Category: Food Reviews

T&K Seafood in Bangkok’s Chinatown.

I wish we had known about this restaurant on the day we arrived in Bangkok. Well, perhaps not knowing was really a blessing in disguise, otherwise I would have insisted to eat at the same place for four straight days and that would have made us really lousy holiday makers/foodies, wouldn’t that?

T&K Seafood was really near to our hotel, so we always passed by it. It was basically a small corner restaurant with outdoor seatings extended all the way onto the road.

# – Lets play spot the farang…

It was always packed and you’d notice that many of its patrons were farangs. The presence of white people was one of the reasons we kind of delayed eating there, thinking that it’s a tourist trap, EVENTHOUGH we’d read plenty of good reviews on Lonely Planet and Trip Advisor.

Thankfully, after seeing one too many empty large cockle shell, we decided to check it out near midnight right after a superb massage session, when there weren’t so many customers.

Of course I ordered the juicy, fat cockles. I was very happy that the manager spoke fluent English, so I got him to make sure that the cockles would not be overcooked. They arrived on my table, just lightly warmed through and still bloody. Brilliant. Bloody brilliant, yes.

# – Bloody, juicy, succulent cockles.

And when Thais clean cockles, they really do clean them! There’s not a trace of mud or sand on the shells.

# – I was in heaven.

I’ve always felt that eating cockles was like eating poor man’s oysters. So imagine my surprise when I noticed that T&K Seafood served actual oysters as well, side by side with the cockles like they were just cheap, common nothings. I could barely contained my glee.

# – Raw oyster salad with a side of raw herbs and a bowl of deep fried shallots.

# – There must had been about 15 decent sized raw oysters in there for about 120 baht. DIRT CHEAP. Sorry about my post-Thai massage hair :P

Suffice to say, I was all oystered out. I went back to the hotel so contented and happy. Then, we return to T&K the next day.

This time, we made sure we had loads of stomach space for a gigantic feast. There were so many other dishes on the menu that caught my eyes the previous night but we couldn’t possibly order because we already had dinner somewhere else.

# – Like this raw prawn salad. I FREAKIN’ MISS THIS ONE /SNIFFS

The prawns were so, so fresh and went so well with the spicy chilli garlic sauce. So good, I had two plates of raw prawns!

# – The stuffed crab was really good too. The BF ordered another after devouring this one up :D

# – Lovely deep fried squids.

# – Superb tomyam! Very good balance of spiciness, sourness and sweetness from the seafood. This is supposedly the smallest size but quite a large portion.

# – Crabmeat fried rice. What is with Thais and fried rice? I’ve never had a lousy fried rice in Thailand!

# – Cheap Thai beer and seriously, the best soda water in the world comes from the Land of Smiles. They don’t seem to fizzle out!

# – Aftermath.

I am incredibly impressed with T&K. By Malaysian standard, the amount of seafood would have cost us a bomb, but we ended up paying around RM150+. Crazy cheap!

# – T&K Seafood.

I will surely return to T&K on my next trip to Bangkok!

T &K Seafood Address (just down the road from Shanghai Mansion Hotel, you won’t miss the crowd)
49-51 Phadung Dao Road, Chinatown,
10100, Bangkok,
Thailand.
Tel: (02) 223 4519
Operation hours: Daily, 4.30pm – 2.00 am

Yoko’s at Changkat Bukit Bintang.

Within the same week after checking out Daikanyama, we returned to the same area to meet up with a good friend at Yoko’s, a restaurant owned by a Japanese lady named well, Yoko.

# – Yoko’s.

The interior of the restaurant was cozy and unpretentious, in my opinion the perfect atmosphere to catch up with friends. Due to its location, I would imagine people who visit the place for the first time to expect a sort of 5 star service, where waiting staff would be on their hands & feet at their beck and call.

However I would like to warn against having such expectations, for Yoko’s is not that kind of eatery. It’s just a friendly, casual, humble, almost unassuming restaurant serving wonderful Japanese fusion food at a prime location.

# – Inside Yoko’s. Hmm, nevermind.

Our friend, who is a regular at Yoko’s sung praises about the food and knowing his tastebuds, I was very excited to check out the place!

# – We started with fresh, thickly cut salmon sashimi. Beautiful!

# – Followed by the Dragon Roll. Standard stuff, no negatives :)

# – And then, Spider Maki. Cripsy, meaty soft shell crabs, yummy!

# – Butterfish sushi. Fresh, meaty sliced raw butterfish on sushi rice.

From this point forward, the dishes started to get really interesting. Many of whom I couldn’t recognise or name as they were specially created by the owner of Yoko’s.

