There were two places of significance that we went to today.
First was Bartels, whose food I'd actually had had for breakfast a couple of days ago but instead of the morning meal today we had it for lunch instead.
Second was Ban Tha Thong.
But that was only in the evening.
Morning we had our now-regular meal of eggs and toast, then we got some work done until early afternoon when we tried making up our minds what we ought to have for lunch, and finally decided that we could go to Bartels further up the road.
Google Maps tells me that there're three Bartels around the area, including Asok, but the one here- the one we went to- was at Khlong Toei- opposite Sukhumvit 47 Alley in the area Thong Lor.
Two-storeyed, we gave our orders at the counter downstairs, then went up where we found a table and settled down.
Looking at the menu now it's easy to see why Bartels is so popular amongst the health-conscious community in Bangkok- and I don't mean just the expats or the digital nomads. There're a fair number of locals too.
For one thing, their sandwiches are really, really good.
They've got the classics, like Bartels Deli and Stacked Eggs & Bacon, but the best charm has to be their Grilled Sandwiches on Sourdough.
The variety- no kidding.
Past few times we've tried Grilled Cheese, Grilled Tuna Melt, and Scrambled Eggs Salmon on Sourdough but next time I'm there, I'd want to try the Grilled Ham & Cheese, or the Salami & Brie.
Of course I'm glad to have tried the Grilled Cheese- it's one of those sandwiches I'd always heard about but never had a chance to try, but Ham & Cheese doesn't sound too bad, and I'm curious to know just how tasty (or salty) a Salami & Brie sandwich will be.
This afternoon we ordered a Grilled Tuna Melt, and a dish they call Turkish eggs.
The sandwich was so huge it's a miracle I managed to finish both pieces on my own.
And I still can't get over how there was this huge portion of Tuna Mousse over mild Cheddar with some Parmesan, another generous serving of pesto and a bit of mayo hidden somewhere.
The pesto and tuna went together perfectly well.
Mushy, yes, but with the melted cheese and the hard crusty toast, it was so good.
The Turkish eggs had two perfectly poached eggs sitting snug in a thick, creamy ocean of Greek yogurt upon which there was a bit of chilly oil, a scattering of mixed green leaves, and crispy toasted sourdough bread.
We both fell in love with the bread, and whilst we were feeling full by the Tuna Melt and that huge dish of Greek yogurt, we loved it so much we decided not to let it go to waste and tapaoed it to go.
I think we went for a quick massage after getting some work done.
Where precisely it was we went, I cannot recall.
But when that was over we headed to Banthat Thong.
Unlearned me had at first been surprised by the suggestion, like, why?
But I had not known- before coming here- that this street was one of the liveliest this side of town here in BKK. Running 2.2km long right through the districts of Pathum Wan and Ratchathewi close to Chulalongkorn University, this street has, apparently a large number of sporting goods shops and is, at all times, a street food haven.
I had also not known- before coming here- that colloquially this street had, in recent years, become known as Yaorawat 2, or Bangkok's 'second Chinatown'.
But when we alighted from the Grab and looked around, I understood why.
This wasn't just a place with street food and restaurants and cafes and eating places.
This was a place that burst with youthful excitement and groups of young adults milling and chilling about.
We walked along the road, dodging fellow tourists and locals who had made their way down here for an evening, until we came to this place called Heng Hoitod Chawlae.
Known for its Hoi Tod (crispy oyster omelet), that, exactly is what we ordered, along with a plate of carrot cake because I looked at the picture and found it impossible to ignore.
Let's just say we will not be forgetting the crisp of the oyster omelet anytime soon.
Neither will we be forgetting the oil.
But we didn't care.
You don't give a hoot about the oil when you're eating a very, very crisp cracker-like omelet base instead of the
For the first time in our lives, we were eating a very, very crisp cracker-like omelet base instead of the chewy, grey-starch ones that we were commonly used to.
So crisp, dry and crackery was it that we first broke the pieces off with our forks before picking it up to eat with our hands.
To my surprise, the cracker part wasn't tasteless, and in fact, the salty-savory taste went very well with the oysters and the egg itself.
Just imagine, there was the crunch of the flour, there was the boing-boing part of the egg, and then the big juicy mush of the oyster.
A mix of textures and tastes that previously I hadn't had before.
Same too it was for the radish cake- whose picture in the menu we simply pointed and have now forgotten its Thai name.
I have had plates of chye tow kuay here on the island, and they've always been good, but few are the places, however, where the kuay is cut into chunks this size, or wok hei-ed to the degree where each piece gives you that slight taste of the burnt mixed with the hint of soy sauce coated all over through.
I'd love to have a slower time at this place next time.
Maybe I'll make a proper dinner out of it and try more dishes even.
After this we headed out for a bit of dessert.
It wasn't planned, actually.
We happened to pass by just as we were making our way back to MBK Center and Siam BTS Station, but then on the menu outside there were these pictures, and they looked interesting, so in we went.
It is very, very seldom that I get to try a warm dessert of pumpkin soup.
Pumpkin bread, pumpkin kueh, pumpkin in all manner of forms, yes, I've seen, but pumpkin mushed up and boiled and made into a dessert like this, no, so we tried.
What surprised me about this dessert was the lightness of taste, and the thickness of consistency.
I've been so used to the opposite where the sweet is heavy and the texture is thin.
This here held the faint sweetness of the pumpkin vegetable, its bright orange color, and the thick pureed texture.
So well-cooked was it that it felt like a meal all on its own.
And I liked it so much we had two bowls.
This, despite the fact that we'd also ordered a bowl of tofu in ginger soup, which, I too had wanted to try, because whilst I have had tofu (or soy bean curd as we call it here) in sweet syrup and in soybean milk, I've never had it with ginger soup, and I wanted to try.
It's a very stimulating dessert, actually, and I don't know which I like better- the ginger, or the soft pudding-like texture of tofu that I carved up and ate.
We finished, and went back to the Thong Lor area, but there were smoothies we wanted to buy, so instead of going to the TOPS on 41, we went to the TOPS at Marche Thong Lor on Thong Lo itself, then walked back to 51, first along (a rather dark) Thong Lo 5 Alley, a left on 53, then one block to 51.