As an ordinary restaurant-goer, I frequently find it’s practically cheaper at price-point to pay for a meal at a high-profiled, veteran establishment than for one offered by a well-meaning yet nonetheless new-face eatery.
The gourmet deli bar offers an extensive choice of grab-and-go treats as well as semi-ready savoury selections for dining at the café.
It sounds mean but that’s the reality. And my recent visit to the Harrods Cafe has confirmed my thought.
The café, which opened a few months ago at the Mercury Ville plaza, is the first of Harrods’ joint-café concept in Thailand and remarkably the third of its kind in the world.
The 92-seater is equipped with a gourmet deli bar offering an extensive choice of grab-and-go treats as well as semi-ready savoury selections, including pizza, quiche, roasted meats, salad, sandwiches, croissants and a variety of pot pies, to be reheated and served hot.
Meanwhile, dine-in guests can always order from the main menu, which lists a mouthwatering selection of all-day breakfast delicacies, burgers, salads, pasta, à la carte dishes and high tea sets, all with reasonable — and not London-inspired — price tags.
There’s also a collection of signature toast dishes prepared with thick, chewy and nutty kraftkron bread, accompanied with garden salad.
Go for carbonara toast with English bacon (195 baht) and I promise you won’t regret it. Or try the hefty-sized piece of toast with honey-glazed ham and Gruyere cheese, Bolognese sauce, chicken-mushroom and carbonara with English bacon.
The café also offers a repertoire of Asian-styled dishes, which, interestingly, are among the most popular items by dine-in guests — expats and locals.
Earl Grey Tea float.
The menu has been well-crafted by the kitchen team in Bangkok and was approved by the London headquarters. Dishes include the likes of beef sirloin phad kaphrao, spaghetti with Oriental roasted duck and garlic-chilli fried rice.
Of it, the pad khee mao squid-ink spaghetti (235 baht) is one of the best sellers. It features a hefty portion of black-ink pasta tossed with grilled tiger prawns, squid and salmon and spiced up with fresh chillies, garlic, basil leaves and young peppercorn.
In terms of taste, the Thai-style spaghetti was no doubt enjoyable, though outperformed by the pad kaphrao grilled chicken with poached egg over rice (175 baht) that followed.
The rice dish, prepared with house-roasted chicken, lent a chargrilled flavour while offering perfect succulence, sautéed in slightly fiery sauce and topped with sous-vided egg, which revealed a lava-like yolk when cut open. Although the dish looked quite highbrow, the taste proved to be comfortingly authentic. Western-style main entrées are also worth ordering here. Options include fish and chips, banger and mash, garlic-pepper chicken, pork chops and sirloin steak.
We had the lemon and herb crusted cod loin (295 baht) and were pleased by the wholesome quality of the fish meat that came lightly coated with tangy Parmesan cheese crumbs and was enhanced by the thick, aromatic and delicious beurre blanc sauce.
Discerning connoisseurs of pot pies will be truly satisfied by the freshly baked variety here. I fell in love with the truffle mushroom pot pie (175 baht) to the point that I ended up ordering more for my next day’s dinner. Even after reheating, the pie, with a buttery crust and creamy sautéed mushroom filling, still provided a perfect mouthfeel.
Guests are spoiled for sweet choices as the café, already equipped with an impressive line-up of baked goods and desserts, also dedicates a corner of its dining room as an ice cream parlour, where 18 house-crafted flavours are on offer.
Or indulge in some of the house-concocted refreshments. I personally recommend the Earl Grey Tea float (195 baht), prepared with No.42 Earl Grey Royal Cream and home-made Earl Grey caviar with a vanilla biscuit.
Should you wish for a warm and luscious comfort, try my all-time favourite hot black tea latte with white chocolate whipped cream (120 baht) or the caramel macchiato (130 baht).
This source first appeared on Bangkok Post Lifestyle.