T&K Seafood, Yaowarat Chinatown

Yaowarat or known as Chinatown to tourists, comes alive at night as many hawkers set up their stalls by the road to sell mostly birdnest, sharksfin and seafood. 

T&K Seafood is one of the more popular hawker stalls where both tourists and locals come to enjoy dinner or a late night supper. 

Tables are all set up along the shop corridors (which are closed already) and along the road. Don't be surprised that the stall is a tiny portable cart, they actually do all the cooking at the backstreet instead. Staff are all don in green polo tee, to differentiate them from the stall opposite, where staff wear pink tee. 

The menu is easy to navigate, with pictures for all dishes and also written in English. Even the seafood prices are indicated based on per dish, so that you don't have to worry about over paying due to the unknown weight of the seafood. 

We were served 3 different types of chilli, the most spicy being the green colour one! They must have put a lot of chilli padi in it. 

The fried rice came first, but it was quite disappointing. The rice was oily and a little raw. Furthermore, there was not much flavour to this dish. (THB50 for small portion)

Then came the stir fried morning glory (or what we call KangKong). What I liked about this dish is the garlic. They use very tiny garlic bulbs to fry this dish and it adds a tint of garlic flavour with every bite. Great for garlic lovers like me. (THB50)

Grilled tiger prawns (THB150 for small portion). The small portion serves 4 prawns, just nice for the 4 of us. Their heads are super huge, so if you are a lover of prawn heads this will suit your palette well. 

Steamed crab with glass noodle in claypot (THB 300 for small portion). Thailand is famous for 2 types of crab dish, one is the curry crab, the other is the glass noodle claypot crab. The glass noodle is very flavourful and considering the cheap price of THB300 (SGD 13), can't complain much about the crab. 

Seafood tom yum soup (THB150 for Large portion). A must dish to order when in Thailand. This one has coconut milk added in it, to give the soup a milky colour. I prefer this type of tom yum soup than the clear type as it has a light coconut fragrance and not so spicy as well. 

The prices at T&K seafood are really reasonable and their seafood is quite fresh. However, the place is quite dirty, with rubbish all around the floor, and a rubbish bin below every table. If you don't mind the hygiene, it will be a good place to visit for supper especially after a round of massage.

And this was exactly what we did, after enjoying a 2 hours thai massage at Healthland, we hopped onto a cab straight to Yaowarat T&K seafood!

T&K Seafood

49-51 Soi Phadung Dao, Yaowarat Road, Bangkok 
Open daily: 6pm - 2am
Getting there: the easiest way is to take a cab there. Just inform the driver - Yaowarat road. Taxi prices are average around THB 60-100 around city area. 

Long Table Bangkok

As the name suggest, Long Table restaurant has Bangkok's longest existing table at 25m. Located at the 25th floor of the Column Tower at Sukhumvit Soi 16, Long Table serves contemporary Thai fusion cuisine. 

Ms V suggested going to this restaurant for dinner as it was recommended by her friend. 

The long table sits at the middle of the restaurant. 

If you're lucky enough like us, you can get the sofa seats at the side of the restaurant. Of course you will have to take off your shoes before entering the sofa seats. 

The prices of the food are on the high side, with a set menu priced at THB1290++ per person (approx SGD 65)

We ordered from the ala-carte menu instead:

Pomelo salad with steamed white sea prawn (THB250). If you are a pomelo lover, you would definately like this dish as the salad dressing brings out the sweetness of the pomelo, with a hint of crunchy prawn in every bite.

Tuna & octopus cappricio with sesame vinaigrette, roasted rice and chick pea salsa (THB250). 

Mushroom vegetable spring roll (THB130).  

Crispy chicken wing stuffed with herbal pork and prawn filling (THB250). This is a difficult dish to make as you have to remove the bones before you can stuff the fillings into the chicken wing. 

Stir fry rice noodles (Pad Thai) with prawns and squid (THB350). The tiger prawns are deep fried separately and then put on top of the pad thai. I would prefer they use smaller prawns and fried together with the pad thai instead as the tiger prawn did not blend with the dish.  