# – The peculiar dish called Adam & Eve, which is essentially various seafoods cooked in an apple. Superb amalgamation of flavours.

# – I loved Adam & Eve! Every morsel of seafood, be it scallop or prawn was cooked to perfection and beautifully flavoured by the flesh of the apple. The apple itself on the other hand, was flavoured by the sweetness of the seafood. What a treat!

# – Salmon 4 Floors Sushi. Like rice & salmon mille feuille. If you like your salmon sashimi unadulterated by too much flavours, this is perfect.

# – Chicken thigh and leek yakitori. I really enjoyed this but the BF loved this more because he’s English and English people like leeks.

# – Mentaiko pasta, the highlight of my dinner. One of my favourite Japanese ingredient is mentaiko (spicy fish roe) and I could eat like 3 bowls of rice as long as I have mentaiko to go with. This simple pasta dish was just spaghetti with a creamy sauce made of mentaiko and probably mayonnaise. Every mentaiko clung on to the pasta for dear life and that’s the way I love it. LOVED IT!

# – Yoko’s No 1 Roll. This is a roll packed full of eggs, veggies, fish and other goodies. However not recommended when you’re too full because it’s quite a generous portion. Our friend got a bit carried away with ordering food, haha.

# – Japanese inspired Crabmeat & Avocado Pizza. Delicious crabmeat and chunks of fresh avocado baked on a thin, crispy base topped with some sinfully delicious sauce. Addictive!

Yoko’s pricing ranges between RM30-RM150 but portions are generous with fresh ingredients. Considering its location, it’s really not that expensive either.

All in all, I was really happy with the food at Yoko’s. My only regret is that we didn’t get to meet Yoko, who according to our friend is a gorgeous & vivacious character. It’s okay, because we’ll be back and then I would like to thank her for such gorgeous food!

# – Yoko’s menu.

Yoko’s,
36, Changkat Bukit Bintang,
Bukit Bintang
50200 Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur
Tel: +603 2144 3378

Fusion goodies at Daikanyama, Changkat Bukit Bintang.

Owned by the same people as Shuraku, we went to Daikanyama all excited for another extraordinary gastronomic experience.

Daikanyama is located along the busy Changkat Bukit Bintang. It’s hard to miss. Like Shuraku, space is limited but the interior of the restaurant is far more upmarket and trendy.

# – Daikanyama, Changkat Bukit Bintang.

Famous among its patrons for its delicious Japanese fusion menu, Daikanyama recently launched a few new dishes which combine the best of local Malaysian food with some Japanese influence.

# – With Mei.

The results are food that might remind you of the time when you were a kid happily trawling the neighbourhood wet market for breakfast or when you’re a hormonal teenager checking out the opposite sex at the mamak or when you’re eating simple but comforting dishes whipped up by your equally busy other half after putting in a hard day’s work.

All those memories…but now imagine that they happened while you were a character in a Japanese anime. Yeap.

# – DKYM’s Malaysian Roll. Handroll stuffed with bakkua strips and pork floss. Reminds me of Chinese New Year, the only time when I binge on seaweed sheets, bakkua and pork floss all at the same time, not necessarily in that order.

# – DKYM Special Geso Rojak. Kind of like the luxurious version of our local rojak. The fish roe gave the dish an interesting pop.

# – Salmon butter yaki. Served on a bed of kangkung belacan, the salmon is meaty and full of body. I’d personally prefer the fish to be slightly less cooked though.

# – Californian luncheon cheese maki. Luncheon meat and cheese, need I say more?

# – Special chapati roll. Admittedly the plainest dish, but don’t let its appearance fool you. It’s full of flavours.

We also got to sample some of Daikanyama’s staples. I could see why this joint is so consistently busy because the food were absolutely delicious!

# – Salmon Truffle Oil Tataki. Lightly cooked salmon on a bed creamy mash and drizzled with the unmistakable truffle oil. Truly orgasmic!

# – The Chef’s Special Maggi Goreng. Only lucky patrons get to enjoy this as it’s not on the menu. Fried with octopuses, scallops and other shellfish in a special sauce and then topped with a perfect sunny side up. Incredibly addictive!

# – We finished off our dinner with this incredibly boozy, incredibly delicious ice cream dessert. Kind of like parfait but…. *hic *hic

Thank you Mei and Edwin. I had a grand time :)

# – DKYM.

Daikanyama,
No. 42 Changkat Bukit Bintang,
50200 Kuala Lumpur,
Tel: +6012 971 0058