Tonkatsu Raku Tei (Bangkok)

We were feeling like having tonkatsu for lunch. There is a very popular tonkatsu restaurant that is in a shopping center that caters to the Japanese community. There is a Fuji supermarket, Japanese DVD rental shops, Japanese pastry shots, Japanese restaurants, etc. Parking is horrendous on weekends because tons of Japanese are shopping and eating at this particular center.


The restaurant is located at the basement of the shopping center. Actually, basement is not the correct word, because basement connotes that the restaurant is inside the building and underground. But its not, the restaurant is on the lower level of the street (I hope that makes sense). The decor is very minimal with pearly white coloured walls with spot lights that give warmth to the room. There are simple wooden chairs and tables. Each table has the usual condoments that a katsudon restaurant should have; two types of katsudon sauce (but we have not idea what the difference was after doing a taste test), sesame seeds and chili powder.


For a restaurant that specializes in tonkatsu; I am amazed at the number of types tonkatsus that is available on the menu. For people who do not know; Tonkatsu is simply deep fried pork. Sounds so simple but the way the Japanese make it is heavenly. There are two types of pork; one has fat on it and the other type does not. Then there is tonkatsu just deep fried plain, or filled with spinach or cheese or both. I think you get what I mean. The choices are limitless.


I always order the normal tonkatsu set (the one with no fat). The set came with an unbelievable amount of food and condoments. The set came with sesame seeds, pickled vegetables, cabbage slaw and miso soup. The set even allows you to eat as much rice and cabbage slaw as you want. The star of the show is the tonkatsu and we get about 400 grams of meat. That is a huge amount of meat. The tonkatsu is always perfectly deep fried to a golden brown here. The tonkatsu was crispy on the out but so moist & juicy on the inside. I like to sprinkle some sesame seeds on the rice. The combination of the sesame rice and the tonkatsu is wonderful.


If you eat as much as I do, this place is the place for you. The service is a bit slow and sometimes not attentive. This time around, the waitress forgot to give the kitchen our order, so the outcome was that the food of the table that came after us arrived first. I was not very happy since I was starving. My mouth was watering looking at my neighbors tonkatsu. Other than that, prices are reasonable for the amount of food you get an the location is also great.

b level
99/9 Sukhumvit soi 39
tel.: 02 260 1538

Lobster (Montpeyroux)

Lobster prices are incredible this year. Due to the success of the moratorium on lobster fishing for a couple of years in America. There is an abundance of lobster now. The incredible price is only 17.50 euros a kilo. for live lobster. This is wonderful news for us since we do love lobster.


We bought three live lobsters. We had them for lunch and it was an amazing lunch. The meat was firm and tasteful. We did not even need the lemon to add extra flavour.

Persimmons (Montpeyroux)

There are two kinds of persimmons: the Fuyu, the kind you can eat right away, and the Hachiya, the kind you can't (until they are very ripe). If you bite into an unripe Hachiya persimmon, it is if you just drank a tea, where the tea leaves have been sitting in the tea pot for hours. This astringent flavor is due to the high level of tannin in the fruit.

We have a Hachiya persimmon tree in the garden. The tree is full of fruit in the winter. I decided to get a ladder and climb up the tree to get a couple of the persimmons because the birds have been eating all the fruit.


The other day, I tried to eat one of the persimmons and it was so bitter that it left my tongue numb. I had to spit out the fruit immediately. I will have to be a bit more patient until the persimmons ripen. I really like persimmons, the flavour is unique. Apparently, they provide us with important nutrients such as beta-carotene, Vitamin C and potassium.

Dinner at St. Giraud

We were invited to a friend's home for dinner. The friend's home happens to belong to one of the best female chef's of the region, so its always a pleasure to experience her cooking.


There is a famous steel welder who lives in the same village of our friends. He can make practically anything out of recycled steel. Here is a a lovely Christmas tree that my friends commissioned from the steel welder. I would like to commission a Christmas tree from him as well. They look so unusually pretty.


The Ginger bread house that my friends built for their grand daughter. A very festive and cute symbol of the Christmas season.


Here is what we were waiting for. I love pot-au-feu; its such a comfort food for me in the winter. I was very happy to see a giant cast iron pot arrive at the table because it was pot-au-feu de pigeon. A creative and yummy version of my favourite dish.


To accompany the pot-au-feu; we were served chinese cabbage. A very great idea to accompany the dish, because the cabbage added a lovely texture and flavour.


The very beautiful table setting. Everyone has starving but they had to wait until I took a photo of the table.


We started the evening sitting next to their fireplace and toasting our glasses with champagne. The first champagne was Billecart-Salmon 1985. This went very well with the home-fois gras on toasted bread that was served with it.


