Oh My Godmother EmSphere (Bangkok, THAILAND) ★★★☆☆

The final destination of our Bangkok trip will be EmSphere, a lifestyle, shopping and dining hub in Sukhumvit, just a few steps from EmQuartier. It was opened back in December 2023 just before the new year. We didn't have anything planned for dinner but figured we should check out a number of popular eateries in the mall including the red hot Oh My Godmother (OMGM).

When I said red hot, I meant OMGM has been one of the most popular cafés in Bangkok right now (with the exception of Le Café Louis Vuitton of course). The collaboration with Korean patissier Narae Kim who was the creator of the famous Godmother's Chiffon cake in Ho Chi Minh City, has proved to be a very successful one so far thanks to an exciting array of fusion dishes. Apart from their signature fusion pasta, OMGM also offers some of the cutest chiffon cakes with a variety of flavors including sweet corn and earl grey.

Seafood Doria (฿580) – The parsley rice pilaf was nicely topped with shrimp, calamari, clams and black mussels in a creamy sauce, finished off with cheddar and parmesan. Pretty decent.

Brown mushroom linguine AOP (฿320) – The al dente linguine was sautéed with champignon and brown shimeji mushrooms. 

Spaghetti mentaiko cream & shrimp (฿520) – Another pasta dish. This was a little soupier than I thought with the mentaiko cream flowing all over the spaghetti. There were a lot of ingredients in this one including shrimp, ikura, Japanese onion and nori strips; and the extra kick from the mentaiko cream meshed well with the pasta. (They always do).

I wish I had the room for their chiffon cakes but with Le Café Louis Vuitton coming up shortly (more on that later), it was time to settle the bills and venture back over to Gaysorn Village. 

Food Rating: 5.1/10

Price: ฿฿

Address: G/F The EmSphere, 524 Sukhumvit Road, Khlong Tan, Khlong Toei, Bangkok, Thailand

Closest BTS Station: Phrom Phong

Tel: +66 (0) 2125-6901

Website: https://www.instagram.com/omgm.bkk/?hl=en

Opening Hours: 10:00am - 10:00pm daily

Tease at The Standard Bangkok Mahanakhon (Bangkok, THAILAND) ★★★☆☆

I had about an hour left before my dinner at Sühring and after promising myself I'd put the extra hour into good use, I finally followed through on my promise.

Following a brief stop at Brioche from Heaven, I ventured over the bridge to The Standard Bangkok Mahanakhon, whose décor could only be described as quirky, fun and refreshing.

I immediately headed up to the lobby floor on Level 4 and there was the hotel reception with an orange colored theme on one side, and lobby lounge, bar and Tease on the other.

Tease is best known for its unique afternoon tea with eccentric design, classic blends and boozy twists.

As I arrived late (really late), the afternoon tea set was already sold out (not that I wanted to indulge in an afternoon tea less than an hour before my culinary adventure at Sühring). So instead, I went with a slightly less decadent Paris-Brest and a cup of Oolong tea.

Paris Brest – This came with a rich hazelnut praline custard cream in the middle, topped with roasted hazelnut. I thought it was pretty tasty but the hazelnut praline cream could have been a little more light and airy, rather than custardy and frozen. That was my only complaint really.

I was running out of time to enjoy my dessert and tea. As it was raining harder and harder outside, I decided to solicit help from my Grab app for a quick ride.

Food Rating: 6.2/10

Price: ฿฿฿

Address: 4/F The Standard Bangkok Mahanakhon, 114 Narathiwas Road, Silom, Bangrak, Bangkok, Thailand

Closest BTS Station: Chong Nonsi

Tel: +66 (0) 2085-8888

Opening Hours: 1:00pm - 1:00am daily

James Boulangerie ICONSIAM (Bangkok, THAILAND) ★★★☆☆

Everyone was still trying to find their most instagrammable dessert on this Bangkok trip. To add fuel to the fire, I recommended a trip to James Boulangerie, a dessert café cum bakery on the 6th floor of ICONSIAM in order to make sure that we have something to write about on IG.

Best known for his award-winning croissants, executive chef James-Pachara Tengkiat has a couple of things up his sleeve at James Boulangerie including this cute creation of crispy croissant and milk soft serve.

They have a nice collection of pastries available as well, including the classic opera cake, strawberry pistachio tart and more.

Croissant x soft cream and Macadamia nuts (฿200) – Apparently a hit on IG when it was first launched, this came with different croissants including their plain, almond and black cocoa dough (temporarily unavailable during our visit).

