I had forgotten that I promised my friends that I would write about our meeting at the coffee shop. Somehow we went our separate ways during the long lockdown and it’s time we returned to have our nonsensical conversations once again. So, my old friends invited me for lunch at a new coffee shop at the Grand Hyatt Erawan Hotel in Bangkok. We met just after the New Year holiday. So, the atmosphere and decorations at the famous hotel were still colourful and festive. I looked forwards to our meeting at this coffee shop as it served my favourite coffee.
I didn’t know that ‘illy’ has opened a coffee shop and a restaurant in Bangkok. In the past, I could hardly find any restaurant or coffee shop offering illy coffee. The first time I tasted this brand of coffee was at the bohemian restaurant in the old Amarin Plaza. The owner was quite an interesting character. She designed her own small restaurant with her own unique style. No two pieces of furniture were the same. So, each set of table and chairs were unique. The dining room gave me a feeling of being in an eccentric old English lady’s country house. The lightings and lamps were taken from her houses. The dishes, bowls and plates didn’t match as a set.
The only thing that seemed formal and correctly match were the coffee cups and saucers as they belonged to ‘illy coffee’ brand. That’s when I began to be addicted to ‘illy coffee’. I couldn’t find this coffee anywhere else in Bangkok. So, I started to hang around this nice coffee shop for years until after the plandemic. The plaza was closed for a major renovation and I no longer had my favourite place for coffee and home made cakes.
So, I was so glad to visit an official ‘illy’ coffee shop for lunch with my old friends. I arrived early so that I would have time to take some photos and observe the surroundings. The coffee shop was located in the lower ground floor of the hotel where several high end Japanese and Korean restaurants could be found. I was quite surprised by the very expensive and glamorous restaurants available in this hotel. The fine dining and sophisticated cuisine culture have arrived here for the exquisite pleasures of the wealthy class. These restaurants frightened me as they took away my confidence of being a civilised city dweller. So, I had to keep a respectable distance away from them. I was still a savage who preferred to have simple or traditional street food. Fine and high dining would remind me of vertigo, I needed to stay grounded.
Fortunately, the ‘illy’ coffee shop was very homely and friendly place with practical interior design. The spacious design and plenty of natural light from large glass panels made me felt at ease. There’s no need to be on guard and my best begaviour for fear of being unpolishedly crude in mannerism. There was no pressure on me to order anything while I waited for my friends. I could walk around the coffee shop and take photos. The staff just left me alone and gave me the liberty to enjoy myself while observing the decorations and interior design of the place.
I liked their choice of large tables and chairs with large backrests. Most chairs in restaurants and coffee shops were chosen so that customers wouldn’t stay too long after they finished their meals! I liked the big coffee making machine from Italy which reminded me of nice Italian sport cars. I had the time to observe how the staff made fresh coffee for customers. This coffee shop’staff knew how to entertain customers and they treated customers with respect. The traffic jam was terrible that day and both my friends were thirty minutes late. So I had plenty of time to take photos and walked outside the building. This coffee shop had outdoor seatings looking over the busy Sukhumvit road and the Brahma shrine around the corner.
The senior friend’s daughter was married to the managing director of ‘illy’ coffee company in Thailand. So, my friend was well known among the managers and staff. She had been there a few times so she was the right person to order food for us. She selected all the best dishes on the menu so we could taste a portion of each dish. I found that the Italian way of cooking spaghetti and pasta was too severe for me. I preferred to cook spaghetti and pasta a bit longer until they became softer. I thought the chef undercooked the pasta! My friend laughed at me when I complained that the pasta was too hard and the flour tasted uncooked!
The salad dish and cheese were very good and fresh. They had four different kinds of dressing which made me very confused. I swapped two dressings which was incorrect way of eating one dish but I found out that it tasted much better with both dressings mixed together. My friends were amused by my anarchy style of eating food. We had several things to taste but I couldn’t help wanting to taste the croissant with scrambled eggs! That was a breakfast menu but I insisted that we should try it too. So, the chef had to make breakfast menu for us. It was divided into three portions. The other friend liked the croissant so much that she ordered one to take home.
