My last Thailand post commemorates the last significant food experience in Thailand. Kat and I were smart in deciding to do our shopping at the end of our trip so that we weren't carting x kg of clothing and souviniers through the hilltribe tour. I saved the infamous Mahboonkrong shopping centre (also known as MBK) for the last day. Literally the last day. As in, we went straight from MBK to our hotel, did a quick repack and cabbed it to the airport.
I had JUST finished lunch at SUMO restaurant on the bottom floor (I ordered AUSTRALIAN beef soba noodle soup at a Japanese restaurant in Thailand; isn't globalization grand?) when I walked into a Wifi zone and Marc got a hold of me. He informed me that I MUST go to the food court at MBK. He said quote "if there was a food court like it in Brisbane, I'd never eat anywhere else". Well, that certainly sold it to me.
I whizzed up the multiple sets of escalators to the 5th floor. Only today, upon Googling the shopping centre, have I discovered that there are actually 2 food halls at MBK. There is the 5th Food Avenue on level 5, which is the one I went to, and another on the 6th floor. I'm not sure which one he meant but I have a feeling it's the 'other' one. I'm not going to ask in case I'm right... because then I'll just feel disappointed.
In any case, level 5 was awesome too.
The The Fifth Avenue is known for its international cuisine. The set up is like so: you get a swipe card when you enter. There are many food booths with their own menus featuring their own style of food. There is shared seating for all the food booths. When you order food, you hand over your swipe card and essentially have the charges put on a tab. Once you finish eating, you exit through a pay counter, hand over your swipe card and they deal the damage.
I was already full from my lunch but I wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to try at least a few things, enough for me to write a blog post about. See how commited I am?
There was ALOT of food available. I spotted dessert, juice, Greek, Italian, Vietnamese, Indian, Malaysian, grilled meat, seafood and much more.
I settled for 2 main food items and a crepe for dessert.
My first main was an Indian platter from the Indian food booth. It was a set meal with rice, naan, a piece of tandoori chicken, butter chicken and some vegetable dhal.
Indian platter - with tandoori chicken, naan, rice, butter chicken and dhal
The tandoori chicken was a tad cool and tough but the naan and curries were great. What surprised me was the dhal. I'm not usually too enthused about dhal but this one as packed with flavor. I may even go so far as to say that it surpassed the butter chicken in taste.
The other main I chose was from the Vietnamese food booth. I went with a platter of different spring rolls. I really liked this platter because it contained portions of deep fried spring roll, fresh spring roll and even steamed spring roll, which I hadn't seen before.
Mixed spring roll platter - with fresh spring rolls, steamed rolls and deep fried spring rolls
A couple of dipping sauces were provided too. The guy serving me at the Vietnamese counter was just the friendliest soul ever!
I saw 2 dessert booths around and settled for one. I went with a plain crepe with vanilla ice-cream and chocolate sauce.
Crepe - with vanilla ice-cream and chocolate sauce
I think the crepe was just a pre-cooked one that was microwaved. This was a disappointment.
The Fifth Food Avenue was a ball! I wish I had gone there on an empty stomach. I liked the system; it seemed to work well. There was a bar inside too so alcohol is also an option. Next time I'm in Bangkok I'd like to check out level 6 too.
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