Too cute to eat, you say?

Mango sticky rice tart (฿235) – I was in danger of missing out on my KPI for mango sticky rice on this trip so I went with this deconstructed version of the famous Thai dessert instead.

Inside the cylindrical almond pastry was a mix of tropical flavors including mango mousse, coconut mousse and coconut flavored sticky rice, topped nicely by a layer of mango jelly and fresh diced mango. 

I thought the crust was a little bit thick but otherwise not bad.

Now that we had our afternoon tea out of the way, it was time to say goodbye to ICONSIAM and onto the next destination we go. At this point, I will be taking a different route from my team. Jelloman and the crew will be heading back to Siam Paragon for more shopping and tonight's dinner while yours truly will indulge on a highly anticipated meal at Sühring by the twins. No.23 in the world and No.7 in Asia (2024). Really looking forward to this one tonight.  

On a separate note, I thought little nugget really enjoyed his time spent at ICONSIAM this afternoon. The boat ride from across the river was always a nice (but short) adventure but walking around the gigantic shopping mall immersing himself in the Thai tradition provided yet another highlight for his journey.

Food Rating: 6/10

Price: ฿฿฿

Address: Shop 609, 6/F ICONSIAM (Insuide True Shop), 299 Charoen Nakhon Road, Khlong Ton Sai, Khlong San, Bangkok, Thailand

Closest BTS Station: Charoen Nakhon

Tel: +66 (0) 95 986-6669

Opening Hours: 10:00am - 10:00pm (Mon - Thu), 10:00am - 12:00am (Fri - Sun)

Paul Le Café ICONSIAM (Bangkok, THAILAND) ★★☆☆☆

In 2015, we were on hand to witness Paul Bakery’s first foray into Bangkok at Central Embassy. Almost a decade later, the number of Paul Le Café coffee shops already grow close to 20, and they have outlets scattered around the city. Even after lunch when we visited ICONSIAM, we happened to run into one at the upscale shopping mall by the river.

The coffee shop is hidden inside what looks like a consumer electronic store.

I wasn't particularly hungry but little nugget was, and he wanted something sweet!

The XL raspberry macaron was the perfect choice for him.

No complaints from him!

Well, I was less satisfied with my giant chocolate eclair to be honest. It didn't have that perfect tender-crisp texture I was looking for. In fact, by looking at the pastries from the counter display, I could tell that they were at least a notch down where they were a decade ago. 

Afterwards, I went out to the terrace to check out the river view. It was amazing to just sit there and watch the boats going up and downstream. It almost felt like the world was moving at slow motion (or standstill).

Food Rating: 4.2/10

Price: ฿฿฿

Address: Shop 312, 3/F ICONSIAM (Insuide True Shop), 299 Charoen Nakhon Road, Khlong Ton Sai, Khlong San, Bangkok, Thailand

Closest BTS Station: Charoen Nakhon

Tel: +66 (0) 2118-2780

Opening Hours: 10:00am - 8:00pm daily 

Paris Mikki at CentralWorld (Bangkok, THAILAND) ★★★★☆

In 2019, I was looking all over Bangkok for some of the most authentic French pastries in town. After months of online research and a full week of running away the city, I finally ran into Paris Mikki.



Now with 13 branches (and counting) around Bangkok, Paris Mikki is the brainchild of owner-chef Carol Boosaba, an Angelina and Ladurée alumni who has more than a decade of experience baking the traditional French way. I decided to re-visit this branch in CentralWorld after a span of five years.

Despite all the mixed reviews about Paris Mikki's creations, this café remained one of the most popular eateries in the bustling CentralWorld.

Lady Pinske (฿322) – We had this when we were here in 2019 and back then, it cost just 190 Baht!

The raspberry compote and gelée were beautifully matched with a silky, delectable lychee mousse while the almond dacquoise provided some crunchy texture to the mix. Nice to have this again after five years.

Basque Cheesecake (฿275) – Very light, airy and creamy in the middle, according to cheesecake specialist, my little nugget!

Copa Cabana (฿275) – Following the lychee-raspberry marriage, here comes the timeless combination of coconut and strawberry.

The well-executed coconut mousse cake came with a centre of runny strawberry compote for a nice balance of sweetness and acidity, while the exterior of shaved coconut provided a surface of crunch and slightly chewy texture for a well-rounded finish.

If you have time for just one dessert from a home grown dessert café in Bangkok, go and check out Paris Mikki! Its CentralWorld location opens until 10pm daily and just in case you happen to be in Central Embassy on a Friday night, its outpost there remains open until midnight.

