Confession of A CoffeeHolic!!

I am a self confessed coffeeholic! I can't live without coffee even for a day of my life! That's what makes Chiang Mai my #1 city in Thailand! Cafe' is mushrooming in this vibrant city......and the culture of thai people drinking coffee is getting more mature. There are possibly now more than hundreds of them scattered around the city. I am on my mission to conquer as many cafe' as possible during my 2009 CM tour. Below are some of the cafe' that I've visited during my 6 days trip in Chiang Mai city:-

1) White chalet bakery & cafe' (1st time)

2) Coffee day cafe' (1st time)

3) Cafe' de L'amour (1st time)

4) Mokador cafe' (1st time)

5) Mont' Blanc cafe' (1st time)

6) Ratchadumnern cafe' (revisited)

7) fern forest cafe' (revisited)

8) Charcoa cafe' (revisited)

9) Wawee cofee (revisited)

10) Doi Tung (first time in Chiang Mai & previous visit was in bangkok)

11) Doi Chaang (revisited)

12) Mc'cafe (1st time)

Analysis:- Most of the cafe provides free & unlimited drinking water plus free wireless Internet connection with the exception of wawee coffee for its Internet use where you have to pay for it. Price is about 30% -40% cheaper than Starbucks on the average. The cheapest cup of americano is 35 bath from Cafe' de l'amour & ratchadumnern cafe'. A cup of americano in Mc'cafe is about 50bath compare to 60bath in wawee coffee. Well it all depends on what you are looking for.....a cup of equivalent good coffee from the street peddlers would cost you 20bath.

Life is good in Chiang Mai for a coffeeholic like me where I am spoiled with choices and variety of coffee easily available! God knows why I am so obsessed with Chiang Mai. I never get tired and bored of it....perhaps this is the city of my choice! City with both the modern & ancient architecture building.

How much do I spend in a day life in Chiang Mai??

Well I do not really spend a lot of money in a day in CM! Most of the money will be spend on food, coffee & lodging. A clean hotel room will cost me for about 500 bath a day. Then others expenses would be for food, drinks and transportation that will cost me for about 200 bath if I dine moderately. Basically a bowl of noodle soup or a plate of rice with braised pork cost me 25 bath and some stall even offering free sky juice. So if I would choose to eat the street food that will cost me 75bath for 3 meals a day. Rent a bicycle for 50bath and you can travel all around the city easily especially during the winter season. A ride on the red taxi (songthaew or Si daeng) to almost anywhere in the town area cost me only 20bath per ride. Nowadays I hardly go to touristy places for food & drinks. Instead I choose to eat and drink like the local. Of course if I would like to have a cup of good Americano….I has plenty of choices! From a minimum price of 35 bath to 60bath a cup in the numerous available café’ scattered inside the old city moat! It doesn’t really cost me much to stay a week in CM after all! I would roughly need 10,000 bath for a week and that will brings me a lot and a lot of fun, laughter and good memories!

Remarks:- the ability for me to speak thai helps me a lot when I am traveling around Thailand. Sometimes I pay the local price instead of a "farang price". I am familiar with the city, know how and where to get cheap food and drinks. By having some local friends is a bonus to a seasoner CM tourist like me.

To die for

With a mission to hunt for the best place to unwind my evening, I found a chic restaurant with some great interior architecture and design located inside the famous Soi Thonglor or Sukhumvit 55. To Die For is a great restaurant if you are looking for the best food in the town! (Best restaurant in Thailand 2009 by Thai tatler) Some online survey also listed this place as 1 of the best 10 café throughout the world. After browsing their relatively simple but great menu……I found my love one! Fried Red Snapper mix fusion and Mediterranean style. The fish skin is crispy while the meat is tender and juicy. The small portion of homemade pasta was delicious!

As a starter I was served with some bread which looks so ordinary to me…..and I was wondering will it taste good? I am not here for the bread! Well like people said don’t ever judge a book by its cover…..I am obviously wrong! The bread was great so was the butter! I was also served with a cup of weird thingy which taste like heaven! The bread was crispy at the skin and the inner part is so soft! That’s what I called great bread!

For a coffee lover like me I can’t miss out on their small selection of coffee. I ordered a café latte which I think is moderate (too milky)…..but the taste was acceptable! To complete my journey in this lovely place I ordered a brownie with vanilla ice cream on top as my dessert! The brownie is “heaven”! By far the best brownie I’ve ever ate!

The service was top class, promptly and the waitress keeps refilling my cup of mineral water and advises me on my choice of food. The great part was there are huge selections of wine from all around the world! Cheapest bottle start from 990 bath before 10% service tax! I have fall in love with this place and I hope that I will be back soon! The final bill is 875 bath and I tipped them well though! For more info on this place you can log on to www.todieforbangkok.com!

Remarks:- I reached to die for by taking the BTS from Siam to Thonglor - walk all the way from soi 1 till I am tired and abit loss of direction, ask a “narak mak mak” (very cute in Thai) girl inside 7-11 and ride on a motorcycle taxi before I reached the H-1 building and located to die for. I am suffering now from leg pain but it is worth it! You would only regret if you don’t pay a visit!

Episode 3:- Petaling Street charcoal hokkien mee

I just had the Petaling Street Hokkien mee as my dinner. This hokkien mee stall was introduced recently in the Astro AEC show "taste with jason or ah xian ren qing wei". Located in the heart of china town kuala lumpur......u must be sure that this place will be flock by tourists. Even though highly recommended by the hokkien mee lovers...I found the taste was rather bland and too much of dark soy sauce is being used. Anyway its just my humble opinion and preference....some might just love this version of hokkien mee.



Perhaps I have start to believe that the so called "famous" hokkien mee's in town is just normal & blant dark soy sauce fried mee! Still way better, more delicious & good pricing "tall man hokkien mee" beats some of the more well known contestant for the number 1 hokkien mee in Malaysia!

#previous post:- Ahwa@jln 222 charcoal hokkien mee

It is DeLiCiouS !!

There are just too many of places for dining in Klang valley. However which of these is really worth a visit? One of my favorites dining place is delicious cafe which has 4 branches located in some of the most prime location in Klang Valley. Some of my recommended dishes are as follow:-



"its a hearty meal"



" should be enough for 2 if you are not a big eater!"



"my favorites spaghetti"



" yeah that's seriously delicious!"

remarks:- the cafe' overall design is modern & contemporary style. pricing is average and the bill for 2 should be around RM 100 without alcoholic drinks. Delicious also serve some of the best chocolate cake and carrot cake in town.

# 4 outlets located each in bangsar village 2, marcs residence, dua residency & One Utama new wing