Steamed sea bass with ginger, mushroom and herb jus (THB650). We expected it to be just  a piece of sea bass but this is really a unique way of preparing it, wrapping the vegetables in the fish to steam it. 

The bar at the restaurant, where you can chill out and enjoy a popular selection of cocktail.

As Long Table is located on the 25th floor, there is also a outdoor area if you prefer to soak in Bangkok's night view while sipping your glass of drink. However, the scenery is just average, and can't be compared with Sirocco or Vertigo.

Our damage for the night: THB3825 after 10% service charge and 7% VAT. Comes up to approximately SGD40 per person. Not cheap considering Bangkok prices, but hey, much of the price is paying for the ambiance right?
And did you realise that the company's name is called "No Problem Co., Ltd" ? trust someone to name their company No Problem. 


Long Table Bangkok

25th floor, 48 Column Tower, Sukhumvit Soi 16, Bangkok
Open daily: 5pm to 2am / dinner is served from 6 - 11pm
Dress code: smart casual

Mister Donut

Mister Donut is the largest chain of Donut store in Japan, with more than 1300 stores found in almost every main street of Japan. They are popular for their cheap, delicious donuts and you don't have to queue for a long time unlike Krispy Kreme. 

Periodically, they will have a JPY100 sale for their donuts, which normally sell between JPY120 - JPY150. 

And just like St Marc cafe, donuts are self service where you take a tong and tray, select your favourite donut and pay at the cashier at the end of the line.

You will also find a seasonal or special edition item in the stores and these items changes every few months. When I visited, the special item was the snoopy mont blanc house. 

We ordered the chocolate french cruller, angel cream donut and a cup of coffee. And did you know that their coffee is refillable as well? Their service is so good that the waitress even brought the coffee pot to your table to refill the coffee for you!

These are some of the special items that have been created by Mister Donuts for the past years. Kudos to the people who think up of all these creative donuts!

Mister Donut

www.misterdonut.jp (Japanese only)

Tokyo Ramen Street - Ramen Honda

Ramen streets are becoming popular in Japan, as they gather some of Japan's famous ramen shops all within an area so ramen fans do not have to travel far to enjoy a bowl of delicious ramen. 

Tokyo Ramen Street, located at the Yaesu Underground Exit of Tokyo station features some of Tokyo's most famous ramen shops. 

There are a total of 8 ramen restaurants at Tokyo Ramen Street, each with their own special soup and taste. 
Four shops were originally opened in June 2009, namely:
1) Rokurinsha Tokyo (六厘舎TOKYO)
2) Hirugao　(塩専門ひるがお)
3) Ramen Mutsumiya　(らーめんむつみ屋)
4) Keisuke Kitanosho　(蟹専門けいすけ北の章)

The grand opening took place in April 2011, whereby another four shops opened:
5) Shichisai/Tokyo Edoama　(麺や七彩/Tokyo江戸甘)
6) Ikaruga (東京駅斑鳩)　
7) Honda (麺処ほん田)
8) Junk Garage (ジャンクガレッジ)

After looking through all the 8 shops, we decided on Ramen Honda as it has a shouyu ramen which L likes, as well as tsukemen which I wanted to try. 

Their menu is simple:

Asari (light) flavour of either shio (salt) or shoyu (soya sauce) ramen which the soup is made using chicken and fish broth. 

Kotteri (rich) flavour tsukemen (dry noodles) of miso or shoyu thick soup which is cooked in Pork and fish broth. 

For the heavy eaters, they also have a variety of rice with toppings side menu to go with your ramen. You can also order almond tofu for dessert (only limited to 20 per day)

As with all the other ramen shops, you have to purchase a ticket at the ticket vending machine outside the shop before entering. 

However, the disadvantage is that most of the vending machines do not have English on it, so it may be a challenge for those who can't read Japanese. 

Pass the ticket to the waitress after you are seated and your orders will be sent to the kitchen. This saves on waiting time to choose from the menu, as well as minimize staff having to handle money. 

L's order of shoyu ramen. Although it looks like a simple bowl of ramen, what is most important is the soup, as well as the noodles. Noodles for the shoyu ramen are made thinner so that customers can enjoy the soup as the noodle will not overpower the soup.

My order of miso tsukemen. As you can see, the noodles and the soup are separated and you have to dip the noodles into the soup.The soup is much thicker than your normal ramen soup noodle and not meant to be drank directly. Noodles are also made thicker so that they can be fully coated with the thick broth. 
I also like that it comes with a lemon as the sourness of the lemon balances out the taste of the thick broth. 

No matter what kind of ramen you like, there will sure be one ramen shop which is of your liking. However, do note that you may have to wait for approximately 30 minutes on average during meal times. 


Tokyo Ramen Street- Ramen Honda

Tokyo station B1F Yaesu South Exit (First Avenue Tokyo station B1F south street) 
Open daily: 11am - 10.30pm (hours may vary by shop)
(Rokurinsha & Shichisai open from 7.30am onwards)

www.tokyoeki-1bangai.co.jp/ramenstreet (Japanese only)

St Marc Cafe Chococro

Saint Marc Cafe opened it's first doors at 1998 at Tokyo Ginza and has gained popularity from it's signature product, Chococro - a short form for Chocolate Croissant. 

The secret in the croissant lies in 3 points:
Chocolate - using the best Ghana and Ecuador beans which has a slight bitter taste
Pastry - Butter and Margarine are mixed and the pastry has more than 20 layers
Kiln - the pastries are carefully baked in a Kiln at 230 degrees 

All pastries are displayed at the self service counter and you can just pick any up and pay at the cashier. 

I ordered the Fresh chou cream croissant set which includes a cup of coffee at JPY390 (SGD 6)

They also carry seasonal items, such as the white chococro - a white chocolate croissant symbolizing the white snow of Christmas. You can also get a box of white and chocolate croissant at JPY790 for 5. 

Besides the seasonal white choco croissant, some of the other seasonal croissant includes: banana, strawberry choco, match and milk tea. All sounds so delicious!

When in Japan, just look out for this orange circle logo for the nearest St Marc chococro cafe!

p.s. you can also get your fix of chococro at Vivocity Unit 01-108/10

http://www.saint-marc-hd.com/cafe (Japanese only)

Tsukiji Sushi Sen (築地すし鮮)

When in Tsukiji, how can one miss out trying out any of the sushi or kaisen don restaurants.

Not wanting to join the super long queues at the morning seafood restaurant street, we settled for sushi sen (すし鮮) which we were attracted by the lunch sets.

The prices are cheap! at only JPY1000 - JPY1500 for a lunch set, and it even includes miso soup and chawanmushi!

Besides the lunch sets, you can also order other sets or ala carte sushi from the menu.

We were given a counter seat, as the restaurant was filled with an American soccer group and the big sized players were ordering loads of extravagant food like lobsters and sashimi. 

A counter seat is also not bad! You get to see the sushi master at work, preparing all the sushi customers ordered.

We ordered the lunch nigiri set 1.5 portion. 11 pieces of nigiri sushi and 6 makis at only JPY1365 (approx SGD19)

I ordered sushi from the ala carte menu as I wanted to eat something different from the standard lunch sets. And even though I did not order a lunch set, I was also given complimentary miso soup and chawanmushi. As expected, this is what they call the Japanese hospitality. 

No regrets in dining at Sushi sen. You can get fresh and very affordable seafood, without having to queue for a long time. 


Besides 2 outlets at Tsukiji, they have a total of 15 restaurants all over Japan. 

Sushi Sen (築地すし鮮4丁目場外市場店) 








東京都中央区築地4-9-7
4-9-7 Tsukiji, Chuo-ku, Tokyo
Open 24 hours daily
Nearest station:
1) Oedo subway line, Tsukiji Shijo station exit 1 (5 minutes walk)
2) Hibiya subway line, Tsukiji station exit A1 (3 minutes walk)

www.sakanaya-group.com/01sushisen/00top (Japanese only)