The Firehouse (Bangkok, THAILAND) ★★★★☆

After consecutive days of curry and tom yum goong, my friend and I decided to take a detour tonight and head to one of the finest burger joints in Bangkok.

Awarded "Best New Burger" in 2011, The Firehouse believes the best burgers are ones that are custom made by hand using the freshest ingredients. One of their secret weapons are their tasty beef patties, made from chemical and hormone-free French-Thai beef. 



From our first glance, the restaurant looked more like a fireman museum than an award-winning burger joint. Different fireman hats, equipment as well as photos of fireman were put on display everywhere.



What would a burger meal be without a milkshake, you ask!? That's right. Let's start with a vanilla milkshake with premium vanilla ice cream, split vanilla beans and fresh milk.



Next up was Firehouse's signature "Premium Burger" with 180 grams of fresh ground Pon Yang Kham organic Thai-French beef, crisp lettuce, tomato, grilled red onion and mayo.



But the highlight of the night belonged to these three lovely mini-burgers. It came with four different dips including BBQ sauce, crispy bacon bits, guacamole and peanut butter. 

Juicy, tender and mouthwatering!

Food Rating: 6/10
Price: ฿฿฿
Address: 3/26 Sukhumvit 11 (Chaiyot) Klongtoey Nua, Wattana, Bangkok, Thailand
Closest Metro Station: Nana
Tel: + 66 (0) 2651 3643
Website: www.firehousethailand.com/en/home/

Nahm (Bangkok, THAILAND) ★★★☆☆

Australia-born chef, David Thompson went back to Thailand, the country where he discovered his culinary inspiration with his first-ever restaurant in Bangkok - Nahm. Nahm Bangkok situated at the Metropolitan Hotel, was a much lighter version of his Michelin-starred Nahm at The Halkin in London. Lighter as in the sense that it's much more easy-going and casual, while still preserving the authenticity.

In 2012, Nahm Bangkok was rated by S. Pellegrino as the World's 50th Best Restaurant, the first Bangkok restaurant to ever break into the top 50. That certainly added some extra incentive to our much anticipated visit to this restaurant. Is it a rising star in the making or just a one-year wonder? We are about to find out.

On our way to the restaurant, we had a chat with our taxi driver and he told us, "If you want the best Thai food in Bangkok, try Celadon at the Sukothai Hotel. Nahm is no comparison.". Perhaps our taxi driver knew something that we didn't...

Over the years, Thompson has never hidden his passion for Thai street food and he does not shy away from bringing these wonderful street food to Nahm. Out of the 2-page lunch menu, one single page (actually 5 items only) was dedicated to some of Thailand's best street food and today's theme was rice noodle. On the second half of the menu, there were other selections for starters (4), soup (2), main (5) and dessert (2). Not what you call a comprehensive lunch menu but nevertheless adequent.

Lunch began with an interesting amuse bouche - a chicken and pork ball on top of a slice of pineapple. The sauce was made quite sticky while tasting both sweet and spicy (5/10).



We ordered one of the rice noodles just to get a read on Thompson's interpretion of this popular street dish. Unfortuately we could not hide our disappointment. The noodle was a bit cold and the chicken and wild ginger sauce was underwhelming (4/10). 




There were all kinds of curry in the main course and what better else to start with a green curry with tiger prawns, apple eggplant and thai basil. The tiger prawns were good. The curry was okay but not finger-licking good (5.5/10).



Next up was a grilled duck breast with red curry and sour tomatoes. I liked the thickness of this curry but the grilled duck breast was a bit too chewy (4.5/10).



Perhaps I was too hyped up about this lunch at Nahm that I got a bit carried away thinking that this would be my best meal in Bangkok ever. My perception was wrong.

Despite my lack of knowledge in Thai food, I do trust my taste buds on this one. This was not an impressive showing I was hoping for. Places like spice Market, Sweet Curry etc. offered so much more exciting selections.

And one more thing, the management team here should do a better job training up their waiting staff. They gave me an impression that they did not know their menu all too well. Perhaps we should have taken our taxi driver's advice - Celadon?

Food Rating: 5/10
Price: ฿฿฿
Address: Metropolitan by COMO, 27 South Sathorn Road, Bangkok, Thailand
Closest Metro Station: Lumphini
Tel: +66 (0) 2625 3388
Website: www.comohotels.com/metropolitanbangkok/dining/nahm
S. Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants: 50th (2012)
S. Pellegrino Asia's 50 Best Restaurants: 3rd (2013)



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Grande Centre Point Terminal 21 (Bangkok, THAILAND)

I am kicking off the new year with a short trip to Bangkok but instead of Jelloman, I have Master Shifu traveling with me on this one. In the past, I have traveled with Master Shifu many different times in a large group but this was the first time we've gone on a trip with just the two of us.

We have done a lot of research on hotel accommodations in Bangkok before deciding on Grande Centre Point Terminal 21. It's a relatively new hotel (opened 2 years ago in 2011) with a modest price tag. Most importantly, it's right on top of Asok BTS station so transportation won't be a problem.

I didn't bring my camera on this trip so the photos didn't look all that sharp. But trust me, my room was a sleek modern one decorated mostly in white and beige color. They put me on the 21st floor so I was able to enjoy a lovely city view through the windows of my light flooded room.

One thing we never have to worry about is not having enough room in a Bangkok hotel. 

I am amazed how hotels in Bangkok always manage to fit both a shower room and bath tub into their bathrooms.

The city view, there wasn't much there except the back streets of Sukhumvit.

Of course, we had to take advantage of the hotel's prime location next to the Terminal 21 shopping mall. Once we dropped off our luggage, it was time to get a quick bite at the mall.

They have a "Let's Relax" spa directly connected to our hotel. So, after a late lunch, we immediately stormed to the spa to get a nice Thai massage done before dinner time. I actually fell asleep during my treatment and it really wasn't until my masseur patted me on my back that I finally regained my consciousness. 

Grande Centre Point Terminal 21 has a very nice swimming pool (most hotels in the city do) and to our pleasant surprise, there aren't that many people using it at all. Perhaps everyone has gone out for shopping!?

An infinity edge pool overlooking the city centre and river. Needless to say, we spent quite a bit of time here.

The gym is open till late.

The hotel has the prime location any tourist would love and there's a BTS station right underneath; what's there not to like right? Well, there were a couple of things I didn't like about my stay. For one, the breakfast buffet wasn't very good. The selection of food wasn't great and as one would expect from a large hotel with over 20 floors, the breakfast hall couldn't accommodate so many guests at the same time. So, we had to wake up a bit early to catch our breakfast. Secondly, for a hotel opened for just 2 years, it's showing signs of wearing out way too early. But this doesn't bother us all that much considering our stay was a short one.

Rating: ❤❤❤

Price: ฿฿฿

Address:  2 Soi Sukhumvit 19 Sukhumvit Road, 10110 Bangkok, Thailand

Closest BTS Station: Asok

Tel: +66 2056-9000

Website: www.grandecentrepointterminal21.com