standout from other dishes here, they used Yam and pork filling mixed with some vegetables. The skin is crispy fried and does not have any oily taste to it. Thumbs-up to this dish!  

This all-day-dining Hong Min venue serves scrumptious Hong Kong dimsum, light meal, hot-pot and Chinese cuisine in a Thai-Chinese accent. I find the food is pretty good in local standard, lots of variety and reasonable prices. You can find this place easily, just hop on to BTS train, take a ride to National Stadium, follow direction exit to MBK Mall, once you find the Tops Supermarket, it is diagonally opposite the shop. 

ed with phad prik prao (fried pungent chili paste). Surprisingly it 
Hong Min by Hua Seng Hong 香味
Shop#3A09-11, 3/F MBK Centre
(also a branch on G/F near Tops Supermarket)444 Phayathai Road
Pathumwan, Bangkok 10330

Open daily : 11 am - 9 pm
Pay (food only for two): Around THB 150 for noodles/one dish menu, or THB 600 for full course

Upcoming Trip: Paris - London - Paris for Christmas Celebrations!

I've been struggling to book a good hotel in Paris & London. Nothing seems to be affordable once I converted the rate in ringgit. Is always a battle of location over price, or better package deal with breakfast or not. And wifi or no wifi.

In the end, I still think a good hotel's primary advantage is its location. Follow with wifi and breakfast. At least that is how I made my decision =)

Here are the tentative hotels that I've booked:

1. Hotel Joyce Paris - a local boutique hotel chain that has beautiful setting of french style. If you book direct from its website, you will be able to get a free breakfast, also on top of that this hotel serves tea-time after 2pm till mid-night. It's a nice touch after all when our ringgit has weakened so much no matter what we spent in Euro, it seems 5 times higher than the actual cost is

2. Doubletree by Hilton Hotel London at Westminster - I know it's a hotel that doesn't come cheap at all, after looking and compared with hotels price that offers at near surroundings. It doesn't seems bad after all. I've got a room around £120 per night, with free breakfast & wifi and it is within distance of walking to London Eye, Thames River, as well Trafalgar Square.

I hope I made the right choice so far, I'm so looking forward to our long-awaited trip for Xmas celebrations!

Stay tuned for my next update!

List of Hotels that I Stayed Before in Singapore [Singapore] 新加坡酒店推荐

I just logged on to agoda account today, and realised I've stayed in almost closed to 15 different hotels in Singapore during 2013/2015.

Here's the list of hotels that I have stayed, I will share in my next posting with more reviewseach and every of them. In the meantime, if you want to find out my experience in these hotels for your immediate decision-making, I'll be happy to do so, just drop me a message =)

1. Dorsett Singapore in New Bridge Road, closed by Chinatown
2. Carlton City Hotel Singapore, Gopeng Street, closed by Amoy Street.
3. The Scarlet Singapore Hotel, Erskine Road, closed by Ann Siang Hill & Chinatown.
4. Amara Singapore, Tanjong Pagar, next to Carlton City Hotel. Closed by Amoy Street.
5. Sheraton Towers Singapore Hotel, at Scotts Road.
6. Marina Mandarin Singapore, Marina Square, closed by Esplanade.
7. Amoy Hotel by Far East Hospitality, Telok Ayer Street.
8. Swissotel The Stamford Hotel, Marina Bay, right at the Cityhall mrt station.
9. The Orchard Hotel Singapore, Orchard, closed by Tangs & Marriott Hotel.
10. Conrad Singapore, Marina Bay, nearby Esplanade.
11. Grand Hyatt Singapore, in Orchard Road, closed by Tangs & Marriott Hotel.
12. ibis Singapore on Bencoolen Hotel, closed by Bugis.
13. Hard Rock Hotel - Resorts World Sentosa, in Sentosa, walking distance to Universal Studio
14. Peninsula Excelsior Hotel - Coleman Street. Closed by Raffles place and Suntec City.
15. Parkroyal on Pickering Street, closed by Amoy Street.

How to make Korean Ginseng Chicken Soup 韩国美食 [Korean Ginseng Chicken Soup - 韩国人参鸡汤]

How to make Korean Ginseng Chicken Soup

Things You'll Need:

1.   One whole Spring chicken or small Kampung chicken, or Cornfed chicken (note: do not 
      use normal meat chicken, it doesn't give a deep flavour to your soup base)
2.   8-12 garlic cloves (skin remove, crushed a little)
3.   12 Chinese dates (red jujube/ red dates)
4.   4-6 whole fresh/dried ginseng roots (soak in warm water for 3 hours before you cook). 
      You can get it from the chinese herbal store in Malaysia. If you happen to travel to 
      Korea, you should buy the dried ginseng from the korean ginseng factory or 
      Namdaemun market is a lot cheaper to have a real and authentic Korean taste. I have 
      thrown away the box but i remember it was around RM150 per box you will get around 
      30-40 small ginsengs. 
5.   Glutinous rice (soak in water for around 2 hours) 
6.   1 bunch of green onion  
7.   Fresh chestnut 
8.   Yarn - to tie the chicken leg 
9.   Korean Herbs for cooking Chicken Ginseng soup 
10. Rice water

Season To Taste:

1.   Sea Salt
2.   Freshly ground black pepper
3.   1 bunch green onion (cut to 2 inch) 
4.   Gi zhi
5.   Mixed nuts - sunflower seeds, pine nuts for garnishing 


Firstly, you need to remove and discard innards from chicken - especially the remaining liver. It has a fishy taste if you didn't not wash it clean, you can wash clean well under the running water. Pat dry with paper towels set aside. 

