It has been almost 5 years since I last met L, my good friend from postgrad days in Birmingham. So to learn that she came back to Thailand for a short visit from Canada, where she lives now, me and P arranged a dinner with L to catch up the good ol' wicked days. L suggested that we should dine at Espresso in Intercontinental Hotel for their seafood night. It was Baht1500++ per person so after browsing some reviews around the web, I was looking forward to their food.
As soon as we entered the restaurant, we were greeted with a long line of food. I only managed to snap the seafood bit of the line and as you can see; prawns, oysters, mussles and crabs are waiting for you!
I started off with some small plate starters. Clockwise from the Top left; their hummus was rather dry and bland. The thing was I couldn't find anything to dip it with. No carrot or cucumber sticks, not even pita bread. Quite disappointing. Next is shrimp cocktail. It was good and interesting since they have cocktail sauce in that small tube. Next are seared scallop with potato salad and jelly fish with sesame oil. I like these two.
Interesting thing about Japanese sashimi & sushi line here is that they didn't cut the fish and put on plate for you to take. You have to ask the chef what fish you want and they will cut them for you. I think this is a great way to preserve the freshness of sashimi and sushi. Pure love for this one.
Their hot and sour soup is quite up-scaled as they put some shark fin in it. Taste wise is good but this is hard for me who actually made up my mind that i won't eat shark fin anymore. So last night, the shark must forgive me for consuming that.
Finally, my cold seafood plate. Oysters were incredibly fresh so having that with Thai spicy seafood sauce was pure bliss. Mussle and crab were okay. I think I finally learn that I love fresh crab more than those boiled and frozen crabs even though they were Alaska King Crab. The sweetness of crab wasn't there.
I made a visit to grilling station and picked lamb, salmon patty, seabass on skew and rock lobster for grilling. Lamb was the winner of the night. No smell or after taste, very tender and very well seasoned. I love their mint jelly too, always prefer mint jelly over mint sauce. So good that I went back for another two. I should have eaten just lamb last night - seriously good.
Chinese and Thai corner was okay. Roasted duck was okay. Soft shell crab with black pepper was awesome anyway, still crispy though made for a while. Char siu bun was good. Dumpling was so so. Fried rice and Thai steam fish paste (Hor Mok - ห่อหมก) were medicore.
They had small pot of cottage pie so I tried. It was so so. Had some salad to balance out. I would say the choice of salad here was pretty disappoint. Only some leafy stuffs and a corner where you can make caesar salad. For salad crazy like me, I would love to see more choices of vegetable. Their caesar salad corner was nice since they have even anchovy, parmigiano, croutons and bacon bits for you to add as much as you want. I had a plate of that at the end of the night. Up to my liking coz I can put salad dressing in the amount that I like which isn't too soggy.
Their dessert lines are actually quite massive with choices of fresh fruits, cakes, fountain chocolate, souffle, ice cream and even Thai dessert like sticky rice and mango! I only had their vanilla and chocolate ice cream which was okay. L said their mango ice cream was great so she went for another round. I guess if you like sweet stuff, this could be something for you.
I ended the night with cheese plate. Loving my Brie there so much. So creamy, so heavenly. We had green tea as complimentary to wrap up the night. It was a very enjoyable evening since we haven't seen each other for a long time now esp. altogether like this. So much to catch-up and gossip about. We even talked about the good old days in Birmingham, all the glam and not so glam about it. We started at 6.30 pm and finished at 10.05 pm. What a night isn't it!
