Black Canyon Coffee @ Bangkok, Thailand

Black Canyon is a famous cafe here in Bangkok and also in Malaysia. They serve a variety of authentic Thai food, pasta and western food with a twist of Thai flavor in it which is simply delicious especially the fiery Tom Yum soup. If you are in for something hot and spicy, this is definitely the place to be. 

This particular Black Canyon that I've visited here is just small one in Central Festival that serves coffee and desserts. There are wide varieties of coffee, hot or ice blended, you name it, you got it. For non-coffee lovers, wide variety of ice chocolate and tea are available for you. Since it was such a hot day here, we decided to share a cup of Black Crunch Frappe - ice blended coffee with Oreo  It was delish! The balance between the Oreo and coffee is perfect and it wasn't too sweet at all. One of the possibility that you may not enjoy this drink is the powdery texture from the cookie. 

2 cakes that we managed to try is:-

Green Tea Roll
I don't quite like the cake texture as it was dry. But the green tea cream in the middle was nice. It was rich, moist and the green flavor is strong.

Blueberry Cheese Cake

Unlike the other cheese cake that uses digestive cookie as the base, this particular cake uses dark chocolate cookie instead. It was delish! The cheese in the middle is soft rich. Only problem I have are the blueberries. Pure blueberry jam was used and I didn't like it. Yes it is different from the usual ones that I had but I just don't like this one. 

Overall, I think Black Canyon do best with their food and beverages, definitely not cakes. A lot of improvement needs to be done in that area. Perhaps that is just not what they are good at.

Coffee Beans by Dao @ Bangkok, Thailand

Coffee Beans by Dao is a must visit whenever you are in Thailand. This café is not link or related to the usual Coffee Bean that we know. My friend KJ who works in Bangkok recommended this café to me. Located at the Ground floor of Siam Paragon (and some other shopping malls as well), this café is well known to almost everyone. Queuing is a must especially during lunch and dinner time. This is not just some café but more towards the high end side.

Their famous and best seller Green Tea Crepe cake is to die for! Every layer of chocolate crème is fresh and the thick green tea crepe is made to perfection. Served with drips of chocolate, every bite is heaven. A piece of advice: always ask the staff if the cake is available to avoid disappointment.

The strawberry short cake is not too bad even though I’m not a big fan of strawberries. Cake texture is moist and the cream is fresh. I have only 1 problem (which applies to most Asian pastries / cakes), the strawberry is sour.

Besides cakes and drinks, this place serves good food too. Dao’s special Pad Thai is very special indeed.  C Thai crackers fried to perfection are used to replace the usual flat noodles in the normal Pad Thai. It was truly a crunchy moment for me. Fresh prawns are huge, peanuts and sprouts are fresh. If you want Pad Thai that are out of the norm, this is the dish for you. But if you have relatively week gums / tooth, stay away! You’ll get pretty tired from all the chewing. 

This is my favorite place to dine whenever I'm in Bangkok. Whenever I'm in town, I will make time to come here for some food. The last I heard, they have opened a branch in Singapore.

Starbucks @ Bangkok, Thailand

One of the reason Starbucks Thailand deserves a review from me is because of the food they offer. Unlike the standard muffins, Australian sausage roll, tuna / chicken finger sandwich so on and so forth, the Starbucks here in Thailand offers a wide selection of food to customers. On our way to Madame Tussaud in Siam Discovery, my sister and I stop for breakfast here. We had ham & egg muffin and BLT sandwich. Each hot food ordered comes with a Tall size orange juice. It was part of their breakfast promotion (awesome!). The BLT is to die for because the filling is bacon (not turkey or beef but PORK). Yup! You got that right! Bet you don't get that in KL right? It was juicy and yummy. It automatically went straight to my no.1 Starbucks sandwich list. The sandwich cost about RM 10 only and it is available in Suvarnabhumi airport (if you want to bring some fresh ones back to KL). 

Since it's February - the Valentine's month, Valentine's themed merchandise are all over the store. Being a collector, how can I not bring these little cuties home right? Sometimes I wish Starbucks in KL would be more creative with their merchandise. *hopeful*

Breakfast @ The Inn Saladaeng

Sawasdeeka! Greetings from Bangkok, Thailand. Near or far, I am still able to bring some coffee experience to you. Currently staying in The Inn Saladaeng located in the hustle bustle of Silom. A very decent, clean and cute place to stay, breakfast included and the price is reasonable. The only problem I have is the not so tasty breakfast. 

Every morning boxes of sandwiches are prepared in the pantry area. It is a weird tasting sandwich. The filling meat floss filling is a mixture of sweet and salty taste. Even the ham and mayo tasted somewhat sweet as well. I can't quite figure out whether there's some problem with my taste bud or it is just plain yucky! Please do not expect fresh brew coffee of some sort. They do have a coffee machine that labels different type of hot beverages like hot chocolate, cappuccino, Nescafe and latte. Hot chocolate was alright while the cappuccino that I had was horrendous. I can't explain how bad it was, all I can say is that cup of coffee I had is one of the worse coffee I've ever had in my life. Then again, this is not a 5 star hotel, there's so much one can offer to their guests.

Perhaps, I should start exploring coffee houses in hotels so I can come up with a conclusion on whether hotels do serve good coffee. What say you?