10 Second Kitchen - Cinnabon Bangkok, Thailand

 Watching them finish up some tasty mini cinnamon buns at the Siam Paragon in Bangkok, Thailand.

Best Gummy Ever?

The fact that there are so many gummy candies out there in the world makes it really hard to pick one that is better than another. I think we could all point out some of the worst gummies in the world, but the best depends greatly on what you like in a gummy candy. I have opinions on the subject, but I think I can also say that I've tasted a lot of gummy candies, so maybe my opinion matters? Probably not.

Check out my latest gummy review, it's in my opinion the best gummy ever made.

A Visit To Siamaya In Chiang Mai

I find more and more countries are making chocolate bars. It used to be that a great deal of the milk and dark chocolate of the world was made in Europe. The cocoa would be grown in a select places based on the fact that cocoa plants needs the perfect climate, but making bars is really possible almost anywhere in the world, however Europe really seemed to dominate this market. Today we’re seeing more and more chocolate from different parts of the world, and best of all these new chocolate companies are taking their chocolate and making it reflect the culture and flavours of the place their being made.

Siamaya (a blend of the words “Siam” and “Maya”) is a perfect example of just such a chocolate maker. Founded in Chiang Mai Thailand, the brand has expanded all over Thailand and can be found in just about every single grocery store in Thailand. Probably the highlight of this brand is the fact that they’re taking good quality chocolate and adding flavours that really make them feel Thai. Their durian chocolate is probably the most notorious, but I would argue one of the best ways to taste durian for the first time. They also have flavours based on Thai tea, spicy Thai food dishes as well as local fruit.

I recently found myself in Chaing Mai and I decided to pay a visit to their factory store. At the time their cafe was being renovated, but their chocolate store was totally open. The store not only serves as a place to buy every flavour of chocolate that they manufacture, but it also gives you the opportunity to watch them make the chocolate while you’re browsing.

One of my favourite details about this particular brand (beyond the tasty chocolate) is their package design. The good thing is if you feel as passionate about their package art as I do, you can pick up postcards, magnets and even t-shirts. I got myself a t-shirt and absolutely love it.

The store also offers some great learning experiences to teach you all about the chocolate process. They have a really great explanation about their chocolate making.

They also offer examples of cocoa at various stages in the process.

Since the chocolate is the highlight of this shop, they really have so many flavours to choose from at this shop. Best of all they offer samples of each and every flavour, so you can pick out your favourites. This is also a great opportunity to sample the durian chocolate to make sure you can handle a whole bar. This factory tour is a great hidden gem in Chaing Mai for any candy lover. The shop itself isn’t that big, but it has everything you might want if you’re into the chocolate process as well as munching on samples.

I Keep Reviewing Them

When people ask me questions about Candy Critic, the most common question is "what's your favourite candy". I have two answer to that question, one of them being something new and interesting. I tell people that I'm sick of eating the same (or similar) candies over and over again. The thing is, I still buy these candies over and over again. I've tried many Kit Kat, Snickers and Mars bar variations from all over the world. Some are very different, some are exactly the same. It's the one thing I say that frustrates me about candy (eating the same thing over and over again), but yet I keep doing it.

Check out my latest Mars Bar review.

For The Love Of Swensen's

Have you ever had something that you were sure was a memory shared by just about everyone, only to find that you’re one of the few? I feel like Swensen’s ice cream is that for me. This isn’t a recent memory either, this is a deep rooted childhood memory. It’s also a memory of something that no longer exists, at least in the way I remember it. Taste and smells are said to be one of the most important ways of connecting people to memories, and everything about Swensen’s fits that bill for me.

When I was a little kid, my father used to take me and my sister to Swensen’s in the Eaton Centre in downtown Toronto. We would either get a large sundae and share it, or we would get several small sundaes and have our own. I feel like it was a very regular occurrence, and it was most certainly something that would happen on your birthday. I was young enough that I never really thought about where this business originated. In my head it was either a special place just for us or it could have been all over the world (like McDonald’s). I frankly didn’t care, but it was a place I figured would be around forever, but it wasn’t.

In my early teens the Eaton Centre went through some major renovations, and in these renovations Swensen’s was lost. There were no other locations that I knew of, so my assumption was that I would never have a Swensen’s Sundae again. At the time the internet didn’t exist, so there was no looking it up to find out if other locations existed. It was just gone, and while I was sad at first, I eventually stopped pinning for it and let it rest in the back of my mind as a fond memory. In some ways the memories got so faded that I wasn’t sure how real any of them were.

Time went on, the internet became a thing, but I never even imagined that this distant memory could have actually been more than just a single location that was gone, but still held memories. Then I moved overseas and I went to South East Asia, and I learned that Swensen’s still existed. Best of all, the decorations for the newly discovered locations where filled with nostalgic touches. These bits of nostalgia matched my memories perfectly. The first time I saw one of these restaurants (in Thailand I believe), I may have actually shed a tear.

I got some ice cream with Allison, she thought it was fine, I was immediately brought back to my childhood. Now that I lived in South East Asia (where most of their locations are), I was even able to enjoy a birthday or two at Swensen’s. People say that reliving memories as an adult can be dangerous because they never live up to what you remember. With Swensen’s that just isn’t the case. Sure I’m not with my sister or father, but being with Allison is pretty great, and the ice cream treats are exactly what I remember.

The good thing is that I don’t actually remember the quality of the ice cream or toppings. I don’t remember any one particular item on the menu that I loved. I just remember the old fashioned light fixtures, the classic ice cream bowls and spoons and just enjoying ice cream the way it was served it its heyday. I could say that everything I want is back, but that’s only kind of true.

While I’m still living in South East Asia now, it wont be forever. Our plans are to retire back in Canada, and that means my access to Swensen’s will be little to none. Sure I know it still exists, and I can double check that on the internet, but it’s not easily accessible on my birthday (it’ll take a good 15 hours to fly). So what I would love is what I always wanted. I want Swensen’s back in Canada, at the Eaton Centre, right where it belongs.

McDonalds Anime Update

 Ronald McDonald is probable one of the most famous food mascots ever created. I say this because I’ve seen depictions of Ronald all over the world, and I’m pretty sure that kids and adults all over the place associate this brightly coloured clown with burgers, nuggets and fun fast food. Thailand even has some very unique Ronald statues to greet people outside of every single restaurant.

The thing is, Ronald seems to be disappearing a bit. While there are still hints of him everywhere, he’s not commonly found at every restaurant anymore. I’ve seen many documentaries about the rise and fall of Ronald and the entire McDonald Land cast, and there are many theories about why these characters seem to be falling out of favour at the restaurants. Oddly however I am finding that these characters are starting to become more popular outside the restaurants, being used in clothes, shoes, and even some fine art and collectible toys.

It seems like the licensing of Ronald and the McDonald’s Land characters is going strong, but for marketing in restaurants they seem to be completely disappearing. Again I’m not sure why this is happening for sure, but I am noticing in Asia that these classic characters are starting to be replaced by new Anime style characters.

While there are some food related characters in the mix, the main theme seems to be characters based on the people working at McDonald’s. Maybe this is not only a way to sell food, but also a way to try and get people to apply for jobs.

What I wonder is how deep this goes. While I’ve seen a few posters, cut outs and window decorations of these characters, I haven’t seen any of the obvious marketing pieces that would make sense for Anime style characters, like comics and animation. I think it might be fun to see the adventures of some characters that work at a McDonald’s that’s regular attacked by various fast food related robots and monsters.

A New Street Food 10 Second Kitchen

Watching them make fun and unique street foods at the night markets in Bangkok is always fun, particularly when you know that you're going to eat it a few minutes later.

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Mixue, The Ice Cream Trend That I Didn’t Know Anything About

 My first experience with Mixue happened in Thailand. I was walking through a mall that I have visited many times when I noticed a new ice cream place. It appeared to be a soft serve ice cream shop, and I didn’t really give it much thought. Later that afternoon I walked by the shop again only to see a gigantic line forming outside the shop. This isn’t something new to Thailand as it’s a bit of a collection spot for trendy foods. I figured that that ice cream shop might just be the newest hip thing and eventually the lines would die down and maybe on a future visit I’ll give it a try. I’m not really the type of person to line up for soft serve ice cream, unless someone I trust tells me it’s worth the wait.

I few months later I was back in Thailand and once again I walked by this unassuming ice cream place and once again it had a huge line. It was a little peculiar as often the trendy places in Thailand die down in popularity fairly quickly, and in some cases they even shut down in a few months. This one however had some staying power. I once again didn’t get a cone, but I decided to keep an eye on this place.

A little while later I found myself in Singapore, and I happened to walk by an ice cream place, and once again it had a huge line. Upon closer inspection I realized that this was actually the same place that I saw in Thailand. Now I was seriously intrigued. After all it just looks like a run of the mill soft serve ice cream place, so why are people lined up for basic soft serve all over Asia? Could it be that there’s some kind of special treat they offer, or maybe the vanilla ice cream is that great?

When I past the first shop in Singapore, I didn’t have time to stop, but as luck would have it Allison and I came across another location and amazingly enough there wasn’t a huge line. It was just after supper and a soft serve ice cream would make for the perfect dessert. While there wasn’t a lineup, it was still a bit of a challenge to get a cone.

I’m not sure if this is the same at every Mixue location, but the stores in Singapore don’t take credit card. This is problematic for us since we were only visiting Singapore for a short time, and didn’t have much cash. We tried to go to the kiosks to pay and order only to learn that they only took certain forms of payment, none of them being credit card. In order to pay cash you had to walk up to the register. I didn’t even know what I wanted to order, so I used the self service screens to pick what I wanted and walked up to the register.

As it turns out, they offered a super cheap 1 Singapore dollar “World Famous” ice cream cone. Since it was world famous I figured that’s what I should probably get. I walked up to the counter and the person explained that if I was paying cash and only wanted an ice cream cone that I had to go to the walk up window outside the store. At this point the long lineup seemed very inviting. We made our way to the window outside the shop and by that time a short lineup had started to form, but we were already committed.

At the window there was one man frantically making ice cream cones and taking people’s dollar. My time came and fortunately I had a few people in front of me to show me what to do. I soon had a cone in my hand and I was super excited to see what all the fuss was about.

Turns out... the fuss was about nothing that great. I wouldn’t really call the ice cream bad, but I’ve had better. Give me a Canadian ice cream truck soft serve, or a cone from Joe’s in Wales any day over this. Sure the size was pretty good, and it looked cool, but flavour wise it was average. The cone was actually the highlight of the whole treat, it was a bit better than the store bought ones you get with most soft serve ice cream places.

That price was certainly worth it, but I’m not sure that this ice cream is worth the waiting time I’ve seen at some locations. I feel like the hype of this place and the nice mascot design is the real draw. I got my photos, ate my cone, and cooled off on a hot Singapore night, but I can’t say that I was overly impressed.

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My Latest Thailand Discovery

 Over the last little while I've made a few stops in Thailand to enjoy some western delights (since I live in a country with very few western restaurants and shopping options) and to check out some great local Thai food too. I'm finding more and more that Thai food is having a similar identity crisis as Canadian food. While there are some sure fire Thai options out there, the food in Thailand (and in particular Bangkok) is starting to become more cosmopolitan. This basically means that I feel like in Bangkok you'll have an easier time finding something that isn't Thai than something that is. 

Even the local dishes in Bangkok are starting to get international twists. It's a tough argument as to weather or not this is a good or bad thing. If you love authenticity than it might be a bad thing, but if you love variety it's a good thing. Fortunately however, if you look hard enough you can really enjoy both. Since most of my travel to Bangkok is to enjoy some western treats, as well as the local favourites, for me it's perfect.

We can start this journey by looking at some of the imported places, and see how they're being handled in the Bangkok market. Some things appear to be pretty much exactly the same, but there might be an interesting twist. Take Taco Bell for example is fairly new to Bangkok, and most of the menu looks fairly similar to what you might find in North America. There is one difference however, every single Taco, Crunch Wrap Supreme, or quesadilla is spicy. It's not burn your mouth off spicy, but everything has a bit of a kick. This made it particularly challenging for me as I took an opportunity to have my first Crunch Wrap Supreme. I liked it, but it was a little spicy for my liking.