Espresso
Intercontinental Hotel
Bangkok
Tel 02 656 0444
BTS: Chid Lom
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I have heard about Shabuzen since my last trip in Japan. If you watch "Lost in Translation", Shabu Zen appeared in the movie but that one was Roppongi branch. Not just another kind of tourist-trapped restaurant, their meat is also quite well-known. So you can expect good meat for a meal as well. So this time I decided I won't miss it. Me, T and my American friend, J, made an appointment to meet each other in front of TBS building in Akasaka so we can dine at Shabuzen Akasaka.
the appetizer
It was Thursday night and we were early as usual (6 pm) so the restaurant was still empty. Between a choice of Sukiyaki and Shabu Shabu, we decided to go for 90 minutes of all you can eat shabu shabu with domestic beef (imported meat is cheaper anyway). We ordered umeshu with soda (again) for drink and were served with an appetizer which is grilled beef with onion. It was absolutely yummy! Such a great way to start a meal.
all you can eat meat
vegetable and tofu
Dipping sauce; the white one is sesame sauce and the dark one is Ponzu
Then trays of meat and vegetable were started to serve at our table. You can request for meat and vegetable as much as you like which is pure bliss. J was kindly acting as model to show you how we work the meat in the boiling pot. She was joking how this is like some kind of food TV show. The restaurant provides two dipping sauce for the meat; Ponzu which is like vinegar thing and Sesame sauce. I am loving their sesame sauce so much that I am still dreaming about it these days (I know, obsession).
Aside from these, they will also provide some noodles to eat with the soup at the end of the meal but we were already full so we didn't bother about it. However, we wanted to try Japanese dessert so we ordered something Japanese dessert which I forgot the name already. It has vanilla ice cream with red bean paste and some jello and mochi. We also ordered extra Matcha (green tea) ice cream. They all were good but not like a must to order.
In the end, it was a good meal. I think between 3 of us, we paid ¥8,000 each for this meal. Might be a bit over the budget for some as you can eat Shabu Shabu at Nabezo or mo-mo paradise for less than ¥2,500 but I think it is worth the experience.
Shabuzen Akasaka (しゃぶ禅 赤坂店)
B1F, Akasaka Mita Bldg.
12-14-33 Akasaka, Minato-ku,
Tokyo 107-0052
Open: Weekday - 11:30～14:30 (L.O.14:00), 17:00～23:30 (L.O.22:30)
Weekend - 12:00～16:00 (By reservation only), 16:00～23:30 (L.O.22:30)
Website: http://www.shabuzen.jp/
Gourmetnavi (for coupon discount): http://r.gnavi.co.jp/g050004/View Food in Tokyo in a larger map
One thing on the top "to do" list of people visiting Sapporo/Hokkaido is to eat their famous 3 crabs (hairy crab, snow crab and king crab). I have eaten at this place which seems to be famous among Chinese and Korean tourits (since they have eating instruction for crab in Chinese and Korean) before so my friend, P, said I must take her there to eat since she didn't come with me last trip.
Nanda is located in susukino area, or the night-life area of Sapporo. Much closer to Hosui-susukino station that Susukino station itself. It is located in underground level of Cyber City building. This place is highly recommended, not for the taste of food but for the variety of food they provide and the fact that it is all you can eat for 90 or 120 minutes (depends on your choice). The restaurant seperates dinning/seating area from buffet lines properly and the seating area wasn't too cramped as well.
After we told the staff that we want 90 minutes all you can eat without all you can drink alcohol plan. They left us to enjoy the food they provided and would come back 10 minutes before our time end for the bill. (If you don't drink alcohol, do not fret as the softdrink is already included in the all you can eat plan you choose - 90 minutes for 3,480yen per person). We explored the food counters and was greeted with the famous crabs (already boiled) and shellfish.
Aside from seafood stuff, they also have beef/pork and vegetable for grilling as well.
Not just yakiniku stuff they have, sashimi and sushi they have here are also quite fresh. But the king of the night must have been the uni, ikura and crab meat which they provided for us to make our own sanshoku-don (三色丼 - literally means 3 coloured rice dish). The ikura was just in right taste, not too salty, not too bland. And all of them are very fresh!
For changing of taste, you might go for chilli prawn or gratin they have. They also have tempura which I didn't try but friend said it was good.
They also have huge range of desserts/fruits counter, they even have soft cream! I didn't try any of their sweets as I was too full but their kiwis and oranges were very fresh and sweet!
