Bangkok - from the mundane to the sublime

By Allan Yap & Nigel A. Skelchy

We indulged in the whole spectrum.

From Pizza in a chain restaurant all the way to Royal Thai.

From Grasshopper street food to Ruen Mallika.

And Pad Thai in a "Thai Gourmet" place (very ordinary) in Emporium Mall to Jim Thompson's Restaurant on the river.

And of course, the obligatory Sticky Rice with Mango, which, when all was said and done, was disappointing. The best I'd ever had was from a street vendor in Phuket many years ago in a different life. The sticky rice was soft, but chewy, and creamy with that coconutty flavour and the mango was perfectly ripe. Sweet. Succulent. Sigh.

MK Restaurants provides a great, healthy hotpot but this hotpot can be found anywhere in Asia. The only differentiating thing was the unctuous sauce. But even then you know it wasn't authentic Thai

but had Thai accents. Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet.

The cakes in the higher end malls were surprisingly good if surprisingly expensive. Take away counters abounded, even our own Secret Recipe was there. But prices ranged from RM7.50 to RM12. And this for take away joints. Sit in and you could comfortably add another 20% to 30% to that.

If there is one thing I absolutely must do when I'm in Bangkok (besides scoping out for fresh sites to see) it's the pandan coconut that you can pick up from a street vendor for 20Baht or RM2. Divine. Slightly smoked. Ice cold. On a hot Bangkok day, it's the closest thing to standing under a cool, cascading, waterfall.