My beloved Tim Horton's, another new addition to Thailand, also has some twists on the classics. Recently I had a maple yuzu donut. Even stranger is the donut pictured above, and chocolate peanut butter donut. It's weird because I think this is an attempt to make a flavour of donut that appeals to foreigners, or at least what they feel foreigners would eat. The thing is, I've never seen a donut like this in Canada, so in fact it's not a donut we'd have. I'm not sure who these are made for, is it for locals who want to try a exotic flavour, or for expats that want a taste of home. Either way it's kind of inaccurate. 

They also have crazy custom boxes that I've never seen in Canada.

As well as overtly over Canadian merchandise.

One of the best examples of foods that have exploded in Thailand from other parts of the world is ice cream. I'm not sure how popular ice cream was before, but now I've seen lineups in malls just to get a soft serve ice cream cone. McDonalds ice cream is also really popular, but interestingly they've adapted some of the flavours for Thai tastes. Above is a mango, bubble tea flavoured sundae from McDonalds that's not only tasty but visually interesting.

Dairy Queen has also jumped in the crossover game with mango and durian sticky rice Blizzards. It's clever how they've managed to incorporate the rice on the top to make sure it keeps it's sticky texture.

Famous brands are even making special versions or packages to celebrate their Thai bonds. It's a little strange seeing a Nutella jar with a temple on it.

North America isn't the only place influencing Thai food culture. Other Asian countries are getting in on the act as well. Korea and Japan seem to be the heaviest influencers in Thai culture. K-Pop and J-Pop are everywhere, but so is the food. Overly decorated and super cute items are becoming the norm in Thailand, like these very realistic kitty cat ice creams wearing fruit helmets (thank you internet). While I can't confirm where these actually originated, it's a very Japanese idea to make something super cute and edible.

Street food is a really interesting place to see this crossover. After all, Thailand is famous for it, but it's even starting to get heavily influenced by outside sources.

This item was labelled as Cornyaki, a play on the Japanese Tayaki. Tayaki is a fish shaped cake filled with beans, cream, or chocolate. It's available all over Japan, and today it's available all over Thailand as well. This interesting version features a corn filling and a corn theme. It's another way that the Thai people have taken a twist on a foreign theme and made it their own.

The same night market also sold Tanghulu strawberries. This is a very popular Chinese street food that's also made its way to Thailand. If you're unfamiliar, it's fruit, covered in a candy coating that's super crunchy. As you can see from this video, when you bite into it, it crunches very loudly. Tasty and a good time for all.

I love visiting Bangkok, because it offers me so much. It offers me flavours and textures from all over the world, it offers me Thai flavours and textures, as well as hybrids of both. It's getting a little difficult to see what is authentically Thai and what's an import, but I kind of relate to that. As a Canadian, I come from a country made up of immigrants, people from all over the world. Each person, each culture and each tradition has place in my culture. Sometimes those traditions are changed to suit tastes and available ingredients and something else is born. Maybe this is why I like visiting Thailand so much. I can see things blending together, and cultures being enjoyed and celebrated in creative and beautiful ways.

Best of all, I can taste it all as well.

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Airport and Airplane Food To Oman, Qatar and Back

How do I put this, the food I ate while traveling to and from the Middle East was both very interesting and not at the same time. To be clear, we flew business class. While it seems like we've been doing this a lot lately, it has more to do with the current situation with airlines than it does with us being particularly fancy. First of all we found a really good deal with these business class flights, like really good. Secondly we had one overnight flight and several long waits in airports. This means we would get comfortable sleeping arrangements on the flight and lounge access in the airports. So it almost became worth the small amount extra to get business class... well sort of.

Our first flight was actually not business class, that's because the flight we took was a pretty short haul (prop plane), and they didn't even offer business class. This was also the most "interesting" meal we ate the entire journey. The photo does not give it justice because it just looks like a nice plate of butter chicken. The problem is that it was cold. When I say it was cold I don't mean it was heated up and then it didn't stay warm once it was delivered to me. This butter chicken was delivered to me as if it was a salad. Is this a thing?

