Bangkok: Days 4 & 5

We got a late start. Sleeping in has become the norm. Usually, this would be fine for a vacation, but those cooler hours in the morning have become the only time to see any non-air-conditioned sights, which is the majority of sights here. So, when we sleep in, the day is pretty much shot in terms of sightseeing. We can still eat, though. 

For lunch, we decided on dim sum at Hong Bao. It’s in the mall. Yep, we went back to the mall. Hong Bao has an upscale chain-y feel, like P.F. Chang’s. My go-to drink has become soda water with a bit of lime squeezed in. It’s thirst-quenching and refreshing, and I cannot recommend it enough in hot weather. So, I ordered one of those, and Aaron and I split some steamed shrimp dumplings, BBQ pork buns, and pork soup dumplings. Everything came in odd numbers, but it worked out that Aaron liked the BBQ pork buns significantly more than the other two, so we traded. My favorite was the soup dumplings, which were juicy and garlicky. For dessert, we ordered some salted egg custard steamed buns, which for some reason are usually served as a non-dessert item here, despite the fact that their filling tastes like the inside of a Cadbury Cream Egg, only saltier. 

After lunch, we went to our favorite bookstore, which we have visited more times than any other place here in Bangkok. And every time we leave with more books–so much for packing light. Aaron has gotten particularly into reading on this trip, and spends all our downtime devouring books. I’ve gotten particularly into Fire Emblem: Three Houses, which I’m sure is just as enriching as literature. 

It was a lazy day after that. I think the day before had been so busy that Aaron and I were both craving quite a bit of downtime. We ordered in for dinner from Il Bolognese, the same place we ordered from a few nights ago. They have these fried eggplant balls in this salty, acidic tomato sauce that you dip in burrata cream, and then die, because it’s the best thing you’ve ever eaten. The pizza is fantastic, too. We chowed down and watched Fullmetal Alchemist and promised to wake up earlier the next day. 

Alas, it was not to be. To tell the truth, the day before it was Aaron’s fault we didn’t get a start on the day until late, but this next morning was entirely my fault. I did that thing where I slept so long that I was too groggy to wake. I didn’t need the sleep; my body had just decided it was going into hibernation mode. Aaron was smart enough to not wait for me, and went off to check out a temple on his own.

When I woke, we agreed to meet at a coffeehouse, and I took my first “GrabBike,” which is a motorcycle Uber. It was a bit awkward, because usually I would put my arms around the driver to keep from falling off the bike, but the driver was a stranger. This time, I just held on to the seat. The driver was great! He wove through traffic a bit, but was so deft that I never felt unsafe. I’ve taken several tuk-tuks that were much more terrifying than this motorcycle ride. Aaron had beat me to the coffeehouse, also via GrabBike. From there, we made lunch plans.

Nahm has a Michelin star. It’s not the most expensive restaurant in Bangkok, but it’s certainly not the cheapest either. When I want to eat fancy, I try to pick a place that’s open for lunch. Lunch set menus at upper-crust restaurants tend to be priced around what a nice dinner would cost at a mid-range restaurant–it’s at night that the bill becomes exorbitant. Our guidebook had a few recommendations before Nahm, but Nahm was the only one open for lunch, so Nahm it was. We had a difficult time finding it, tucked as it was in the corner of a large hotel, between some other large hotels. The decor was white-tablecloth modern, as was the food. I need to start taking pictures of the menus at these places, because I can never remember what I ordered. It’s never just “Chicken Massaman Curry.” Instead, it will be “Browned Cornish Hen with Yukon Gold Potatoes and Vidalia Onions in a Coconut & Palm-Sugar Broth, Spiced with Galangal, Cardamom, Cloves and Cinnamon on a Bed of Fluffed Jasmine Rice,” ya know? Our lunch set included an amuse bouche that I think had some dried shredded fish? And a couple of canapes, one of which was served on a betel leaf? And then our entrees, one of which had fish dumplings (mine) and the other of which included starfruit and fried shrimp (Aaron’s). It was all fine. Innovative, fun, yummy, sure, but also a bit overpriced. It wasn’t innovative or yummy enough to justify the price. I wish there were more restaurants that forwent all the floral arrangements and table linens and just concentrated on making artful food at reasonable prices. Nahm was a lot of pomp for a middling pay-off. 

You’ll never believe this, but following our afternoon downtime, we went to a mall. I told you a lot of what there is to do in Bangkok involves being at a mall. For some insane reason, Aaron and I had a promise to keep, a promise we’d made many weeks ago, when we were missing western food, a promise to get a bloomin’ onion at Outback Steakhouse in Bangkok. So now, we were at the mall again, because of course Outback Steakhouse is in a mall here. And you know what? That bloomin’ onion was off the chain. I liked this stupid bloomin’ onion and its spicy horseradish dip more than any dish in my entire fancy meal at Nahm. There’s no accounting for taste, I guess. 

Tomorrow, we really would get up early. 

Author’s note: Usually, below this last sentence, you would find a slideshow of photos, but since we didn’t do anything particularly photogenic these two days, all you get are those dumplings at the top of the post.