Stuff the chicken with half portion of red dates, garlics, ginseng and full portion of glutinous rice. To hold the contents in the chicken, make a deep vertical slit on the inner part of one drumstick, then insert the other leg through the cut. This way, you would not need to stitch or tie with kitchen yarn. If you do not have a korean clay pot, you can tie with yarn. 

Leave the chicken in the korean clay pot. The best way to cook korean ginseng chicken soup is to use korean clay pot, you can leave the pot directly on the stove for boiling the chicken soup, serve hot once is done. The clay pot would keep hot and is heated-proof till last drop of soup. 

Pour clear water or rice water (soak the normal cooking rice and use the water for soup base) in the korean clay pot, put rest of the red dates, garlics and ginseng.

Boil the water over high heat. Skim and discard fats that are floating, once boiled, turn down the heat to low heat. Cover your pot with lid, and continue to cook for about an hour.

Serve it hot with korean white rice or japanese white rice. For a simple and healthy meal, you can add on an organic fry veges dishes - my favourite to go with ginseng soup is either small pak choy or choy sum as side dishes. Lastly, just add sea salt & pepper, and garnish with green onions and gi-zhi (chinese herbs). This is a simple dish that everyone can learn how to cook this at home!

Bangkok Hotel 曼谷酒店 [Mercure Bangkok Siam Hotel @ Near BTS National Stadium, Siam Centre & Siam Paragon

Mercure Bangkok Siam Hotel is conveniently located in downtown of Bangkok's shopping district. Besides Sukhumvit area, this probably is the second best choice for me in terms of its location for many tourists or business travellers.

The hotel is steps away from the BTS Skytrain National Stadium station and the airport rail link. Also it is within walking distance to MBK Shopping Mall, Madame Tussauds Bangkok, Bangkok Art & Culture Centre, and it's just one station away to Siam Paragon Shopping mall. If you don't mind walking, it is reachable by foots still for around 15-20 minutes.

This hotel would be my second choice if I want to do some last minute shopping, it is convenient to reach by BTS. But don't expect to find much street food nearby, or even for massage. There's a small tiny 7-11 store right next to the hotel, where you can still get some local snacks and drink, and a few stalls selling some local street foods at night. But don't expect it is happening like Sukhumvit area -- especially near Terminal 21, where you get plenty of restaurant choices, plenty of massage parlours also most importantly the local streets food! They usually open in late afternoon, where you can get really cheap local food but yet super yummy, especially the BBQ skewers! It cost just 10 Baht for a grilled chicken wing!

I did not have a chance to take a nice shot from its exterior and surroundings. This photo is taken from Mercure website. ibis hotel sharing the same building as well, but not the hotel facilities or the same lobby.

 

Booked a superior Queen room with complimentary WiFi
Their wifi connection experience is one of the best, fast-speed and just required one single login. It doesn't require a new sign-in with password after come back from a long day meeting. There is no restriction on the number of gadgets to sign-in for the free WiFi as well. I know some hotels are pretty stingy on this.

Standard bath amenities 

Looking out from my window I can see the stadium - my room was located at level 21.

On the other side, can clearly see the BTS station and MBK Mall.

My room package  comes with breakfast. 

Honestly, nothing great. There ain't many choices from the hot food section. There's one eggs station, soupy noodle station, and a hot food buffet section. Even some simple local dishes did not meet my standard. Kinda disappointing.

Huge portion of bacon was served by the chef, it's not self-served. 

At least I enjoyed the yogurt drink that served chilled, also some fresh beetroot juices they provided every morning, and the fruits section.  

Bangkok Local Food Chain 曼谷美食 [S&P Restaurant] - Simply & Delicious Restaurant

S&P, Simply & Delicious food chain may not sound new to many of you who travel to Bangkok and other parts of Thailand frequently. S&P has branches all over Bangkok. You can usually find their stores in the airport or at the departmental stores selling pastries & cakes.

I recently bought a few durian mooncakes from Don Mueang Airport, honestly I still prefer the taste and the texture how Malaysian mooncake taste like. So it is forgettable if you are travelling to Bangkok during mid-autumn festival, well I would not recommend mooncake in Thai-Styles - really not to my taste.

But for S&P restaurants, they serve food more to the liking of local Thais, prices seems reasonable too. I eat at S&P restaurant chains in Bangkok sometimes when I travel for business. Here are the ones I would recommend, where the good is great, the prices are cheap and the selection of dishes are pretty good.

I love their menu always presenting with nice photos and clear description, also the marking of *** recommended dishes to try!

