Have you Saboten-ed?

Ever tried the food at Saboten?  Its recently become one of my favourite eating places.  The shredded cabbage salad is so refreshing and the fried katsu is just about the right portion.  Coupled with the amazing sauces, hot steaming rice and a bowl of miso soup, the combination is just heavenly.  As airport staff, I've had a few meals there during lunchtime and we will take the set meals which comprises a portion of fried meat/seafood (depending on what you order), 1 portion of salad, soup, pickle, rice and a bowl of soup.  Its just about right.  Oh, did I mention that the price of $11,90 doesn't really give you much opportunity to consider taking the full set since its quite a good deal for staff.

The salad is just amazing.  Did I just say its amazing?  Oh yes I did.  Its amazing.  The cabbage is cold and thinly shredded, so its just like eating alfalfa, except that it doesn't really taste like rabbit food.  Then there's the sauces that you can add to the salad - one is the sesame sauce while the other is some orange flavour.  I kinda like to alternate both.  The sesame sauce is fragrant and has a thick rich aroma whereas the orange flavour sauce is sweet and gives a kick.  It somewhat reminds me of eating cold soba.  Yeah, the sauce kinda tastes like that.  Sweet and a little sour.  Add that to cold, shredded cabbage and its a winner.



Salad with sesame sauce added

Eating the loin katsu or tenderloin katsu allows you to have some fun too.  The server will give you a bowl of sesame seeds and you'll have to grind them using the wooden stick that comes with it.  Once you start grinding, you'll start to smell the aroma of the sesame seeds.  

I am pretty sure they've been roasted before, hence the fragrance.  After you're satisfied with the grinding, you can add the tonkatsu sauce.  Add more for a more watery dip, but watch out as that also means you dilute the sesame flavour.  I suggest 4 scoops for the right intensity.  

The fried tenderloin isn't too oily and is best eaten hot.  The wire mesh prevents the katsu from soaking up any excess oil (not that there is any).  See how lean the meat is?

But when you have a chance to dine there during dinner, that's when you get to experience the never-ending portions of salad, soup and rice.  Not that you need another bowl of rice, but the thought of that already makes dinner worth it right?

Yummy!

Saboten at Terminal 1 currently has a 20% offer for diners.  They will hand out dining vouchers at the Departure hall, just when you're about to step onto the escalator.  Otherwise, any airport staff pass will give you the same discount.   That should work out to be $20 after discount.  Pretty good huh?

Bangkok guide (part 2)

Dining in Bangkok is generally quite easy.  Food is cheap and widely available.  Take this for example - Nobu Shabu is a Japanese shabu shabu restaurant that offers both ala carte and buffet dining.  For buffet, you'll only be paying 399++, which works out to be about 520 baht or S$22 per head.  Considering that the quality of food is good & it is healthy, I'll highly recommend this restaurant to any visiting Singaporean.  Just take note that you'll be required to compete your meal in 1.5 hours if you're having the buffet.  

I found this restaurant by accident some years back when I was in Bangkok alone.  I never found another place that offers such delicious food.  The soup base becomes really tasty after you've had 1 round of vegetable & meats cooked in it.  The meat is very thinly sliced (as with all shabu meat), so you can eat it easily and without guilt since its lean. 

Nobu Shabu is located on level 7 in zone B, near to the cinema.  Best if you can drop by earlier in the day to make reservations but if not, you'll probably won't have to wait too long.  Opens from 10am to 10pm. 

These sauces are available for you to conjure up your own dip. As you like it

The selection of vegetables, squid, beef, chicken & pork

 

My dip with a generous helping of garlic, spring onions, bean paste, a dash of shabu sauce and losta vinegar!

Our pot filled with vegetables & lean meat. Very healthy! 

 If you walk around Central World, you may come across this massage and spa outlet.  You may think that it would likely cost more since its so well done up, but no.  Prices are the same as anywhere else.  I had a nice foot massage and I'm pretty satisfied with the ambiance and massage.  

City-Airport
Now for the final piece of advice.  This is probably the best thing that has happened to Bangkok in a long time.  The new airport city rail has 2 lines.  One that's express and plies between Suvarnabhumi Airport and Makkasan railway station.  The airport city rail station is located at Basement 1 of the airport.  This will cost you 150 baht one way.  From Makkasan station, you'll need to take a taxi to wherever you're staying.

The other line is also part of the BTS line (I think).  It goes beyond Makkasan station to Phaya Thai station and its only going to cost you 45 baht.  After you get to the last station at Phaya Thai, get out and walk to the Sukhumvit line.  The BTS station has the same name Phaya Thai.  The duration of travel on this airport rail is about 25 minutes and I think the interval is 20 minutes.  Pretty fast if you don't have to wait for the next train and convenient if you're not with lots of luggage.  Once you get to the Sukhumvit line, go to wherever your hotel is and viola!  Its easy to navigate and you can always ask for help if you need.

Have fun!

Bangkok guide (part 1)

Here it is... my guide to visiting Bangkok.

First of all, most of you will be concerned about how to get from Suvarnabhumi Airport to the city.  There's a few options - taxis which will set you back about 350-500 baht if the traffic is bad, the airport express bus which costs 150 baht and the new airport rail link that costs 150 baht.

Since I wasn't too familiar with the new airport rail link and the websites didn't give much info, I decided to take my time and take the airport express bus.  This is where you can get your150 baht  tickets.  All you need to do is to tell them where you're heading and they'll recommend the route that you should take (fyi, there's 4 routes to various parts of Bangkok).  Then you wait outside for your bus to arrive.  Its kinda simple for tourists since the staff there will confirm your intended destination and work out the sequence for the bus stops and tell each passenger when they should alight.  The rest is up to you.

Unfortunately, I took 2 hours to get to the hotel because of Friday's rush hour traffic.  I literally got stuck in a spot and stayed there for 20 mins without moving.  Definitely not for the weak bladders.  So finally, after waiting in the bus for 2 hours, I suspected that I was near my hotel and checked with the bus driver.  I was right, so I alighted and carried on my journey on foot.  I took only 5 mins more to reach the hotel!  OMG... At the last of my Bangkok posts, I will share with you how I went to the airport. This is probably one of the fastest and cheapest way, so I'd recommend this for anyone anytime!  Go look for that segment later..

Centara Grand

The hotel I stayed at was Centara Grand, next to Central World.  Its quite convenient since its near the Siam and Chidlom BTS Stations.  Here's how the rooms look like.  Good yeah?  The only gripe I have is that there isn't much for you to sit.  There's a reclining chair and a desk chair but nothing else to sit on.  So if there's more than 1 in the room, its already a problem.  Good thing though, is that they have a pillow menu!  All hotels should have pillow menus to allow their guests to have a comfortable night's rest.  Don't we all deserve it?  

Kinky bathroom, with a window that opens into the room.  =)  But the bathroom is nice and spacious.  Has a shower area and a bathtub with SUPER HUGE mirrors.  Recommended for those who can't stop looking at themselves.

One of the shops in Central World is Naraya.  This shop is pretty big and is always packed with tourists.  Why?  Because the products here are locally made, are cheap and make perfect souvenirs for friends and family.  There's also a shop in VivoCity, but that's a lot more expensive.  

Mah Boon Krong

MBK - the must go place for tourists.  For me, I go there for43 things - pharmaceuticals, gadgets/accessories for electronics, foot massage and contact lenses.  There's lots of pharmacies in the building, but this one - April 27 is my favourite.  You can get your medication here at a very low price.  Make a list of all the medicine, creams, etc that you need and buy here.  Sometimes, they may even give you discount for buying in bulk.  

This place, Porntip Beauty Centre, is where I get my foot massages.  Located on the same level as the electronic gadgets, you need to make a pit stop for 1 hour and get a foot massage. Its only going to cost you 300 baht for 1 hour.  Shiokness!