The second bottle of champagne was Exquise from Jacques Selosse. Another very nice champagne and went brilliantly with the stunning scallops grilled with a ginger and lime juice sauce.



The husband of the chef; is an expert on wine. He was very kind to open fantastic bottles of wine during our dinner. I will not go into detail of each wine served since I am no expert. Just believe me that the wines were thought out very well to accompany our main course, cheese and dessert.



Kastelberg Riesling 1990.


Chateau La Lagune 1985.


Our friends are also experts at cheeses. Our friends even age their own cheeses in their cellar. Now that is what I call commitment to excellence in food.


Domaine G. Roumier 2005












I have a weakness for dessert. So, the chef made a very creative dessert that turned out to be visually gorgeous and very delicious. The cake was a steamed ginger cake. The chef brought the steamed bowl to the table. Unwrapped the cake like a Christmas gift. And...voila; the beautiful golden brown cake. But, the show was not over...


The steamed cake was turned over onto a plate. And, there it was the stunning cake, which was too pretty to cut. But, I was glad we did because it was delicious.



The cake was accompanied with home-made pineapple and vanilla ice cream. I have to say that the ice creams were so gooooood. Great texture and flavours.


The final wine for the evening was Moenchberg Tokay Pinot Gris 1994.


The lovely evening ended with all of us being stuffed with wonderful food and wines. We said good bye to the master of the home; Soupape, the ever so cute and gentle doggie.

Kinoa (Montpellier)

It was an awful grey and wet day in Montpeyroux so we decided to take a drive and do some food shopping in Montpellier. Since the weather was so bad, we decided to eat at Compagnie des Comptoirs because one of our friends has never eaten there and they have parking. When we got there, to our surprise they were closed. So, we decided to eat in a Japanese restaurant that has had a lot of good reviews in the old city. Walking through the rain; again to our horror, the restaurant was closed until 5 Jan. So, we decided to walk through the rain to Les Bains. However; half way there, we noticed that Kinoa was open. Yippeeee!!! We decided not to walk any further in the rain.


The restaurant was so full, that we had to wait about 15 minutes (which was not too bad), we were just happy to hear that our table would be ready soon because some customers were paying their bill. Kinoa is well known and is considered a very good restaurant. As well as having one of the best quality and price ratio. In short; a very very inexpensive set lunch menu. At 17.50 euros for an appetizer, main course and a glass of wine or half bottle of water (coffee not included; it was 2.50 euros). A fantastic deal. No wonder the place was packed.


The first appetizer was rouget. Two large pieces of cold rouget on top of a fresh salad and accompanied with onion doux and soft carrots. The rouget had a nice and tender meat. A simple dish but very tasty.


The second appetizer was home-made fois gras accompanied with lentils. I really liked the idea of the fois gras with lentils instead of sweet fruit. The fois gras was rich with flavour and a soft & creamy texture.


The first main course was entrecote. The entrecote came out cooked as asked; saignant. The meat was tender and had good flavour. The dish had the typical side dishes to accompany the entrecote; baked potato, broccili & carrots. However, the side dish of fried rice noodle was a waste and did not add anything to the dish. It was bland and a bit oily. The sauce for the entrecote was simple but very nice.


The second main course was civet de cerf. This was a wonderful dish. A great comfort dish with such horrible weather. The cerf was so tender and rich with flavour. The potato gratin was rich and creamy. The sauce from the cerf added another dimention to the gratin. We definately would like to have this dish again.


We always forget about Kinoa when we come to Montpellier to eat. After this lunch; we will not forget this very nice and inexpensive restaurant again.

The service was very efficient from a young man full of confidence and energy.

Please click here for directions to Kinoa

Home grown Chillies (Montpeyroux)

Over the summer, we started growing our own chillies in the garden and many other organic vegetables.

Here is the outcome of the chilli harvest.

We are now going to dry them and I will have a stash of chillies to use when I want to cook Thai or Vietnamese food. I hope they are very very spicy.

Restaurant de Lauzun (Gignac)

Gignac has a very famous restaurat now called the Restaurant de Lauzun. It has not been opened very long but the 24 year old chef Lauzun is being written up about in press. I think he was also just named one of the young and up-and-coming chefs to watch in the Gault Millau.


We had the table by the window and I had the view of the dinning room. I found the dinning room to be cold and sanitary. No personality or charm. However, I like the spacing of the tables and the accoustics of the room is good.


The wine we decided to have for the dinner was Le Chemin des Fees 2003. A nice wine from the region. Good fruit, accidity and colour.


The amuse bouche was parmentier de boeuf. The french version of a mini shepard's pie. For a small cup, it was full of flavour.


