Eating at the Hospital

I will admin, probably the only reason I went to Bumrungrad Hospital’s food ‘mezzanine’ in the first place is because it is a 1.5 minute walk from my apartment building.   It is not the only reason I go there on a semi-daily basis though.  The fact is there is some good, clean food in the internationally renowned hospital.

Whether it is a destination for people living or visiting anywhere else in Bangkok is a question.   Having a 24 hour McDonald’s may be a good thing to know for nearby Nana Plaza late night partiers though.  I will blog about Bumrungrad’s other places to get food in a bit, but today I’m blogging about the Japanese restaurant which I had been eyeing for nearly a month and not visited.

Sushi in Thailand

A total coincidence but I was jogging down Sukhumvit 23 today amidst all the foot traffic, traffic and of course air pollution and I saw a street vendor selling sushi in the 90+ degree heat.  It still looked like “art” but not the kind of art I like to get myself involved with.

Sushi restaurants in Thailand are not as common as in San Francisco or New York.  Bangkok is an hour away from any seaports so I would think different types of fresh fish take at least a couple days on ice to get from the sea to any place selling sushi.

I am not saying I’m ‘sushi expert  but I have eaten sushi everywhere from Brazil, to Costa Rica to San Francisco to the world famous fish market Tsukii in Japan which has the freshest and some say best sushi in the entire world!   In San Francisco I had sushi about 3 times per month but at this point I hadn’t had it for over 4 or 5 months so it was time.

Ayame

I always noticed Ayame amongst the Bumrungrad mezzanine restaurants but I knew it was more expensive and had sit down service like a normal restaurant.  I never saw more than 1 or 2 tables full in Ayame and when I went in I was the only person.

I was seated and first thing I noticed was 2 sushi chefs.  This was good news because I know from San Francisco, any sushi bar w/ no dedicated sushi chef(s) is almost 100% likely to have terrible sushi.  Ayame is decorated with traditional Japanese items, has a couple of large fish tanks to add to the experience.

I ordered a ton of food as usual and I didn’t know what to expect.   I started out with a wakame salad which tasted the same as every wakame salad I’ve ever had.  I had some teriyaki chicken with the skin and a lettuce salad which was decent as well.

In Japan I had to ask for my sushi “wasabi nuki” (without wasabi) because they put the wasabi on top of the rice under the fish.  I tried to explain to the Thai waitress and she didn’t understand so I figured they would leave out the wasabi.

I first tried the salmon nigiri which I get every time.    The salmon melted in my mouth which I think is good?  I tried the saba nigiri next and it was pretty good as well.  I had a roll they called ebitem maki which had seaweed on the outside and I’m pretty sure had fried shrimp in the middle and it was pretty good as well.

Price

Price is probably always going to be an issue when I talk about restaurants because I tend to eat a lot more than the average person.  Sushi restaurants pose the biggest problem because you pay per piece.  In this case I will detail my bill at Ayame to avoid confusion.  The price reflects an order of sushi.  If you order an entré only and an appetizer your bill will likely be around 500 baht.

Total:  1,272 Baht ($37.26USD)

Wakame (seaweed) salad: 150 baht
2 Sake (salmon) Nigiri:  300 baht
1 Saba (mackeral) Nigiri:  100 baht
1 Tamago (egg):  60 baht
1 Ebitem Maki (roll w/ fried shrimp):  200
1 Order Teriyaki Chicken w/ Salad (no rice): 200
1 Asahi Beer:  90 baht
10% gratuity:  108 baht
Vat tax:  84 baht

Overall Impression

I thought Ayame sushi was pretty good.  Nothing I ate there made me angry for being so bad which was an often occurance in San Francisco’s many sushi restaurants.  I left satisfied, and full although I spent about 42x more than what I spend on average for lunch!

{Han-Baa-Gaa}

I have a good idea.  How about go to Thailand, go to an American style luxury shopping mall, and then eat some Japanese hamburgers?  That is exactly what I did when I went to the Japanese burger chain Mos Burger in the Siam Paragon shopping center.

Back in San Francisco, living across the street from a Thai restaurant,  eating Thai food more than once a week was completely out of the question.  Fast forward 3 months and I live in Bangkok and eating Thai food is a daily occurrence.  Sometimes Thai food is on the menu multiple times per day.

Change of Pace

Eating Thai food often makes you crave certain things.  For example, while eggs are pretty much served every meal, a good American style breakfast is one thing sorely lacking here in Bangkok.  Another thing eating Thai food all the time makes you crave is hamburgers.

Why do hamburger cravings come?  Maybe it because beef is never on the menu for any average restaurant.  Maybe it is because the most common burger options you see are McDonald’s and Burger King?  Whatever the reason Mos Burger was the choice of the day.

Where to find Mos Burger

I forgot to bring my umbrella to my Thai language class so after when it was pouring outside I had to take the BTS somewhere instead of walking home and getting my books soaked.  I ended up going to Siam Paragon shopping center.  Siam paragon is a giant shopping center which is purported to be the 2nd most luxurious mall in Bangkok.  Beleive it or not, this was the 1st time I have went to Siam Paragon which was in effect just like any mall back in the states.

Walk in the Siam Paragon center straight from the BTS exit and take the first escalator you see down.  On the bottom floor you will find dozens of restaurants and the “Gourmet Grocery” which is a huge, expensive (for Thai standards) grocery store.  Mos Burger is right in the middle.  It is surrounded by a fence where you walk in, order, get your number, grab a seat and have your food delivered in a couple minutes.

How was it?

I don’t know whether my ‘burger ecstasy” was from lack of eating burgers which I never ate in the states or what but I thought the standard cheeseburger I had at Mos was one of the best burgers I’ve ever had!  It wasn’t too big but it had a delicious flavor.

You can see in the picture a Ahi tuna looking topping on the burger.   I’m not exactly sure what it was, I’ll just call it ‘mystery sauce.’  To me it tasted tomato-ish like sloppy Joes on top of a burger which was on top of a onion and mayonnaise mix.  All together it was delicious.  I have read that Mos Burgers has created a craze in Japan and Asia like the in-N-Out Burger did in the US a few years ago.

Unfortunately I took the salad instead of the french fries so I can’t tell you anything about the fries.  The salad was decent, not bad, but nothing to write home about.   There was really nothing more to talk about, tasty burgers with quick efficient service.

Price

I spent 139 baht ($4.08) for a ‘value meal’ 1 Mos Cheeseburger (79baht) 1 Mos Salad (49baht) and 1 coke zero (26baht). I was pretty full but I could see people ordering more than 1 hamburger which I think 2 would be the magic number if you were really hungry.