by joanna on June 22, 2010
My favourite thin-crust pizza in Bangkok
The first week I was in Bangkok a friend took me to Limoncello. Having just moved from New York, I was impressed by the authenticity of the thin crust pizza being served. I hadn’t expected to find this in Bangkok and frankly at the time, I thought, well I guess they must know how to do good Italian in this city. Well….yes and no. Not everything is good, but there is lots of high caliber Italian in Bangkok (Zanotti, Vino, Guisto, Vicolo 4, etc) – and it turns out Limoncello really is special. After several years in Bangkok, it remained among our top Italian food destinations. [keep reading…]
by joanna on June 6, 2010
A wonderful little cooking course in a Thai-style outdoor kitchen
Thai food has become one of my favourite international cuisines. And unlike French or Italian where there are many competent executions in various cities around the world, I find Thai food a bit lackluster when not in Thailand. Don’t get me wrong, some places outside of Thailand do get it right, but they are few and far between. So we’ve decided to take matters into our own hands and make Thai food at home. I myself am a very comfortable and accomplished Western cook but I am unaccustomed to how to build the Thai flavour profiles. This is why whenever we go back to Thailand, I try to take a Thai cooking course to supplement my knowledge of Thai cooking. On our most recent trip, this was Baipai Cooking School in the Chongnonsee area of Bangkok. [keep reading…]
by joanna on March 15, 2010
We got on a plane and flew to get our ass kicked military style. Was it worth it? You bet!
I used to do a bootcamp workout when I lived in Bangkok through Fit Corp Asia. A friend at work told me about it…in retrospect I am not even sure why I was interested….she told me “sometimes people work so hard they puke” and “you will be seriously challenged, I doubt you can keep up.” While these words should have scared me, they did the opposite and intrigued me. I think it was because I was in my mid-30’s and simply just wanted to see what my body could still do. And so bootcamps became part of my fitness regime when living in Bangkok and I loved it. It was hard at first but with each session I saw my fitness level increase and after a short time I was in amazing shape. Not skinny, but a strong healthy body I was proud of. And not only was I more fit, but also even when I wasn’t working out, my energy level was sky high.
However, I will confess since Paul and I moved to Singapore last year, my workouts have been, in a word, erratic. When I did my taxes recently I discovered why…I had been out of the country and traveling more in 2009 then I had actually been at home in Singapore. That’s more nights in hotels than in my own bed! As such, you can imagine my workout schedule, and thus my fitness level, has been seriously impacted. When traveling, I had replaced after work training sessions with drinks and dinners with colleagues. When I actually find myself in Singapore, I have a trainer through UFit who I have been really happy with – but it is not his fault I cannot maintain a regular schedule. So when my former Bangkok trainer Daniel told me he and 2 other trainers from Hong Kong and Singapore were putting together Asia’s Biggest Bootcamp in Phuket, Thailand, we had to go and check it out. I envisioned a bootcamp weekend to be just the kick start I needed to get back on track. [keep reading…]
by Paul on February 25, 2010
If you ever find yourself shopping for bootlegs computer accessories at Pantip Plaza in Bangkok, do yourself a favor and skip out on the foreigner friendly fast food chains and S&P (I’m not knocking S&P) found on the ground level. Instead walk across the street to Soi Som Prason 4. A short walk up the street is Mama’s. Mama’s is cheap, lacking any kind of ambiance (save for the orange chairs) but has surprisingly good food at an ever better value. [keep reading…]
by Paul on January 27, 2010
Healthy Spa Recipes from our favourite holistic spa
As part of our Health & Wellness 2010 Series
From the age of 5, Kai had a passion for cooking. He started early with his first job in the kitchen at an Austrian ski resort at the age of 16 and from there moved on to London where he worked at Mossimann’s who pioneered healthier cooking through Cuisine Naturelle, healthy foods which do not sacrifice on taste. From there, Kai went to Thailand in 2006 to take the position as Executive chef at Kamalaya. Evolving his approach to healthy cuisine by blending it with Thai culinary traditions, Kai worked with Kamalaya to develop a healthy, spa cuisine menu that is shockingly good and good for you. [keep reading…]
by joanna on January 25, 2010
A very special New Year’s Eve at Amantee
We decided to spend Christmas and New Year’s in Thailand this year. It was time to totally chill out and honestly I have yet to find a better place than Thailand for complete relaxation. But we still wanted to do something special for New Year’s Eve in Bangkok and when we heard Amantee was having one of their seasonal celebratory event dinners, ourselves and some friends immediately booked a table. [keep reading…]
by joanna on January 14, 2010
An endless array of holistic therapies at this tranquil island spa
I generally have a rule of not visiting the same place twice. I prefer to expand my horizons and challenge myself to see and do new things. However, I recently returned to Kamalaya in Koh Samui. Our more dedicated readers may remember I went to Kamalaya last year to do a detox program. Well, this year when the time came to take a break after a seriously demanding year, I could think of no better place to do it than Kamalaya Koh Samui. In fact, Kamalaya wellness retreat is of such a high standard of excellence that I can foresee returning again and again. [keep reading…]
by joanna on January 12, 2010
A modern oasis of calm on bustling Petchaburi Road
I have said it before, but will say it again….I believe spa treatments are not a luxury, but rather an integral part of taking care of oneself. Not only do they promote relaxation, but depending on the treatment one has it can stimulate circulation, release knotted muscles, condition and rejuvenate the skin, reduce local muscle and joint inflammation and more… To that end, there is no shortage of spas in Bangkok, but my experience is there are a lot of places in Bangkok where massage are spa treatments are offered where the aestheticians are not so skilled and perhaps not appropriately trained. This is why word of mouth counts for everything in Bangkok and why we would like to tell you about the Sivara Spa. [keep reading…]
by Paul on January 8, 2010
Signature dish “Surf & Turf Indiana” recipe after the jump.
When working for Lookeast Magazine I had the chance to sit and talk with many Bangkok chefs. One of these was Arijit Ghosh, then new Executive Chef at Café 11. He’s a soft-spoken, gentle chef in an age of increasingly more exaggerated “personality chefs”. [keep reading…]
by Paul on January 5, 2010
Like HCMC today, the Bangkok foreigner scene of old thrived close to the river. These days, however, I never really think to set foot down there. It’s the kind of place you visit once, the first time you come to the city… King’s Palace, check. Emerald & Reclining Buddha, check. Either the Oriental or Shangrila for tea or brunch, check. Then for most who live in the city (unless they work nearby) the river is a distant memory. This has more to do with the difficulty and time it takes to get down to the river than what’s on offer. But, if you wait till Sunday brunch time, with no traffic… the other side of the river is accessible in about 20 minutes tops and you don’t even have to wait for a ferry. This is the perfect time to venture out to Trader Vic’s massive brunch/lunch buffet spread. [keep reading…]