The best item would surprisingly be the dessert! I never had such a delicious tiramisu like this for ages. It was very light, creamy and full of liquor. I could have two helpings by myself. But to my disappointment, my friend ordered one of each dessert for sharing among three persons. I couldn’t get used to this way of food tasting. I would rather have only the food and sweets which I really liked by myself. I found food tasting left me with half empty experience. However, I was invited to this new coffee shop so I didn’t have to pay for the expensive bill.
The one thing I really look forwards to was the coffee at the end. I didn’t have ‘illy’ coffee for almost five years. So, I drank the coffee so fast as if I was a thirsty lost adventurer in the Sahara desert. I forgot to take the photo of my coffee! My friend seeing me enjoying the coffee so much, she ordered a second cup of coffee for me. So, I could take photos of my favourite ciffee. The taste was very smooth and gently aromatic. But this time it didn’t have the slight bitterness which gave me a kick in the taste bud. I had to ask why the cappuccino was so creamy. The answer was the milk that they used in the coffee shop. The manager bought special milk from a supermarket in the high end shopping center. I still liked ‘illy’ coffee very much though the coffee beans seemed to have changed slightly over the years.
My senior friends were very kind to me and they treated me to expensive restaurants at well known hotels every four months. I always wondered why they insisted on getting together on a regular basis. We had very different family backgrounds but I spent years overseas so my outlook (weltanschauung) and mannerism were very different from most local people. They were curious about my opinions on various matters we often gossiped and discussed. They were both very keen on astrology and knew famous astrologers.
So, I guessed my wealthy friends were quite entertained by my unpredictable reactions to various things. They liked to ask me what I thought about political and social affairs. We also discussed about astrological aspects and the fate of our country. I guessed that we might have connections from our past lives, that’s why we accepted each other and our differences. Sometimes I thought I ought to stop this luncheon meeting as it seemed like a game or mental entertainment. But I could feel their good intentions towards me. However, I couldn’t help feeling like a court jester who couldn’t be too outspoken for fear of hurting people’s feelings. I had to accept the nature of things as they were. I couldn’t change my senior friends’ attitude nor could I red pill them on serious issues. They didn’t believe my warnings about the Covid jabs; they both had two jabs each. Then, they didn’t try to detox as they were still feeling healthy as usual. I just hoped that they had somehow been detoxing via their herbal and spices diets.
Friendship turned out to be a very puzzling thing to me. I couldn’t speak my mind honestly or share deep information with my friends for fear of hurting their feelings. Yet I knew they would be hurt and sad to hear the truth on some serious issues. I guessed I would feel the same if someone destroyed my belief or faith in something dear to me. So, that’s life with all its complications and contradictions. I guessed I was supposed to learn some positive lessons and grow from my experiences. There’s a purpose to everything and our meeting was somehow quite fateful as this kind of friendship was quite unusual. I hoped to be able to be beneficial to all those who had shown me kindness and compassion.
Wishing you peace, good health and prosperity.
Stay strong and cheerful.
#marketfriday created by @dswigle.
this coffee shop is really awesome. The interior design is very cozy. I like the modern style in which it is furnished. I notice that the coffee brand is a very popular Italian brand. I send you many greetings from Italy.
Thank you very much. This restaurant is very nice and friendly. The food is very good with fresh ingredients. But the coffee and tiramisu are the highlight! This is my favourite coffee!
The food looks very delicious. @kaminchan Especially the coffee.
Yup! Very delicious food but too expensive for me! But the coffee is good and the price is okay, cheaper than Starbucks!
Congratulations @kaminchan! You have completed the following achievement on the Hive blockchain And have been rewarded with New badge(s)
Your next payout target is 25000 HP.
The unit is Hive Power equivalent because post and comment rewards can be split into HP and HBD
You can view your badges on your board and compare yourself to others in the Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPCheck out our last posts: