I didn't think that I would enjoy dining at Public Market, a new food arcade that occupies a connecting hallway between Central Chidlom and Central Embassy.
Walking past the venue several times since it opened two months ago, I thought the spacious 300-seat venue, although boasting a neat retro-styled Streamline Moderne design, looked a bit vague and detached.
Those times were odd hours, I admit.
I eventually had a weekday lunch visit there recently. The upscale food court, driven by 10 famous eateries and entertained by upbeat club music, turned out to be a dynamic gastronomic community truly worth checking out.
The crowd that day was a good mix between office people and shoppers of all ages. And on their tables was everything from chilli-overloaded som tam and Korean hot pot to platters of oysters and caviar.
In fact, three eateries -- a burger joint, a ramen house and a pudding shop -- have been the main reasons for my much-anticipated future return.
Following is my view on all 10 shops.
Public Market is located on the 2nd floor of Central Chidlom. It opens daily 10am-10pm.
Little Market
091-222-6959
Being an all-time burger buff with an uncompromising expectation of a burger joint, I say Little Market, after sampling quite a few of its offerings, is among the city's best.
The homegrown burger brand, first established in 2016 in Talat Noi area, offers quintessential American-style comfort food by American chef Chet Adkins.
Smashed burgers, flat-top-grilled sandwiches, chicken wings, french fries and milkshakes -- prepared and served the way you'd find at a classic diner in the States -- are the specialities here.
It's one of the very few places in the city where you can have Buffalo-style vinegar-based wings (249 baht) with carrot and celery sticks and ranch dressing.
For the sandwiches and burgers, options include double-patty steak burger (229 baht); chilli beef burger (299 baht); triple-decker pork burger (269 baht); Buffalo bird burger (249 baht); Philly cheese steak sandwich (349 baht); and ham and cheese melt on sourdough (399 baht).
The beef patties are made in-house with prime-grade 270-day grain-fed Australian Angus. They are press-seared to develop a fragrant charred-crust and served with mustard, mayo, onion, pickles and American cheese on a white bun to ensure an authentic taste profile.
The variety of french fries and other accompaniments, priced 169-289 baht, include the likes of crinkle-cut fries, Cajun curly fries, chilli-cheese fries, loaded tater tots, onion rings and house salad.
Prices for a combo set, which includes fries and a soft drink, start from 349 baht. While a kid's meal costs 299 baht per set.
To make the meal even more comforting and wholesome is Little Market's thick, freshly blitzed milkshake topped with whipped cream (199 baht).
Ba Hao Tian Mi
080-009-9695
If you are, like me, a person who couldn't care less about a new dessert trend nor take a sweet indulgence too seriously, you may find the story of Ba Hao Tian Mi nothing but commonplace.
Well, you can just forget the story anyway (it's a sweet little sister of Ba Hao, an oh-so-popular Chinese-themed bar in Yaowarat). But I guarantee that your palate would be inspired right upon the first bite into its speciality: the dessert pudding.
Super creamy but not overly rich, while exhibiting a texture that's a perfect balance between density, resilience and silkiness, the pudding is made with fresh cream, soy milk and a light touch of honey.
The black sesame pudding (128 baht) that got me forever hooked is a soy milk-based pudding coated with black sesame powder and accompanied by a nutty-sweet black sesame sauce on the side.
Other flavour options include young coconut, mango, peanut butter, longan tea, bubble milk tea, matcha green tea, kopi cham (Malay milk tea with coffee), rambutan granita and goji berry. The latter is the original best-selling sweet at Ba Hao bar and the reason for the dessert brand branching out three years ago.
Today Ba Hao Tien Mi enjoys six locations across the city including this newest addition at Central Chidlom.
Here, there's a small selection of sweet snacks and toasts including chrysanthemum jelly, cream peach toast, bacon kaya toast and salted egg with pork floss toast. While the highlighted beverages are fresh kumquat juice, Hong Kong milk tea and Centella latte. Prices range from 88-168 baht.
Yuji Ramen
061-261-9000
The ocean-hued stall selling Japanese noodles is an outpost of New York's revolutionary ramen house. Indeed, the Chidlom location is the brand's only offshoot outside Brooklyn.
Specialising in seafood-focused ramen, Yuji got its culinary standpoint from an old Japanese philosophy of mottainai, the Western equivalent to zero waste. The entire fish, from the meat to skin and bone, plays an equally significant part in the kitchen.
Two types of ramen dishes, the soup ramen and the brothless ramen, aka mazemen, are offered here.
For the soup, the 100% fish broth, dubbed tuna kotsu, is made with tuna bones simmered until, like the tonkotsu (pork bone) broth, developing a milky intensity and mild buttery taste.
The signature tunakotsu ramen (280 baht) features the noodle soup with chashu-like roasted tuna loin. There are also yuza shio ramen with tuna chashu, yuzu kosho and lemon (250 baht) and ebi miso ramen with tuna confit, layu oil and chilli (280 baht).
