Cabbages & Condoms Restaurant in Bangkok

This has got to be one of the better-known restaurants in the capital of the Land of Smiles. I believe it has been around for a few years at least, and if the size of the crowd on the Friday evening we were there is anything to go by, the place is still pretty popular among tourists. My CEB loves Tom Yam soup so this is what we had in a hotpot. The restaurant offers a choice between soup or curry being served in a hotpot which is more expensive, or in a bowl. Since we had pretty high expectations, we decided to go for the hotpot which meant a larger portion too. The Slog Reviews: 7/10. Soooo.....sooooo. Period. Not anything that would take one's breath away in a hurry. I suppose it is almost impossible to eat in a Thai restaurant and not try Tom Yam Goong so I would moderate my expectations if I were to order this dish from C&C.

Now, ever since our trip to Krabi last year where he had Tom Kha Gai for the first time at one of the more famous restaurants, my CEB has been hooked to this rich coconut curry dish which comes with pieces of chicken, pork or prawns. We didn't order this in a hotpot so here is how the dish looked served in a claypot bowl. The Slog Reviews: 6/10. If you like the rich sweet creamy sort of curry, don't order this dish at C&C. The curry was thin, watery and spicy to my CEB's tremendous disappointment.

1 of the restaurant's specialties was soft shell crab in curry. It came on a hotplate and some yellow curry sauce. The Slog Reviews: 6/10. I ended up eating almost all of this dish on my own as my CEB flatly refused to partake more than 1 mouthful of the crabs. It wasn't that it was awful but the crab wasn't fried to crispy perfection but more like a soggy half-cooked mess with gills. Do not waste any Baht on this! Oh yes, I know it's quite a lot we ordered (now you who know me well can explain the weight gain), but we did have one last dish of green curry with pork. The Slog Reviews: 8/10. My CEB and I agreed easily that this was the best dish of the lot.

The restaurant has outdoor seating and indoor seating but the weather dictated that we have a table inside. Here is a pic of the decor, most of which is about...condoms or the popularity of the restaurant.

When we were walking out, I took a picture of this most innovative costume - there are multi-colored condoms pasted on the mannequins' cap, shirt and pants.

And while I marveling over the creativity of the designer, I saw this. Unrolled condoms for the skirt! How smart is that!

And while we were on the way out....and no, I haven't seen the inside of the condom packet that my CEB picked up. I wouldn't count on the quality of the contents though, especially if not having a kid just yet is high on one's priority list.

There was a shop just next to the restaurant (within the same compound) that was selling all types of C&C souvenirs - my CEB grabbed a couple of key-chains with condoms in them for his male buddies. Men will always be boys.

I wouldn't go so far as to call C&C a tourist trap but if your intent is to have really nice Thai food, this wouldn't be the place to go. And if you are minded to go for the experience, just do remember to make reservations. There was quite a queue on our way out about 9pm.

Rossini's at Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit Hotel

It was just after lunch time when I checked in and it was pouring outside so I was minded to find some grub in the hotel. I'd read about the award-winning restaurant Rossini's which just happened to be in this hotel so I decided to check out the place. To my delight, there was a signboard outside the restaurant advertising its Power Lunch, which looked really affordable at 690 (2 courses)/780 Baht (3 courses)(excluding taxes of course). Getting a seat for lunch on a wet Thursday afternoon did not pose much of a problem and the staff were attentive and spoke good English.

After I'd placed my order, the complimentary bread of basket arrived with some olives. No butter. I wonder why (but in any case I asked for some). And they also served a trio of flat lollipop-looking biscuits with nuts stuck on them. Forget the bread - that was nothing extraordinary but those biscuits things, they were just the right mix of sweet and crunchiness, the kind that leaves no cloying sweet aftertaste in your mouth, and not hard enough to hurt your teeth.

The waitress followed up with a complimentary beetroot mousse. Now, I hate beetroot but since this was free...well, it proved to be pretty alright with little bits of potato at the end.

I ordered the Seafood Salad for my appetizer and it came with all of 1 scallop, 1 squid, 1 mussel and 1 prawn. Fresh, presented well but...I would try some other starter if I'd the chance to go back. Even knowing that this was Rossini's did not raise this dish in my humble esteem.

I ordered the veal pansotti with parmesan cheese sauce as my main. It was a toss up between the veal and the snapper with black truffle sauce and it was only because the server strongly recommended the veal that I decided against the snapper (Which I will have the next time I go back to BKK).

Well, the dish looked like this when served - 3 lumps of yellow, green and brown. I'll give this dish a really low score for presentation. Just because it is a set lunch menu doesn't mean that you can depart with the aesthetics altogether, ya know?

But presentation aside, the whipped potato and the spinach heaps melted delightfully in the mouth and the veal was just awesome. Juicy, succulent, tender and done in a way such that each bite of the veal meant a mini-explosion of flavor in the mouth.

Dessert was the orange and pistachio cake. It was blah. Nothing to crow about - the cake was not too moist or too dry but it lacked the richness of a really delicious cake. I would not order this again.

Based on my experiences of having set lunches at better restaurants (even the celebrity restaurants in Singapore's MBS), I wouldn't be quite so quick to belittle my experience at Rossini's. However, I think that one should order from the ala carte menu to be able to truly judge the quality of the dishes of a restaurant.

And the power lunch (not very much food, was it?) cost a total of 918 Baht (about SGD 36?) after taxes. The Slog Reviews: 7.5/10 for this experience, and hoping to have a better experience at Rossini's the next time.