I wasn't really digging the crab as it was too hassle to peel and crack the crab. Also I found that the crab was already cooked (boil perhaps) and left in the fridge so it was a bit weird. Anyhow, I digged the scallops so much! You can add butter to your scallops as much as you want and you can grill it any way you like! I tried the tsukune (minced chicken in stick) and it was very really good! Going well with the yakiniku sauce they provided. They also have miso soup, salad bar, nabe to fill up your tummy.
As I mentioned I highly recommended this place for you who visit Sapporo for tasting the taste of Sapporo. Also I recommend you guys to make reservation for table as this place seems to be very popular not just with tourists so it is wise to ask your hotel reception to help you booking a table.
Nanda (難陀)
Susukino, Sapporo, Japan
Tel. 011-532-7887
Open:16:00-22:30
Gourmet navi: http://r.gnavi.co.jp/h292200/
View Sapporo list in a larger map
As soon as we entered the restaurant, we were greeted with a long line of food. I only managed to snap the seafood bit of the line and as you can see; prawns, oysters, mussles and crabs are waiting for you!
I started off with some small plate starters. Clockwise from the Top left; their hummus was rather dry and bland. The thing was I couldn't find anything to dip it with. No carrot or cucumber sticks, not even pita bread. Quite disappointing. Next is shrimp cocktail. It was good and interesting since they have cocktail sauce in that small tube. Next are seared scallop with potato salad and jelly fish with sesame oil. I like these two.
Interesting thing about Japanese sashimi & sushi line here is that they didn't cut the fish and put on plate for you to take. You have to ask the chef what fish you want and they will cut them for you. I think this is a great way to preserve the freshness of sashimi and sushi. Pure love for this one.
Their hot and sour soup is quite up-scaled as they put some shark fin in it. Taste wise is good but this is hard for me who actually made up my mind that i won't eat shark fin anymore. So last night, the shark must forgive me for consuming that.
Finally, my cold seafood plate. Oysters were incredibly fresh so having that with Thai spicy seafood sauce was pure bliss. Mussle and crab were okay. I think I finally learn that I love fresh crab more than those boiled and frozen crabs even though they were Alaska King Crab. The sweetness of crab wasn't there.
I made a visit to grilling station and picked lamb, salmon patty, seabass on skew and rock lobster for grilling. Lamb was the winner of the night. No smell or after taste, very tender and very well seasoned. I love their mint jelly too, always prefer mint jelly over mint sauce. So good that I went back for another two. I should have eaten just lamb last night - seriously good.
Chinese and Thai corner was okay. Roasted duck was okay. Soft shell crab with black pepper was awesome anyway, still crispy though made for a while. Char siu bun was good. Dumpling was so so. Fried rice and Thai steam fish paste (Hor Mok - ห่อหมก) were medicore.
They had small pot of cottage pie so I tried. It was so so. Had some salad to balance out. I would say the choice of salad here was pretty disappoint. Only some leafy stuffs and a corner where you can make caesar salad. For salad crazy like me, I would love to see more choices of vegetable. Their caesar salad corner was nice since they have even anchovy, parmigiano, croutons and bacon bits for you to add as much as you want. I had a plate of that at the end of the night. Up to my liking coz I can put salad dressing in the amount that I like which isn't too soggy.
Their dessert lines are actually quite massive with choices of fresh fruits, cakes, fountain chocolate, souffle, ice cream and even Thai dessert like sticky rice and mango! I only had their vanilla and chocolate ice cream which was okay. L said their mango ice cream was great so she went for another round. I guess if you like sweet stuff, this could be something for you.
I ended the night with cheese plate. Loving my Brie there so much. So creamy, so heavenly. We had green tea as complimentary to wrap up the night. It was a very enjoyable evening since we haven't seen each other for a long time now esp. altogether like this. So much to catch-up and gossip about. We even talked about the good old days in Birmingham, all the glam and not so glam about it. We started at 6.30 pm and finished at 10.05 pm. What a night isn't it!