For the mazemen, priced 200-250 baht, options are ika tan tan with squid ragu and torched squid; tomato miso mazemen with sunchoke; and bacon and egg mazemen with onsen egg, garlic chips, black pepper and katsuoboshi shavings. The latter, which I really liked, tasted like a hybrid between a Japanese noodle dish and Italian carbonara.
A selection of mini rice bowls, 200-220 baht, includes tuna chashu don, salmon poke don and Hotate scallop don.
El'Mar
061-932-4228
A branch-out of The Raw Bar, one of Bangkok's most-loved seafood and oyster bars, El'Mar offers top-grade oysters, the likes of French Pink Tarbouriech, Gillardeau, Holland Umami and Barron Point, among a vast repertoire of fresh seafood such as Maine lobster, Alaskan king crab, Hokkaido wild scallops, blue mussels and Manila clams.
Even at this small-scale outlet, the menu is sweeping and comprehensive.
Other than the seafood, it also encompasses vast selections of hot starters, pasta and Josper-grilled Wagyu steak.
Worth-having choices include fish'n'chips (380 baht); spaghetti seafood puttanesca (580 baht); spaghetti vongole (320 baht); lobster roll (1,280 baht); and Rangers Valley 360-day rib-eye steak (780 baht per 100g).
Guljak Topokki Chicken
065-508-5588
Within eight years since its first launch in 2014, the fast-growing franchise restaurant from Korea's Gyeonnggi province has expanded to more than 150 outlets throughout the region.
The menu revolves around tteokbokki (stir-fried spicy rice cake soup) and Korean-style fried chicken.
They include the original reddish-hued tteokbokki soup, the rosé tteokbokki soup, the East-meets-West buedae soup, the sweet and spicy Kanpung fried chicken, the soy sauce fried chicken with Korean-style scorched rice and the lemon cream chicken with prawn.
Recommended option is a set of original tteokbokki soup and the best-selling deep-fried dry-battered chicken (239 baht).
Phed Phed Pop
061-459-2990
A subdivision of Phed Phed Cafe, a very successful Isan eatery from Saphan Kwai area, Phed Phed Pop serves up spicy northeastern Thai cuisine with a cosmopolitan touch without losing the characteristic rusticity and pungent taste profile.
From its extraordinarily large menu listing 150 items, you can expect to find dishes such as spicy salad of strawberries and shrimp paste, watermelon salad with pla ra emulsion, rose apple salad with fish sauce, sweet mango salad with passion fruit and chillies and a salted plum infused guava som tam.
While larb-style dishes may be prepared with instant noodles, fried chicken and pork chop. Prices range from 100-485 baht per dish.
John Donut
063-213-9680
This artisan doughnut shop, originally founded in Phuket in 2019, offers more than 50 different choices of freshly-made, trans fat-free pastries. Because they are prepared with premium ingredients, including sourdough starter and pure butter, these fine doughnuts promise a long-lasting fluffy soft mouthfeel and delicate taste.
All-time favourites include maple bacon doughnut (110 baht); strawberry cream cheese (130 baht); churros sugar cinnamon (70 baht); and apple fritter (75 baht).
Grazia Gelato & Coffee
086-365-5656
Founded by an Italian-Thai couple, the ice cream parlour showcases various flavours of house-concocted Italian gelato including biscotto al caramello salato, Malaga rum raisin, Sicilian pistachio, Greek yogurt and Piedmont hazelnut chocolate.
Highly recommended are brioche col tuppo con gelato, a Sicilian-style sweet treat featuring two flavours of gelato on a housemade brioche bun (255 baht); a signature tiramisu dessert (115 baht); and Italian-roast bianco coffee (125 baht).
Pash Juice Bar
063-226-1796
More than 40 choices of flavour-driven, house-blended smoothies, fruit tea and cold-pressed juice prepared with fresh organic harvest from local orchards are on offer at Pash, a passionate venture of Alex Chutintaranond, a Thai chef who opened five successful and critically acclaimed restaurants in Ithaca, New York.
The juices here contain no added sugar nor water nor preservative, yet can be store in the fridge for up to 45 days thanks to innovative cold pasteurisation, an all-natural, non-thermal food safety and preservation method.
Not to be missed are cold-pressed Passionate Pineapple (95 baht); Beet Blast smoothie (95 baht); Carrot Crazy (95 baht); Klean Kale (145 baht); and Green Goddess (115 baht).
Machi Machi
064-787-2641
The milk tea brand from Taiwan is known for blending the freshest Taiwanese tea leaves with New Zealand milk.
Highlighted menu includes milk tea topped with cream cheese foam (120 baht); panna cotta milk tea (135 baht); creme brulee milk tea (125 baht); and strawberry latte with creme brulee (150 baht).