The first starter was coquillages; marines au basilic et au citron vert sur un tartare de betteraves. Pesto, d'estragon et julienne de Grany Smith. A beautiful presentation; the contrast of black slate with bright red and green sauces, golden brown tempura and the other colours on the dish was all eye candy. The dish tasted very good. But; somehow, we felt it was a bit too complicated. Too many flavours trying to get our attention and in the end we did not know what we were eating.


The second starter was saumon fume; par nos soins en roulade moelleuse et mascarpone au citron vert, vinaigrette au wasabi. Petite conserve d'oeuf brouille. Another lovely presentation. This one was more pure than the first appetizer. The saumon fume roulade was a nice way to present this dish. I thought the vinaigrette au wasabi could have been more strong to add some constrasting flavour. However, I am sure the chef did this on purpose because the people down here do not like very strong or spicy ingredients. I thought the Petite conserve d'oeuf brouille was brilliant. Intense, rich and creamy. Very nice. The tempura was pefectly deep fried to a golden brown. The deep fried bread sticks were a waste of space and totally useless on the dish.


The first main course was lotte cuit a basse temperature, nage de moules de bouchot et choucroute de choux rouge. Fricassee de champignons des bois. Again, the dish was a lovely presentation. The fish was cooked very nicely. The flavours of all the different seafoods was very good. However; again, we felt this dish had too many flavours fighting for our attention.


The second main course was filet mignon de cochon, cuite letement, petit ragout de cocoa facon cassoulet et mousseline de topinambours. Pate de citron confit. This was a nice and simple dish. One of those comfort foods that you look forward to in the cold winter nights. The amount of cochon was plentiful. The couchon was cooked to a perfect pink and was tender. The accompaning side dishes paired very nicely with the cochon.


The third main course was canette cuite a basse temperature flanquee de morceaux de coings braises. Puree de carotte parfumee a la genievre et jus de persil fort. The canette was very tender and cooked to the perfect crimson red. The coings added the sweetness to accompany the canette. However, I often do not think canette needs sweet fruits to accompany it all the time. I also liked the idea of puree de carotte instead of pomme puree.


The first dessert was chocolat et cafe dans deux tasses 'surprise' croustillantes. A very nice and creative presentation. The tasses were made from chocolate crispy biscuit and filled with chocolate and mocha mousse. The flaovours of the mousse were just lovely. At the bottom on each tasse was a surprise cake, also flavoured of chocolate and mocha.


The second dessert was ananas en differentes textures sur un financier et une mousse legere au caramel. Sorbet pinacolada. A refreshing and also creative interpretation of the ananas. The ananas was served in different textures. From dried to freshly diced, all with fantastic flavour. A nice dessert because it was naturally sweet.


We liked the food; it was good and creative. However, we thought it was too complicated. It had too many flavours to concentrate on. The chef was being too creative for our own good. I actually like it when chefs are being creative or even inventive. However, the flavours need to be precise and more focused. And, that is what I think the chef Lauzun should do.

The service was friendly and efficient.

Click here for directions to Restaurant de Lauzun:

Le Pastis (Montpellier)

We have heard and as well have read good reviews of a bistro in the old city of Montpellier. Since, we had to be in Montpellier to pick up a friend from Geneva. We decided to try that particular bistro for lunch.

The bistro is called Le Pastis.


Le Pastis has an open kitchen and is well decorated.


It felt very cosy and warm.


The first dish we tried was creme topinombour. The soup was very nice. Rich, creamy and tasty. A nice comfort soup for a cold winter day.


The second dish was nem stuffed with confit of duck and lamb accompanied with lentil salad. The nem was nicely deep fried to a light and cirspy brown. The suffing was a good mix of flavours.


The third dish was veal with peanut sauce accompanied with terriyaki pasta. I think there was only 100 g. of meat. I am not sure if the chef thought we needed to be on a diet, but this was not very generous at all. Though the meat was cooked well and had a good flavour. The side dish was a bit strange. It was more like an American pasta salad but warm instead of cold. I think the chef was trying to be creative but I felt it turned out to be more of a picnic side dish rather than in a bistro.


The fourth dish was pintade with polenta. I had a shock when the dish arrived. It was nicely presented on a black slate plate. But, there was only two slices of pintade and the head of the beast. How they dare serve this kind of portion is beyond me. However, the pintade was nice and tender. On the other hand, the portion of polenta was copious and it tasted fine but nothing outstanding.


Le Pastis did not live up to its reputation. Which is too bad. I thought the appetizers were much better than the main courses and the I thought the portions for the main courses were not generous. I was hoping to have another nice place to eat in Montpellier. I do not think we will be returning to Le Pastis any time soon.


Click here for directions to Le Pastis: