what time is it?

Wine O'Clock

Well, if it's between 11-2 at "Wine O'Clock" Italian restaurant on Suk 49-- it is time to get a delicious and awesome pasta dish for 99 baht!
lunch menu features:
Four kinds of pasta
Four categories of sauce to choose from (red, cream, garlic/wine, and Thai curry) with about 8 variations of each sauce
Then, you can add a salad (3 choices) for only 49 baht!

The restaurant is situated on an adorable soi, and has an nice "alfresco" patio for cooler days. Inside, the walls are decorated in cork (which somehow comes across as classy) and the seating ranges from black leather couches for lounging to cozy corner tables. The ambiance is comfortable and the staff is attentive.

Every meal starts with freshly warmed french bread, oil and vinegar. Mineral water is 30 baht/bottle and the house wine starts at 250 baht/glass. (The white was delicious)

I ordered a mixed salad- lovely meslun leaves, tomatoes, onion with a light vinaigrette (they also ground fresh pepper! Hooray for traditionally served Italian food.)- followed by spaghetti with sausage in a saffron sauce. It was amazing. Served with fresh parm. Michelle had linguini with melanzane (eggplant and tomato) sauce, also a nice flavor.

I loved this restaurant so much the before we were done eating I started making plans to eat here again... later this week!

Check it out: Wine O'Clock 55/1 Sukhumvit Soi 49, 02-662-7895.

update: (michelle 5.11.09) true to her word, lexie and i did come back and i was so impressed with the saffron sausage that i ordered it again. unfortunately, it was served to me as "thai sausage" with a generous portion of chiles and no cream sauce. so, i pointed out to the server that this wasn't what i ordered. he then proceeded to tell me that i was wrong and that this was really the saffron sausage pasta and even brought over the menu - which i then pointed out was supposed to be a cream sauce and was different than the dish we ordered just one week ago. annoyed, he took the dish back and then came back with the same dish, except this time with cream in the dish and he said as he gave it to me, "it's the same, just with whipping cream." honestly, i'm not a stickler for superb service, but i don't appreciate service where they try to prove the customer wrong when they themselves have made a mistake and without considering the possibility of a mistake. and then, once the mistake has been acknowledged, my dish was altered and not corrected, and served back to me without apology. the altered dish, honestly, was tasty, but i was just so turned off by the way they handled it. is it too much to ask to get what you order and not made to feel like an ass?
i was so for you, wine o'clock, why'd you have to go and ruin it?

these legs aren't just for show.

northeast chiang mai

i recently had the chance to retreat up to chiang mai and i LOVED IT. next time, i'm leaving more time to explore. i think i finally found out what these legs are for; needless to say, i trekked a lot.

first things first: lodging. i should mention that the purpose of going up to chiang mai was to retreat and pray, so we found a great retreat center that i would recommend to anyone looking to pray and practice silence/solitude.
seven fountains spirituality center on hway kaew rd, near chiang mai university is a jesuit center specifically for contemplative retreats. it's simple, affordable, and has thought of everything. rooms are 500B or 600B (AC) per night (they only have single rooms), includes all meals (simple but good and satisfying), there's free laundry service available, library, labyrinth, coffee/tea/ovaltine available all over the grounds, and simple well-kept gardens and landscaping. the only thing they don't have that you should not forget is mosquito repellent.
strict silence observed. daily mass in english at 6 for retreatants, mass in thai twice daily. spiritual direction available.
the simplicity and serenity of the center is super conducive to a slower paced life and i felt very cared for. love jesuits.
seven fountains spirituality center @ 97 hway kaew rd, 50300
tel: 053 211076, 053 892545; web: htty://7fountains.wordpress.com; email: jesuits@cmnet.co.th
proximity to other places of interests is another plus...keep reading.

doi suthep-pui national park
just a little walk up hway kaew road, you reach the chiang mai zoo where you can catch a songtaew up the doi suthep mountain for 40B. if you want to use those things-they-call-legs, walk past the songtaews, and take a left at the fork in the road to reach the hway kaew waterfall, which is free! hway kaew waterfall is a series of waterfall starting at the entrance and other spots to stop about .5-2km up the mountain, including wang bua ban pond (named after a woman who committed suicide over her lover who moved to bangkok) and pha ngerb which is a rolling waterfall over large boulder and rock formations. and a beautiful view over chiang mai at an overlook on the path. up the road another 3km, you'll reach the entrance to mon tha than waterfall. it's another 3km into the actual waterfall, so if you walk, expect a lengthy hike.

babylon italian restaurant
this is where "thai godfather" should be filmed. very dimly lit, a little dingy, and homey yet with a tiny creep-factor. this place has to be mafia because of how good the food is. their homemade pasta is fantastic, their sauces so comforting and spot-on with flavor, and they don't skimp on the size or ingredients. standouts were the spinach malfatti (gnocchi) in marinara (140B), extra-wide fettucini which we had with their osso bucco (220), and their macaroni siliciliana (180) with eggplant, piquant meatballs, mushroom, and basil in marinara. wait, let me wipe me drool off my keyboard.
i highly recommend anything with their robust tomato sauce and pastas made on-site. simply fantastic.desserts were decent, but a little amiss. all their ice creams (50) taste a little goaty (i guess thai cows produce goaty milk) and on the icier side of the spectrum. blackprune ice cream was very icy and so pruny, that once it was topped with prune sauce, it was just as if we were eating a frozen prune. you'd be better off heading down to milk garden after the meal.
babylon restaurant, 100/63 hway kaew rd.

milk garden (suan nom)
milk garden, also on hway kaew rd., in between seven fountains and babylon restaurant, is a hip, eclectic little cafe packed with students.
come for toast, smoothie, or yogurt. because it's right down the street from a dairy, it has wonderful milk offerings. the yogurt (35B) was a delicious, refreshing bowl of yogurt mixed with crushed ice with whatever fresh fruit you want.
in addition to their menu, milk garden also sells handmade mugs, dolls, bracelets, and other crafty items. think: cool DIY crafts, not your grandma's embroidery crafts. this whole place feels creative and trendy, but not without its requisite thai cuteness. instead of having table numbers, you pick out a stuffed doll so your server can identify your table.

happy hut
honorable mention of the trip: coconut based ice cream from happy hut. homemade by a friend of the owner, the ice cream (20B) comes in a smattering of intriguing flavors: black sesame, black sticky rice pudding, pomegranate, thai ice tea,etc.). very tasty, and since it's coconut based, lacks the heavy coated aftermath. bunch of coffee drinks, too.
happy hut, corner of nimmanahaeminda soi 3

spaghetti godfarther

farm fresh vegetable

generally, italian in bangkok means big baht. fortunately, the thai are particularly entrepreneurial and have a knack for reproduction; just walk through any night/street market and you'll find every kind of fendi, vuitton, or prada.

farm fresh vegetable is no different in appearance or thai cuisine than any other run-of-the-mill storefront restaurant in bangkok, except for its decent italian menu. nothing to call home about, but not bad if you're in the pridi area and looking for some italian food that you'd rather not cook yourself.their menu's pretty good, including a dish called "spaghetti godfarther" which essentially is chicken parm. pesto was the best sauce in my opinion, packing punch; marinara is on the sweeter end, and the alfredo is good by alfredo standards (though, you should ask someone else, since i'm not the biggest fan of alfredo), squid ink fettucine is nice.
a couple 'honorable mention' menu items are boar meat, curry spaghetti, fettucine panang, and thai esan style tagliatele. unfortunately, didn't get to try to the boar meat. boo.

round out your bill with some thai favorites (their tom kha is particularly creamy and aroy) and one of their many fish dishes and you'll leave satisfied with a wallet with some baht left in it.

farm fresh vegetable. 45 pridi 2 (sukhumvit 71)
4:30p-1am, closed sundays.
dishes ranging 50-220B