Food Rating: 6.5/10

Price: ฿฿฿

Address: Unit K103, B1F CentralWorld, 999/9 Rama I Road, Pathumwan, Bangkok, Thailand

Closest BTS Station: Siam / Chit Lom

Tel: +66 (0) 64 941-7445

Opening Hours: 10:00am - 10:00pm daily

Audrey Café des Fleur at Emquartier (Bangkok, THAILAND) ★★☆☆☆

Audrey Café is an all-day casual dining café that offers Thai-European fare at different locations in Bangkok, more or less in the mold of Greyhound Café. Both cafes have very similar style of comfort food (think soup, salad, pasta with a Thai twist) and even the collection of desserts look very similar (mostly crepe cakes).



I have only had dessert at Audrey Café (at Central Embassy) before and I remembered they had a very good Thai milk tea crepe cake and a so-so milo one. That was 4 years ago and I think it's time for me to get re-acquainted with what they have to offer now.



Like Dazzling Cafe from Taiwan, Audrey also has their entire staff dressed in traditional French maid outfit. That was pretty cute.

This branch of Audrey at Emquartier called Audrey Café des Fleur looks a lot "younger" than the one at Central Embassy. They've added some lush green garden feel to make it more homey and down to earth.



Of course, they know exactly what they are famous for - their crepe cakes including flavors like Thai milk tea, milo and coconut.



The coconut flavor with rainbow colors is a limited-time-only special edition to celebrate their 7th anniversary.



Didn't know they also offer these cute-looking cupcakes too. But I'm not a fan...



Thai milk tea crepe cake - Somehow this tasted nothing like we had 4 years ago.



I still recalled its texture being very light and pillowy like those from Lady M but the layers of these crepes were really thick and most importantly, it was really bland.



Without the Thai milk tea ganache, I probably could never tell it's supposed to be flavored with Thai milk tea. Very disappointing!



Unicorn coconut crepe cake - The crepes again didn't have the perfect paper-thin thickness so I knew we were in trouble.



I thought the different colors means different flavors but honestly I just couldn't tell. Very one-dimensional, that's how I would put it (They need to try my favorite rainbow crepe cake from Billy Angel Cake in Seoul and learn something from there).

Food Rating: 4.8/10
Price: ฿฿฿
Address: Shop Q8A-2, 8/F Helix Emquartier, 1357 Sukhumvit 35 Alley, Bangkok, Thailand
Closest BTS Station: Phrom Phong
Tel: +66 (0) 2003-6244
Website: www.audreygroup.com

Paris Mikki at CentralWorld (Bangkok, THAILAND) ★★★★☆

I have been looking all over Bangkok for some of the most authentic French pastries in town. After months of online research and a full week of running away the city, I finally ran into Paris Mikki.



Situated at the ground floor of CentralWorld (as a pop-up?) near Isetan, Paris Mikki is the brainchild of owner-chef Carol Boosaba, an Angelina and Ladurée alumni who has more than a decade of experience baking the traditional French way.



After hearing all the mixed reviews about Paris Mikki's creations, I was a little surprised how much buzz this pop-up cafe has created in the middle of CentralWorld. The place was constantly full and people were jockeying for positions just to get a clear picture of their instagrammable cakes.




Lady Pinske (190 Baht) - I have always been a fan of a lychee raspberry marriage.



The raspberry compote and gelée were beautifully matched with a silky, delectable lychee mousse and the almond dacquoise provided some crunchy texture to the mix. Pretty nice.



Orangette (200 Baht) - Following the lychee-raspberry marriage, here comes the timeless combination of orange and chocolate.




This well-executed milk chocolate mousse cake comes with an orange compote centre, for a lovely balance of sweetness and acidity, combining well with the hazelnut chocolate biscuit base. Not bad.



If I could make room for their plain croissant, I certainly would. This was crowned "Champion of 2015" among all croissants in Bangkok via a blind taste test.



If you have time for just one dessert from a home grown dessert cafe in Bangkok, go and check out Paris Mikki. Its pop-up cafe at CentralWorld may not last forever but the Asoke and Central Embassy locations are both open 7 days a week.




Food Rating: 6.6/10
Price: ฿฿฿
Address: Shop K103, CentralWorld, No. 4, 4/1 – 4/2, 4/4 Ratchadamri Road, Pathumwan, Bangkok, Thailand
Closest BTS Station: Siam / Chit Lom
Tel: +66 (0) 2003-6244
Website: www.facebook.com/ParisMikki/