Grubbs n Critters

April 7, 2014

A Review: Gaggan

Category: Dining

[This is a long-overdue post]

Tucked away in a little soi off Langsuan, there stood a house which was converted into a Michelin-star Restaurant called Gaggan. For foodies who appreciates the art of scientific gastronomy and are willing to pay through the nose to experience such exquisite dining, the experience can be oh-so-divine.

For the unfamiliar, Gaggan serves progressive Indian cuisine. Its recipes are simple but made elegant by exotic presentation and futuristic cooking techniques. We initially discovered this place by a sheer drive-by coincidence – and only because Silver Bullet recognized the name when he saw the signage close to it while we were stuck in a very slow moving traffic on a road we quite often passed by. This place is not heavily advertised, and if not for Silver Bullet who pointed it out, we would not have known that this place existed right in the heart of Bangkok . It literally is a 10-15 minutes journey away from our home.

We trooped off to Gaggan one evening with 6 other friends , using 3 birthday celebrations for January mommies and a good family friend leaving Bangkok as an excuse to spend an exorbitantly expensive amount of money on food created in the name of gastronomical pleasures.

There were several menus to choose from and I decided to pick the most extensive menu in the name of curiosity. We were all seated on the table next to the kitchen and it was really awesome to be able to watch the staff in the kitchen preparing our food before we were served.

Now, I don’t remember every single item that was served, but I do remember that every single dish served tasted awfully divine. The first complementary drink was refreshing and the Lychee Drink I picked was absolutely gorgeous to start the evening going.

This particular is my favourite – I remember that it tasted like egg, and the moment you put it in your mouth, the ball burst into a delicious confetti of flavor which I cannot even begin to describe. The taste was flavourful and the sensation indescribable.

And then there was this,

And this,

And this,

And a bunch more…

The fish curry was extraordinary as well and by the time I got to the lamb towards the end of the course, I felt so full that I thought my stomach would burst.

It was a really wonderful experience and I would not mind doing it again for the second time.

My only gripe and dissatisfaction with the whole experience boiled down to only 1 thing I found rather distasteful: the Matre’D – while not obnoxious, did not seem friendly or forth-coming. In fact ,she was aloof, cold and has one of the most condescending-i-am-above-you-and you-do-not deserve-anything-from-this place tone I have ever experienced. My observation dictated that she eyed us in such contempt, with hardly a smile across her face. The entire experience I had with her made me feel that we were inconveniencing her more than anything, and how dare we dine at a place where we probably should not be able to afford a meal as exquisite as that.

Hence, while the food experience was fantastic, I really do feel like Gaggan could use a better Maitre’D to serve their customers. I mean, we did pay a good amount of money and the least she could do is lower herself down a little bit by providing genuinely sincere, excellent service to complement the food that were served. Instead, she chose to serve us a mightier-than-thou attitude. She was a disappointment to such a renowned establishment.

It was, otherwise a sweet, triple birthday celebration and a nice farewell to one of our good friends.

And one other thing: If you are looking for an authentic, traditional Indian cuisine, this might not be the place to be expecting that.

The one with pierced ears

Category: Spud: Stories and Updates

Spud’s awareness of jewelry seems to have heighten in the last few months and she has begun to take more notice of the jewelry which either I or the Nanny put on. She also started talking quite a lot about earrings and commenting how beautiful they are. She would always examine my ears closely, tells me how pretty my earrings are and proceed to count all the holes I have (I have 10) .

As the days wore on, I started noticing that she would always look at the earrings of total strangers quite longingly, and eventually lets me know that she wants one for herself. (She actually said she wanted 10!) Considering the number of earholes I have, to say No to Spud would make me very hypocritical.

Besides, I don’t mind piercings at all. In fact, I have always contemplated piercing her ears since she was a baby, mainly to save her the pain in her later years, but didn’t get to do it because Silver Bullet was against the idea. He thought it was completely unnecessary while I on the other hand, felt that having pierced ears is almost a birth right of every girl – pain and all. In fact, I still remember the time that when my peers were complaining of the pain they had to endure just to put a hole in each of their ears, I recall vividly that I was really, really glad that my parents got my ears pierced when I was much younger. I think I felt relieved that I didn’t have to go through all that.

And so, for Spud to request for holes in her ears at her own free-will, actually sounded like music to my ears! I was only too happy to obliged.

She surprised me, no doubt and while I responded with a smile (of relief) when she brought the subject up to me, I also told her that making holes in the ears can be a rather painful experience. I reckon she wasn’t really expecting such answers at first, and although I was secretly happy and wanted it to happen, I continued telling her that she would have to experience some pain to be able to wear earrings.

For weeks she (sort of) hounded me about “making holes in her ears” , and for weeks I told her about the pain; yet each time she responded to me in a very positive note saying,“It’s OK, Mama. It will be painful just a little bit. I’ll be OK.”

I eventually made an appointment at with the Aesthetic Department of Samitivej Hospital, and last week, Spud’s wish to get her ears pierced was duly granted. Local anesthetic was applied to her earlobes an hour before the piercing was done. She chose her own earrings and when it was time, Spud took the entire experience like a champ. She was really brave and didn’t cry when the doctor used the piercing gun on her. When it was all over, she complained that it was itchy. She then examined my ears, started to count all the holes that I have again and then remarked, “When I’m much bigger, and when I’m 10 years old, I only still want one ear hole. Not so many.”

A far cry from her ambitious goal of wanting “10 earrings” (I haven’t even gone to having navel ring yet!), but I reckon that little bit of pain she experienced post the procedure must have prompted her to think twice about having more than 2! Spud did whine and cried a little bit thereafter, but not because she was in pain, rather because she saw that both her ears were red!

The rest of the day was in fact, rather uneventful with little or no complain about her ears being painful. Her bravery and nonchalance about the whole thing earned her an ice-cream at the end of the day which she devoured all by herself!

At 3 years and 8 months, not-so-little Spud feels proud that she has gone through the slightly uncomfortable experience of having her ears pierced, as well as feeling super excited about her pretty little earrings and she has been constantly showing them off to whoever that would give her the time of the day.

20140330_095426 — Anesthetic option: Cream applied to her earlobes 1-hour before the procedure

20140330_105530 — A dot of a pen to mark the target

20140330_105655 — The piercing gun at work!

20140330_144829 — And all pain-free while enjoying her ice-cream

After Earth Hour

Category: In and around Thailand

5 days after Earth Hour and we still try as much, and as often as we can to observe the 1 hour lights-off in our home. If we don’t turn off everything, we at least do make an effort to turn off all the major lights and electricity which we don’t quite need.

For me, it feels more relaxed when most of the lights are off as opposed to having most lights on. Not only are we doing something for the environment, we also do get to save a chunk of change from our monthly electricity bills; which is always a motivation to keep doing what we do.

Thinking back to observing Earth Hour last weekend, it did appear that Bangkok was not too bothered by the whole Earth Hour thing. In fact, buildings and roads in the city were very brightly lit for the entire hour and as I looked around my neighbourhood, I realised that we are probably the only few suckers who would bother with such things.