I may love to eat but i am hardly an adventurous foodie; hence, when it comes to food courts in Bangkok, my only preference is Pier 21 @ Terminal 21 Asok even though my favourite Thai Omelette with Rice is no longer there.
In my recent trip, i stayed at the few-month old Triple Y Hotel and attached to the building is the equally new Samyan Mitrtown shopping centre! Given the convenience, we decided to check out its Samyan Food Legends food court on the second day of our visit.
Similar to many other food courts in Thailand, you can exchange cash for a card to be used for purchasing food at the stalls. At Samyan Food Legends, you can also opt to pay using your Rabbit Card. Now, let's indulge!
The one thing i hate about food courts is that the selection is wide and when you don't live in the country and have a bare understanding of its language; there's a tendency you take a longer time to decide what to order!
Stir Fried Rice Noodle with Seafood - served with the crispy stuff that tasted like keropok with less salt, i joined the queue for this particular stall as the items on the menu were familiar to me. What i am most scared of is when i order something without knowing it contains things i don't eat like innards.
This had egg, squid and prawns; 'safe' ingredients and the noodles, while a bit too dry for my liking, had a mild sweetness which i found palatable.
Mixed Vegetables Rice - this would be no stranger to Singaporeans and you can even find familiar dishes. Again, i was concerned about the ingredients in each pan but as i can see with my own eyes and there's a simple translation in English; chances of getting the wrong thing are reduced.
Fried egg, green curry chicken, chicken with cashew nuts - the latter was a tad too sweet for my liking whereas the green curry chicken was spicier than what i usually have. Not bad although not even close to the one at Krua Apsorn! Yes, you definitely need the plain white rice to drown the spiciness and sweetness.
Thai Desserts - yet again another stall that i spent a bit of time at as there were too many choices and everything looked so darn delicious! I wish i had a stomach to try a bit of everything but no; i don't see the point of wasting my money this way and knowing myself, i would try to finish as much as i could and that's so not healthy!
You can also pick and choose although i don't quite know how to do so in Thai. I thought the "8 Chinese herbs in longan juice" i ordered would allow me to select the kind of "liao" i wanted but the server happily took all the items. You should have seen the crestfallen expression on my face!
Sweetness is key to Thai desserts and having more ice would have helped to dilute the sweetness in every spoonful that goes into my mouth. The "herbs" given to me include the Chinese chestnuts, Chinese wolfberries, lotus root, longan, dates, ginkgo, white fungues etc.
The last piece is the above; which i have no idea what it is! Everything appeared marinated in sugar and i am hit with a sugar rush right after this meal. That's not good considering how hyperactive i usually am on normal days!
Interesting Information
This is something i really hope would be replicated in every food courts or even hawker centres in Singapore; for diners to dispose their food waste, segregate the tray from the cutlery and return the tray.
Would the food waste be used for something else? In Singapore, there are already cases of converting food waste into compost for ecological and sustainability reasons.
Another thing that should have been in Singapore; common cutlery stations where you can put your cutlery into hot water being using them and a wash basin for you to wash your hands before food. That's basic hygiene and definitely help everyone in fighting the recent Wuhan coronavirus outbreak.
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Address
756 Phayathai Rd, Wang Mai, Samyan Mitrtown
Pathum Wan District, Bangkok 10330,
Thailand
Pricing
Stir Fried Rice Noodle with Seafood - 80 Baht
Mixed Vegetables Rice - 60 Baht
8 Chinese Herbs in Longan Juice - 50 baht