To Ikea-Bangna!

So it is possible to go the newly opened Ikea-Bangna in Bangkok without getting on the taxi or driving there.

I finally made the trip to check out the first Ikea outlet in Bangkok last Friday, almost half a year after they opened their doors on Thai soil. With a tip from Hubby and some minor research on the internet, I found out that you can hop on the MRT to Sukhumvit, get on the BTS from there towards Udomsok station on the Onnut/Bearing direction. From there Ikea provides shuttle buses to their store, approximately every thirty minutes.

And I had to pick the most convenient time do it, lunch time on high noon! I didn't have enough change to get the ticket and so had to join in the long, long queue to get my change. Luckily it was fast enough and soon, I was waiting on the platform above. It's 25baht from Asoke to Udomsuk, by the way.

Out in Udumsok, I tried to look for any signs that points to the Ikea shuttle bus stop but couldn't find any. So, off I went to ask the lady officer there. Take exit 5 and go straight down the stairs and the bus stop is there, she had said or something like that. I thanked her and followed her instructions. 

Upon reaching the bottom of the stairs, I was a little apprehensive. Eh, where's the bus stop? I guessed I was actually expecting to see the bus stop as soon I reached the end of the stairs. I looked ahead but still no bus stop in sight. I looked to the back, and then saw people forming sort of a waiting crowd, under the stairs, right in front of a 7-11 outlet! 

Oh, so that's where the unofficial bus stop is, I had thought. I went over to join the waiting group. After sometime, I realized that it was really an unofficial bus stop, no signs whatsoever, but all the passing buses stop there to pick passengers up. The raised sidewalk that we were standing on made it easier for the passengers to alight or board their buses. And with the traffic lights just ahead, I could certainly see why the drivers chose to stop there.

Oh, I waited long enough to notice a little sign outside a little travel agency shop that says, Ikea 30-40 and somethings in Thai. I guessed it meant I was on the right spot and I had to be prepared to wait up till 40 minutes for the shuttle bus. I didn't mind, though. Time was what I had. 

Lucky me, I didn't have to wait that long, only for about 15 minutes or so, before I saw the Ikea shuttle heading towards us. The bus was the newer type, the one with air-conditioning and front 4 seats behind the driver facing each other. Which was good. I like that kind of bus. They are normally newer and in better condition. 

Journey there took quite a while. Traffic was quite heavy actually, perhaps due to the fact it was a Friday and it was noon time. Also the driver made another stop on the way at the Central Ramkhamheang, was it, I wasn't sure on that, to pick up more passengers, who Ikea staff I found later. We took about a good half an hour to reach Ikea.

I was surprised to see how huge the place was, actually. MegaBangNa, I think that is the name given to whole area. Quite a number of big names are there, or going to be there. The place looked, smelt and sounded new, with construction workers everywhere, strong paint smell, and tools hard at work. Reminded me a little about the Curve area in Damansara, just bigger.

The driver waited for a while at the end of the road leading towards the entrance of Ikea. Then, he made his way in. At his first stop, a bunch of people got down and while the rest of us were getting ready to get down, the driver said something, which by then a blonde lady already out of the bus walking. Someone got her and got her to come up the bus again, which then I understood, that was the entrance for the staff and he was going to bring us to the real entrance! She got up, thanked the bus driver and sat and he continued driving, bringing us to the real entrance.

Here you go, I had imagined him saying, this is your entrance! And so I got down and followed the crowd towards what I presumed was the entrance to Ikea-Bangna, slightly a little over an hour after starting my journey.

Sesame buns, successfully!

This is a wonderful morning! It may look like any other morning recently, bright, it may feel like any other recent mornings, hot, and it may be like any other mornings, alone. But no, it's not. It's better than the other past few mornings. Really!

I made bread, successfully! Yeah!!!!

Okay, technically I didn't really make bread, I made buns. Oh but I used bread recipe and shaped the dough into 9 buns, so maybe technically I did make bread, but baked it as buns.

