Eat & Drink
Tanisorn Vongsoontorn/Time Out Bangkok
Pimp My Salad
This vibrant Singapore-hailing eatery changes everything you thought you knew about salad.
But it won’t be a real salad place without cold offerings. At Pimp My Salad, cold options include chickpea larb salad (B50), beetroot and pumpkin seed hummus (B35), egg salad with dill pickles (B45), or buckwheat soba (B30). If too many choices are getting you in a tizzy, play it safe and order one of the many drool-worthy, pre-made bowls such as Cool Gai (B215), which mixes coconut chicken with kaffir lime, chickpea larb salad, sautéed mushrooms, brown rice and nam jim jaew (Thai chili sauce) mayonnaise; or Hula Hula Tuna (B350), which has tuna poke, smashed avocado, pickled daikon and carrots, kimchi, and brown rice sprinkled with furikake (dry Japanese seasoning).
Early risers will want to come to pimp their very own breakfast salad. We recommend putting together house-made grilled focaccia (B30), smoked thick-cut bacon (B85), smashed avocado (B100) and runny fried eggs (B50). Selections for sweet tooths are also available. We can’t stop raving about the juicy flamed pineapple (B30) and the ultra-creamy coconut yogurt (B65). Both are good on their own or with Pimp My Salad’s homemade granola (B100). The Nutty Acai Bowl (B280), an indulgent mix of soft-serve acai, flamed banana, coconut, house-made cashew nut butter, granola, and raw vegan brownie, is also an awesome way to end your meal—or start your day.
Get your caffeine fix with Sarnies’ signature iced coconut long black (B120) or Pimp’s own coconut coffee frappe (B120).
If it’s not the house and disco tunes pumping in the background that catches your attention, then it’s the enticing variety of food displayed at the counter. Singapore-born Pimp My Salad, run by the team behind Charoenkrung brunch spot Sarnies (another Singaporean brand), will make you rethink how a salad should look and taste—and it doesn’t involve just a bunch of mixed greens and sugary dressing.
Here, you can put together your own healthy combination based on your dietary preferences. Each serving is prepared from scratch and comes in hefty portions. But what makes Pimp My Salad really stand out are their hot food options. Proteins, from cured and smoked salmon (B130) to sous vide rump steak (B120) to coconut and kaffir lime chicken (B80), are grilled on wood in an open-fire pit and can be mixed with sides of your choice, including cayenne grilled corn with paprika and lime (B35), baked falafels (B50/two pieces), miso-braised fennel (B30) or spiced, herbed quinoa (B60).
Tanisorn Vongsoontorn/Time Out Bangkok
Sereechai Puttes/Time Out Bangkok
Sereechai Puttes/Time Out Bangkok
Medici
This fine-dining establishment has long been one of our favorite spots to savor Italian fare and it has never failed to wow. But even tried-and-tested formulas need a tweak, which is why Medici thought to revamp its menu, this time combining the tastes and styles of cuisine from countries like France, Spain and Italy to give a more contemporary twist to Mediterranean fare. The kitchen is now helmed by Chef Bart Cywinski, who earned his culinary chops at several notable restaurants across the globe, including The Grill at The Dorchester in London, and the Michelin-starred JAAN in Singapore.
Those who have dined at Medici before will be familiar with its dark and dramatic neo-classical interiors. But for those who have yet to make a visit, you can think of the opulent glam of The Great Gatsby plus the bar scene from any ’70s gangster film to give you an idea. Pick a seat by the brightly-lit open kitchen if you’d like to see your food being whipped up right in front of you.
Not long after you’re seated, a waiter will serve you pumpkin cappuccino, a complementary pumpkin parmesan soup layered with potato foam, and served warm in a shot glass. This soup prepares your palate for a culinary journey that can start off with the local mud crab and tomato cannelloni (B580), a signature dish that features tomato jelly stuffed with seasoned crab meat and quinoa, and topped with sturgeon caviar and avocado mousse. If you want something that’s along the lines of comfort fare, order the lobster linguine (B1,300). For protein-forward dishes, try the roasted snow fish (B1,200), a pan-seared fish dish served with parmesan polenta and puttanesca, or the 150 days grain fed Australian Angus beef tenderloin (B1,650), an indulgent course cooked in red wine and topped with fried foie gras.
The dessert here is as Italian as it gets, ranging from tiramisu (B300), to traditional cannoli (B250), to a modern interpretation of vanilla pannacotta (our favorite, B410), layered with strawberry gelatin and pistachio sponge cake, and served with sour strawberry compote and strawberry puree.
The venue also carries an impressive wine list that features more than 100 labels from around the world, although Italian labels hold court. The cocktails menu is also spot-on, highlighting cocktails made with a house-made gin mix from the Speakeasy Bar located upstairs. Our favorite was Ginlet (B370), a gin-based cocktail that features lime juice and elderflower syrup, and topped with a gigantic white chrysanthemum flower. If you want a more spirits-forward glass, try Kaffir Negroni (B390), a drink that combines Gordon’s gin, Aperol spritz, and Martini Bianco.
Drop by for dinner on Tuesday to Saturday if you want to enjoy an opera performance by Fivera, the only pop-opera band in Thailand. The group performs from 8:30 pm till 10:00 pm.
Tanisorn Vongsoontorn/Time Out Bangkok
Hybe Songwat
This fine-dining restaurant serves Vietnamese-inspired fare that won't break the bank.
During our visit, the menu (B1,590) revolved around the theme Fraichement (“fresh” in English), and walked us through seven Vietnamese-inflected courses within three chapters: Street, River and Home. Each dish is named after a certain part of a journey. Along the River reveals baked razor clams topped with garlic crumbs and edible flowers, and comes with kumquat mayonnaise. It is followed by Go With the Flow, a bisque with butter-poached river prawns, and Vietnamese-style ravioli made with cassava flour and topped with lemongrass foam.
The main dish, Homemade, is inspired by home-cooked fare in the Vietnamese city of Can Tho. Patrons can choose between beef or chicken. We had the latter, and it was delicious—crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, glazed with Vietnamese fish sauce, and served with broken rice, barley turmeric risotto and mango salsa. Hybe also offers a wine pairing option for each chapter with an additional charge of B790.
You wouldn’t guess that a fine-dining restaurant lies behind a white door of a structure that seamlessly blends in with the rest of the houses on the small alley of Trok Saphan Yaun. Hybe Songwat serves dishes inspired by the owners’ travels, and in prices that won’t break the bank. Every dish also cleverly manifests Vietnamese influences, mainly for the fact that the historic area was once occupied by the Vietnamese, “I want people to know the story of the neighborhood,” Piyapa “Meow” Vichiansan, one of the co-owners, explains.
She is quick to point out, however, that they are not a Vietnamese restaurant. “We serve food based on our trips to different countries. After we get back from a trip, we talk to the chef about how we can interpret our experience into the food. Like when we visited Korea, we came up with Korean food—but with Vietnamese tweaks.”
The food is not the only thing that takes you on a journey. Each sense is heightened through the ambient music, the heady smell of incense, and video recordings of the owners’ travels playing on vintage TVs.
Tanisorn Vongsoontorn/Time Out Bangkok
Tanisorn Vongsoontorn/Time Out Bangkok
Honeyful Cafe
A cafe dedicated to all things honey.
Nuttawan “Yui” Supapong discovered that there is more to honey than the locally grown amber-colored sweetener she would take as a child after trying different kinds of honey on a study trip in the north. Inspired by her knowledge on the sugary food product, she decided to open a specialty cafe offering food and drinks made from honey she sourced herself from around the world.
Tucked in Soi Sukhumvit 24, Honeyful boasts warm and welcoming interiors featuring wood furniture and flooring, and white beehive-shaped tiles. Green plants liven up the place, while big windows bring in natural light.
At Honeyful, Yui wants to emphasize that honey, aside from being delicious, also carries tons of health benefits. “I want people to be able to incorporate honey in their everyday life,” she says. “Taking honey every morning helps strengthen your immune system. When the weather is bad, especially, the best thing you can do is to be healthy. Take it every day as part of your routine. Substitute table sugar with honey. It’s natural and is made of monosaccharides or single-molecule sugars, which the body can process more easily.”
Honey is incorporated in every drink and dish at Honeyful. The selection of honeys are changed every so often and, this season, the cafe offers collection of “monofloral honeys” in a menu called Honeyful Remedies. These honeys are produced by bees that mostly collect nectar from one floral species, thus giving the honey a distinct flavor. Yui says that each honey tastes different depending on, apart from the species of the flower, the place it’s sourced.
The Honeyful Remedies menu includes, among others, fresh-pressed almond milk with Honeyful honey (B185), fresh-pressed apple juice with apple blossom honey and Aomori apple cider vinegar (B195), and Manuka latte (B160), a drink that combines Australian Manuka honey with locally sourced coffee and fresh milk.
The cakes and pastries are just as good as the drinks. Don’t miss the crazy good Japanese-style cheesecake (B150) that’s topped with coulis made of orange blossom honey, yuzu and orange juice. Or try one of their Sqruff puff pastries, a buttery, flaky creation similar to mille-feuille. Our fave is the Raspberry Sqruff (B75), which is topped with lemon zest-infused cream cheese and tangy raspberry jam infused with wild Thai honey.
For those who’d like to have their pastries with tea, Honeyful Cafe carries a selection of leafy brews from noted tea house Peace Oriental. Each cup of tea comes with a well-thought-out honey pairing.
Tanisorn Vongsoontorn/Time Out Bangkok