Once we landed in Thailand (our first stop) we headed straight to the lounge... no we didn't. We headed straight to McDonalds. We went to McDonalds because the current place we live does not have a McDonalds. We seem to have a gift for living in countries that do not have the Golden Arches. Some might consider that a blessing, but I find that when I live in a place that doesn't have a McDonalds, I crave McDonalds all the time. So the first thing we did when we landed in an airport with a McDonalds is stop and get burgers.

We did eventually get to the lounge as we had a long layover and I picked up these absolutely beautiful desserts. The rose shaped tart was a mango tart and it was amazing. The cup dessert was the most fancy apple crumble I've ever seen in my life. It had blueberries and gold leaf added, which are both equally weird additions to apple crumble for completely different reasons. I'm starting to believe that apple desserts are considered fancy in South East Asia, even the ones we consider in North America to be very simple.

Somehow, after our first layover all we ate on the rest of our flights was breakfast. I think it had something to do with the long flights and how we were crossing over time zones. I'll be honest it was all a bit of a blur. We got onto our second flight of this adventure and prepared to sleep, which I didn't because I can't sleep on planes. I will however say, in good Candy Critic style, all of the breakfasts I selected were pretty much just desserts. It started with what I thought would be a couple of slices of banana bread (my favourite of all breads). I thought it would be a nice little snack to wake up to, instead it was probably the most over the top banana bread I've ever seen in my life.

It also came with a puck of butter. When I say puck, I mean the most perfectly round slab of butter ever created. I believe mathematicians could use this puck to calibrate their instruments.

I have a curiosity when it comes to sweets, so before getting off this flight I saw on the menu that as a snack they offered chocolate. There was no description of what kind of chocolate and how it would be delivered. At some point in the middle of the night the flight attendant saw that I was awake and asked if I wanted anything. Bleary eyed and confused I remembered that I saw the words chocolate on the menu, so I said "chocolate". She brought me back these, and they were pretty good. I mention this because it will come up again in the future. I also should mention that even though I wasn't hungry I ate both of these chocolates and while they tasted good, I don't think it was doing much for my health.

The third and final flight of this leg I decided to order waffles... and they gave me pancakes. I'm not sure where this breakdown happened, but everyone on the flight who ordered this got the same thing. I think it might be a language barrier or a simple mistake on the menu. As always my carbs came with a side of carbs and plenty of syrup and jam. Needless to say I was not feeling great after this.

We finally arrived in Muscat Oman, and had a wonderful time (I'll be posting about that later). After that portion of our trip it was time to head to Doha Qatar. This was a fairly short flight, but there were two things worth mentioning food wise about this leg. First of all I tried something in the lounge at the airport that I never thought about before, pineapple and mint juice. Adding mint to juice is a big thing in Oman, and I drank plenty of iced tea with mint throughout our trip, but pineapple juice? It strangely worked, really well. I would actually recommend giving it a try, but don't be stingy with the mint.

The flight offered a nice fancy meal, but the dessert (that round puck in the upper left hand) was amazing. It was some kind of custard treat that I could have eaten for the rest of my life. We arrived in Doha and also had a wonderful time (and once again I'll have more about that in its own post). 

After our great stop in Qatar we headed home (two flights). We left Doha at 1 am, so we decided to get to the airport around 9 and have a late dinner. Frankly the dinner in the lounge was okay, but kind of complicated. It was most complicated when the wifi didn't work for us at the airport and it turns out that if you want to see the menu of items at the lounge you "have" to scan a QR code. Fortunately they had a buffet with a few less items but it suited us well enough. While the food was fine, they had a few special items for the Chinese New Year including this beautiful and tasty orange dessert. I asked the person manning the dessert table which was the best, he said the chocolate cake was the most popular, but these orange desserts where a special for the New Year. I decided to go special over popular and I was not disappointed.

Our first flight home was another overnight flight that offered some kind of dinner at 1 am and then breakfast... again. I skipped dinner as we had just eaten in the airport, but opted to have breakfast. I thought I should get something sensible until I saw that they had a Nutella donut available. The thing about this donut is the menu said it was a "freshly made donut". I immediately assumed that they had a deep fryer on the plane and would be making them piping hot. I also assumed it wouldn't be gigantic. I was wrong on both accounts. While it looks very fancy, it was pretty average and cold in the middle.

