All posts filed under: Travel

8 Things I Love Most in Bangkok

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Bangkok is the one city in the world I would not hesitate re-visiting over and over again. My four-year old passport has accumulated 10 sets of Thai immigration stamps, yet I’d happily give up more pages to absorb the chaos, ascend the buildings and devour the dishes here. Embarrassingly, I only made my way to check off The Grand Palace on my last visit. But that’s the thing; Bangkok is not about the sites to see. The charm of the city can only be felt by living in it. And here are 8 ways I lived the city that made me fall in love with it. 1. Rooftop Bar with Wine & Cheese at Scarlett There are countless rooftop bars dotted all around the city. While Above Eleven and Octave seemed to be the typical recommendations, Scarlett stood out to me more because of its laid back rustic vibe, which also felt a little less commercial. It was, as expected, more quiet than your usual rooftop bar at 6pm, yet turned out to be the perfect spot to enjoy …

The House on Sathorn (BK): A Turkish-Asian Tasting Journey

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Bangkok and Lima are no doubt my favourite cities to experience food in general, but especially “fine dining”. If you read my feature on The Maker’s The Hit List, or Fine Dining Redefined in Hong Kong, you’ll know that this concept often makes me cringe. But a number of restaurants on the World’s 50 Best or Asia’s 50 Best lists stray far away from the white tablecloths stereotype of fine dining, and focus on creating an experience of a meal. For example, the experience at World’s #5 Central in Lima taught me everything I wanted to know about unique Peruvian ingredients at different altitudes. Asia’s #36 The Dining Room of The House on Sathorn in Bangkok brought me a similarly impressive experience, teaching me much more than just Turkish cuisine, but also how to get creative. The Dining Room of The House on Sathorn As soon as I got off my Uber to check in at W Bangkok, this beautiful house next door had my full attention as I eagerly turned to a friend, to ask “what …

Provisions (SG): New Restaurant for Fun Skewers and ‘KFC’

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I can’t complain about being flooded with Insta-worthy brunch and coffee choices since moving to Singapore, especially after discovering ATLAS Coffeehouse, Pacamara and The Botanist. But these cute coffee shops sometimes crowd out my search for enticing and fun dinner spots, until I came across Provisions. This new casual Asian fusion restaurant/bar on Dempsey Hill serves skewers, claypot rice and cocktails. Despite the high chairs and tables, it still sounded like the perfect laid back spot for a group of friends to wind down on a weekday. Plus, their 2-for-1 house wine happy hour deal lasted through to 10pm! “KFC” Korean Fried Cauliflower (SGD10) *must order* A photo of that caramelised glaze generously smothering what you would otherwise not have suspected was cauliflower, was the first reason I wanted to try Provisions. I quickly decided that it was also my favourite dish of the night. I’ve had “KFC” at a couple of other restaurants back in Hong Kong, but this rendition was probably the best. The edges were super crispy-crunchy and each piece of cauliflower was generously smothered in the addictively sweet …

ATLAS Coffeehouse (SG): Hearty Brunch with Killer Pancakes

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I’m always on the lookout for a hearty brunch and hipster coffee spot. Now that I’ve moved to Singapore, the number of cafe choices is almost as overwhelming as my intensive 10-month MBA course at INSEAD. Cute cafes are dotted all over the country. Yet in spite of all the competition, ATLAS Coffeehouse definitely stands out for its perfectly executed brunch items, which are interesting enough to set it apart, but retain that mainstream eggs-and-pancake element to satisfy the typical weekend brunch craving. (See also my review of other cafes in Singapore, such as Curious Palette and Pacamara) Creamy Mushrooms and Scrambled Eggs on Sourdough Toast (SGD14+3) The menu had a good variety of options ranging from the brunchy eggs, pancakes and waffles to the more filling ‘superbowls’ , meats and pasta. The sound of white wine creamy mushrooms stole our undivided attention for a good five minutes, before we noticed that a standard eggs benedict was not even featured on ATLAS’s menu. We didn’t care, of course. We added scrambled eggs (+SGD3) to the …

9 Restaurants that Make Lima the Best Food City

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Only when I started planning my itinerary for a month-long trip to South America, did I ignorantly realise how large this continent is, and hence how selective I’d have to be on what I wanted to see. Machu Picchu was the no brainer. As I read forum after forum, sample itineraries after travel guides, more than a handful of people suggested to skip Lima altogether. Indeed, Museo Larco was the only site truly memorable to me. But to skip Lima would’ve been the worst mistake for any foodie. Every single meal I had in Lima was impressive and unforgettable, yet I still feel like I’m underselling this city. I learnt from my previous travels that cities are always the best places for food (Bangkok, London and Lisbon, for example), so no matter how packed my schedule was, I still dedicated 3-4 days to Lima. Here are 9 reasons, or restaurants, that, hands down, made Lima the favourite food city I’ve been to in the world. 1. Central (#5 in World’s 50 Best Restaurants) Pre-travels, I was shocked. …

Machu Picchu, Peru: The 2D/1N Inca Trail (Full Review)

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I must’ve seen at least a hundred photographs which look exactly like this one I took of Machu Picchu before I booked my flight from Hong Kong to Lima. This sight itself would’ve been impressive enough to make the 30-hour long journey worthwhile. But even though my newest wide-angle camera lens can frame these Inca ruins pretty well, capturing this New7Wonders of the World in still motion, or even describing it, could not do justice to the experience of being in the presence of this magical site among the Andes mountains 2500m above sea level. Even if your Instagram feed is also spammed with these shots, visiting Machu Picchu in Peru could not be overrated. Admittedly, despite the Peruvian government’s effort to limit visitors per day, it still does get quite crowded at certain times of the day. This is why I strongly recommend doing one of the treks and visiting the site over two days.   Acclimatising in Cuzco/Altitude Sickness We flew from Lima to Cuzco and had about 48 hours to acclimatise to …

Weird Dishes to Try on your Next Trip to Europe

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As I hesitantly tried guinea pig and alpaca meat in Peru, a friend asked me, what’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever eaten? I still don’t dare to try fried scorpions in Beijing or Bangkok, but I suppose Japanese shirako (cod sperm) is probably the weirdest on my list. There’s always some strange type of food, a local ‘delicacy’, in different cuisines around the world. I can’t even count the number of times foreigners have found century eggs in Hong Kong revolting, while it can almost be my comfort food when placed in a bowl of congee. However, I definitely didn’t expect there to be such a list for European foods, until foodie/traveller, Elizabeth, shared the below with me… Which would you dare to try? (The below article was not written by me, and doesn’t represent my experiences of the dishes) 1. Sardinia’s casu marzu If you’re not a fan of strong cheese, you may want to steer clear of this one. Casu marzu, translated to rotten cheese in English, is Sardinia’s famed pecorino cheese that lives up to …