I woke up slightly later than I wanted to and got right into making my breakfast and making my bread. I heated up the milk for my oats and made extra for the bread. While the oats were cooking, I sifted the flour. I used all purpose flour, the only flour I had. I used up all my leftover flour. Adding 2 spoonful of sugar and a big tablespoon of instant yeast, I also added some cinnamon powder. For fun. But forgot to throw a pinch of salt into it.

Excitedly, I nearly poured my now luke warm milk into the dry ingredient mixture when I realized I had not added any butter or oil into my recipe. So I stopped myself in time, poured out some oil and mixed with some milk, and poured the mixture into the dry ingredients to kick start my fun. I then poured some more of the milk. Using a wooden spatula, I mixed all of them around and made sure all the flour turned into dough.

Then, I took out the dough and kneaded for a while on the counter. It was tough job. I could feel myself struggling to do it. The dough didn't feel soft, giving me some fear that I might end up with some rock buns. With that fear in mind, I continued to knead, going about it for almost 5 minutes, if not more. Sweat beats were forming all over me. Yes, I am that lousy.

This was the day I am grateful for the sun, the heat really helped to puff up my dough. I oiled the dough and left it to rest in the pot at the balcony where the sun was the strongest. After half an hour or so, I went to check and got really pleased when I saw the dough has more than doubled. It was like a giant ball now. Without further ado, I brought it in, boxed it down to release all the air and took it out to knead again.

After that I cut the dough into 8 parts. I wanted 9 parts but got only 8. Anyhow, I shaped the dough into little balls and dipped the tip into some sesame seeds before placing the little ball into an oiled pan. I did the same with the rest, but pinched out some dough from some of the remaining 7 to make another ball. So in the end, I got my 9 sesame balls arranged in 3x3 in the pan. Not uniformly perfect in size but certainly perfectly arranged.

After letting them proved again for about 15 minutes, it was time to bake. I was so happy and excited to see them in the oven. They really looked good there, all puffed up and boomed up and round and serene. I baked them for almost 20 minutes at 205-210 degree Celcius, taking them out once each to brush them with butter and rotate the pan.

The buns are now sitting on the iron rack cooling while I'm typing this out. They are just screaming to me, eat me, eat me! Hahaha.. I am glad they turned out well! Pat at the back for me!

Malaysian food in Kopitiam, are you sure?

Ok, the only reason I went to Kopitiam Central Ladphrao was because I stumbled across a review on this place while searching for Malaysian food in Bangkok.


The reviewer actually said that this was a Malaysian style Kopitiam and that they served Malaysian food, specifically Nasi Lemak, my current craving. 


Sitting here, only the drinks menu had familiar sounding names, like black coffee, cham, milk tea and ovaltine. As for the food selection, apart from soft boiled egg and toast, the rest didn't sound very Malaysian to me. I searched the whole menu for something along the likes of Nasi Lemak and Mee Siam, but nothing came even close to those. 


After going through the menu for the longest time, hoping against hope I might see something remotely Malaysian, I decided to order something that I thought might turn out as Singapore beehon, some fried vermicelli. It was nothing of that sort. While it might pass as a distant cousin, I believe this is definitely Thai. 


For drinks, I ordered black coffee, and it was really disappointing. The coffee was not thick and not hot enough but the syrup that came with it was way too thick. I made a huge blunder of dumping a teaspoonful into it without actually taking a sip of the coffee bare. It became too sweet, a little too syrupy to drink. I had to abandon ship, really. 


Oh by the way, skimming through the menu, at the very last page i saw the words "...growing up.. in chinatown, Bangkok..."

Wait, isn't Kopi a Malay word?? I understand tiam is a Chinese word but the Thai word for coffee is cafe, so why the use of Kopitiam? Bu then, I didn't finish reading through the passage, so maybe the creator grew up in Bangkok but moved to Malaysia later? Anythinglah!


I really should seriously consider opening a little cafe that serves Malaysian food in Bangkok and good old Malaysian@Melakan coffee. I welcome sponsors!! 


Here, the article by Cassandra James published on Oct 30, 2011,  that enticed me to give it a go : http://voices.yahoo.com/review-kopitiam-central-ladprao-10321165.html?cat=16