Erawan Tea Room : A "Thai" Afternoon Tea

7th December 2011. Written by Xin Li.
Bangkok, Thailand

Afternoon Teas are rather popular in Bangkok as well and out with the usual cakes and sandwiches, we decided to have something different. Located in the Erawan Bangkok, the Erawan Tea Room is an elegant looking lounge-like café overlooking the busy streets while dark Venetian blinds provide adequate privacy.

The contemporary Art Deco influenced Erawan Tea Room serves an affordable Afternoon Tea at 260 THB net per person.

Unlike the usual classic high teas which has sandwiches, cakes, quiches, pies and macarons. The afternoon tea at Erawan Tea Room offers local snacks and sweets as part of its afternoon tea menu.

Local or not, it seemed no afternoon tea is complete without Scones, served with Clotted Cream and Chiang Mai Strawberry Jam. Their jam was very good with chunks of strawberries and wasn’t too sweet. The scones were decent but not the best as it was a little bit too soft and chewy.

On to the savouries, I rather enjoyed the earthy, herbal concoction of Roasted Coconut, Lime, Chilli and Ginger with Betel Leaves in a Crispy Basket, the “Mieng Kratong Thong”, it is a popular street food served like Kueh Pie Tee here.

The “Moo Ping”, Grilled Marinated Pork Skewer was very tasty, the meat was not only tender but it has very nice coat of sweet, nutty gravy and what is a satay without the fragrant smoky charred bits?

Other items include Steamed Sago Dumpling with Minced Turnip, “Sakoo Sai Tua” was like kueh, Deep-fried Minced Chicken with Chilli and Mint Leaves (“Larb Gai Tod”) and “Chor Muan Sai Poo”, Steamed Flower-shaped Dumpling Filled with Crabmeat were pretty ordinary to me.

As for the sweets, The “Polamai Ruam”, Seasonal Fresh Fruit Skewer was kind of miserable but I like fruits and it makes me happy when I see them during in-flight meals.

Crispy Sesame Roll “Thong Muan” was just lover letters.

The Crispy Rice Pudding with Taro, Corn, Pumpkin or Spring Onion, “Kanom Krok” and Banana Dumpling in Banan Leaf Cone “Kanom Kluay” didn’t left a deep impression on me.

The Young Coconut Puff was what we had at the Asadang for breakfast. It is a rather pleasant dessert with rich, creamy, milky coconut flavours.

The “Look Chub”, Sweet bean Paste Fruit Shapes tasted as good as it looked. These colourful vegetable-shaped kueh-like dessert with sweet bean paste has a thin layer of chewy skin and the bean paste was not too rich and has quite a smooth texture.

The winner for the afternoon tea is a Thai classic, the “Khao Niew Mamuang”, Mango with Sticky Rice. You can find these almost everywhere in Thailand or Thai restaurants but Erawan Tea Room is probably one those few which got everything right for the perfect Mango Sticky Rice, the mango was sweet but not mushy, the rice was moist and sticky with coconut milk flavour and the addition fried rice grains gave it a crunch that made it different.

Price for a Memorable Afternoon Tea: 260 THB net. (11-12 SGD)

Erawan Tea Room

Erawan Bangkok
494 Ploenchit Road,
Pathumwan, Bangkok 10330
Tel: 02 250-7777 Fax: 02 250-7788