This is one of my favourite dishes, it is non-spicy but has a strong taste of Thai-dishes - fish sauce =)

Rice Noodle with Kurobuta Pork Slices with Gravy 黑豚河粉

If you love it spicy, just add on red cut chilies to it.

Fried Rice with Grilled Salmon & Omelette 三文鱼炒饭+煎蛋

my friend she's truly an Omelette lover! She can eat Omelette nearly everyday - in her breakfast, lunch & dinner...hahaha

This is the original professional photo taken from their website.

*P/s: sorry for the bad photo quality, we usually in a rush to go for next meeting ;(

So if you happen to see this restaurant while travelling in Bangkok, remember to pop-by and try their signature dishes =)

My ratings:
^^ Taste   8.5/10
^^ Service   9/10
^^ Price   8.5/10
^^ Environment   8/10
^^ Presentation of Food   8/10

McDonald's Self-Service Kiosks @ Siam Paragon

McDonald's is rolling out self-service kiosks in restaurants in many countries. I have yet to see this service in Malaysia but Thailand is taking the lead. This is a new self-service machine displayed in Siam Paragon shopping mall located at lower ground floor where the Siam Supermarket is.

This new McDonald's self-service machine probably meant to speed up the ordering process and you can choose to customise the food according to what you like. I feel this is a similar way when you ordering from their website for deliver, or even from mobile phone apps. Or even useful for tourists who faced challenge to communicate to the locals.

It is pretty simple and easy to place your order, I love the way how it gives full control to the way I love to customise my own burger. Simply upsize or add on additional promotion items with simple clear steps.

There's a big poster right in front of McDonald's entrance, you may follow the easy 3-steps to get your order done and pick-up at the counter later on.

The Touch-Screen Self-ordering machine

A tourist trying to order from the self-service kiosk.

The assistant will guide you through the process.

You can see at the left corner there's a monitor will display your ordering number. This reminds me of Tsui Wah Restaurant 翠華餐廳 in Hong Kong Airport.

It is simple and easy, you can even pay with your BTS Rabbit Card, or credit card. The ice-cream counter provides top-up service too =)  

Blogger Quick Tips: How to Make Your Picture Quality Better!

I've been trying to look for tips to know how to improve or to adjust my photo quality in blogspot. As I upload pictures where is taken from my iphone 6 plus, the photo quality will automatically be resized by blogspot and the quality is bad. I've been trying to look for a solution, and it seems that it can't be fixed in the setting. 

I gathered this tips from this blogger www.iheartyoucoffee.com, this blogger has shared an incredible solution to fix this problem, but rather tiring. Because you have to amend the html code almost on every images. 

So here's the tips: 
1. Upload photos from your pictures folder, album or any sources.  
2. Select the "Extra Large" as the picture size. 
3. Then go into the HTML of the actual blog post, and look for this bit of code: 



Source: from www.iheartyoucoffee.com 

Firstly, you'll need to look for the bit that says /s1600/ at the end of the first link and then /s640/ at the end of the second link. Delete the second bit that says 640 and replace it with 1600 so you have both links reading /s1600/. 

Although this problem seems simple at first glance, I would still think this is really painful to take extra hours to amend every single photos. I guess google just trying to save extra space or rather you need to subscribe for a bigger storage on cloud service in order to host better quality photo. 

I hope there's an automation code that would be able to change everything with just one click! Please make it Simple! 

Bangkok Restaurant 曼谷美食 [Ping's Shark Fin Restaurant @ MBK Mall] - The Best Chinese & Thai Seafoods in Bangkok

Bangkok city has plenty of good food. If you are looking for an authentic Teochew style chinese cooking in Thailand. I would highly recommend this place to many of you. This restaurant serve plenty of good food, not necessary to order Shark fin if you are against shark fin. 


Fish maw soup with prawn stew rice - absolutely delicious!

My favourite dessert - Coconut Jelly!

Open kitchen - where you can see the chef cooking 

My Favourite Dishes - must try! 

1. Shark Fin Soup - if you anti shark fin, you can opt for alternative fish maw soup =) 
2. Fish Maw Soup 
3. Braised Crab Meat/ Prawn Rice --- incredible taste! 
4. Braised goose web and noodle in claypot 
5. Fried Oyster Omelette on sizzling hot plate --- must try! 
6. Fish cake thai style 
7. Crab with vermichelli in claypot 
8. Crab meat Fried Rice ---  can never get enough!
9. Fry morning glory - Kangkong - i know it sounds silly, you just need to try it!
10. Coconut Jelly! --- how I wish I can take it home :(


Direction to get there - Ping's @ MBK Mall (Pathumwan Princess Hotel) 

It is quite easy to get there, get off at BTS National Stadium Station, exit to MBK Mall, you probably ended up in the clothing department. Just get down to the ground floor, exit the department store. Follow the signage that's pointing towards Pathumwan Princess Hotel. It takes around 10-15minutes walk to get there.   

Otherwise, just get a Tuk-tuk or Taxi :) 

Here's the address: 

Ping’s Thai Teochew Restaurant

Address:

Floor 2 Pathumwan Princess Phaya Thai Rd Pathum Wan, Bangkok 10330, Thailand