I should also mention, on our flight back home that I ordered the mystery chocolate again, and once again it had no description. I had fond memories of the other chocolate I got on the earlier flight and I thought I would maybe get it again. I also should mention that I wanted some popcorn thinking it would be made fresh for some reason. This time however they gave me a Dairymilk bar instead of their fancy chocolates. I'd like to believe it's because they ran out of their fancy chocolates, but it also could have been how dirty and tired I looked on this last leg of our trip and the flight attendant just thought I wasn't fancy enough. The popcorn was also in bags and not fresh, but I did get both salted and caramel corn.

Our last leg we ate something that I don't really remember and I didn't get a picture. I was way too tired and just looking forward to going into my own bed. All in all the food we got while traveling on this journey was very fancy and tasty. We also got a pair of pyjamas to take home which is both weird but also amazing.

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Timbits In Thailand

I'm a Canadian through and through, I'm so Canadian that I believe it is my duty to visit each and every Tim Horton's that I can. Whenever I travel to any country that has a Tim Horton's I'm sure to check in and pick up a donut or a few Timbits. There are probably a few people reading this that didn't know that Tim Horton's had spread out globally, and maybe even a few of you have no idea what Tim Horton's is at all. For those who are completely unfamiliar, Tim Horton's is an iconic donut and coffee shop in Canada. If you ever visit any city in all of Canada, chances are they have a Tim Horton's. Chances are also good that the locals either love the place, or love to complain about how it's gone downhill and not worth visiting.

For those familiar with Tim Horton's, but didn't know that they're global then you might be a little surprised. I've visited a few Tim Horton's locations in my life, including UAE and China. The one thing I can say about all of the international locations I've visited is they each take the theme and make it their own. UAE is probably the most similar to a regular Tim Horton's, with a few custom creations. China is more like a Canadian themed restaurant, with less focus on the donuts. Thailand is probably closer to the Tim Horton's from Canada, but it's still a little more Canadian themed restaurant like. They offer a few of the classic Tim Horton's treats, but many of their treats are just a little different. I've decided that the best way to show you is by picking up a box of assorted Timbits and rating each one. Allison and I picked up 10 Timbits and got 5 different flavours. We'll start with the standards, then move our way to the more unique.

Chocolate Glazed - The nice thing about this donut was that it was pretty much exactly the same as the Canadian equivalent. I'm happy they offer a few of the classics so Canadians can feel a little taste of home, and locals can taste a little Canadian authenticity. Allison was particularly happy because this is her go to Timbit.

Strawberry Snow - While this goes by a different name than I remember, the Strawberry Snow is basically just a strawberry powdered Timbit. This isn't a donut I'd seen much on my recent stay in Canada, but I do remember them from when I was a kid. The "snow" name is also clever as many people in South East Asia have never actually seen snow and see Canada as a beautiful white land during the winter.

Chocolate Snow - While the concept is the same as the Strawberry Snow, I don't have any memories of there being a chocolate powdered donut at Tim Horton's in the past. Let me know if I'm wrong, but this seems like a different variation. It's also a variation  I think people would really enjoy in Canada (this is going to be a theme from here on out).

Chocolate Truffle - This Timbit now holds the title for the most decadent Timbit I've ever eaten. What you have is a chocolate Timbit, covered in a dark chocolate coating, which then has real chocolate curls on the outside. It was the more rich Timbit I've ever tasted in my life. I feel like this would probably be a really popular Timbit in Canada with one problem. I feel like Tim Horton's would lose money selling this in Canada because it's obviously made with good quality chocolate (expensive) and you pretty much just have to eat one Timbit and you're full.

Maple Coffee - If I could somehow transport a Timbit to you through the internet, this would be the one I send. This Timbit is pretty much the poster child for flavours of Tim Horton's, a Canadian coffee chain. It's a vanilla Timbit with maple icing that's then liberally dusted with coffer crunchy bits (maybe even some real coffee). While I'm not a huge fan of coffee myself, I can't deny that the flavours worked, and created something that just made me feel patriotic at every bite.

These were my 5 Timbits. I've mentioned before, but now that I'm living in South East Asia again, I feel like I'll be visiting Bangkok a few times over the next few years. It's a comfortable place for me, and the fact that there's a Tim Horton's only makes it more comfortable.

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