Crazy Fuze

2/F, 02-650-4566. Open daily 11am-11pm
This interestingly-named restaurant is offering all the crowd pleasers, serving Italian cuisine alongside the likes of khao krapao steak (sweet basil with grilled chicken, B120) or rad naa steak (noodles in gravy with steak, B120). As for the Italian menu, their popular dishes include baked sea bass in white wine sauce (B420) plus pastas and pizzas.

D’Orsay

3/F, 02-650-4747-8. Open Tue-Sun 5-10:30pm
Seems like French bistro food is de rigeur at the moment. D’Orsay is now serving a full dinner menu of classic Gallic favorites. Expect dishes like moules en persillade (steamed mussels with garlic, butter, parsley, shallot and Pernod, B870) and faux filet de boeuf grillée (grilled Australian grain-fed beef NY strip B195/100g).

Juize ETC

1/F, 02-652-1979. Open daily 11am-11pm
This colorful café is multi-tasking as a karaoke space, fruit juice bar and restaurant. The menu ranges from rad naa (noodles in gravy sauce, B120) and deep- fried pork ribs (B220) to desserts like chocolate fondue (B160).

Lemon Farm

1/F, 02-652-1971/73/75. Open daily 10:30am-8pm
The latest Lemon Farm is a welcome arrival as the chain is probably the only proper organic food store in Bangkok. Stock up on organic items like rice, eggs and teas and look out for the macrobiotic restaurant coming soon.

Wine Loft

2/F, 02-652-1965. Open daily 11am-midnight
The third branch of this growing chain has one of those fancy wine by-the-glass machines that allows tasting portions, up to full glasses, of some 24 different wines. A great opportunity to train your taste buds without having to get the whole bottle. Tasters range from B150-B450 and can be accompanied with tapas, pasta and steaks from the kitchen. They recommend the Australian lamb rack with peppermint sauce (B490) and tenderloin steak with gravy pepper sauce (B450).

Emperor Yakiniku Buffet

2/F, 02-652-1974. Open daily 11am-10pm
No community mall can escape having an all-you-can-eat yakiniku. Portico’s is Emperor, a Korean buffet going for B450 (special price until Jan 31). The menu is pretty similar to the ever-popular King Kong just up the street: sirloin, beef chuck, salmon and river prawns. Drinks (soda and Thai tea) are included as well as desserts like shaved ice or chao guay (black jelly in syrup).

Milk Solid Nitrogen Ice-cream

2/F, 081-810-1681. Open 11:30am-9pm
Forget Dippin’ Dots because this ice-cream of the future is even smoother! The laboratory-like shop uses liquid nitrogen to flash freeze their ice cream in just 30 seconds, so as to avoid any ice crystals forming in the texture. More than 50 flavors are available with milk and pink guava being the most popular. B99 for small and B149 for medium.

Masatomi Patisserie

3/F, 02-652-1977. Open daily 10am-7pm
Japanese influences and French techniques are combined here for subtler, more fragrant and often lighter variations of pastry classics. For example, the Mont Blanc (B90) is made with sweet potato instead of chestnut puree. And the carefully crafted macarons are jazzed up with touches like yuzu or real lavender extract (B30-B45).

Spoonful Zakka & Café

2/F, 02-652-2278. www.spoonfulzakka.com. Open daily 11:00am-7:00pm
A concept store selling products for daily household use with a mini-café decorated to blend in with the shop’s lovely atmosphere. Try their signature scones at B120 for two pieces or a piece of homemade Japanese cake at B125 with some fruit tea (B90 for hot/cold).

Pause 2 Play

2/F, 087-678-6996. Open Mon-Sat 12-7pm
This small café serves Australia Vittoria coffee ranging from B75-B125. Oriental influences are clear in desserts like the Twisted Far East (limey ginger jelly topped with soya-cotta and caramel ice cream, infused with bergamot leaves and fried, crispy dough, B185) or the Turkish-inspired baklava gaga (chopped fruits and nuts, wrapped in crispy pastry served with Mandarin sauce and a scoop of vanilla ice cream), B185.

It’s one of the most expensive seafood products there is and it claims the lives of millions of sharks every year (estimates vary widely, from 23 to 73 million animals per year). Gelatinous, not particularly nutritional or even flavorful, it’s the very price of shark fins’ that make them so desirable. In Chinatown, a small bowl of shark fin soup ranges from B300-B6,000 and the dried shark fins in local shops range from B8,500-B30,000 for a kilogram. Eating shark fin is first and foremost a status symbol, just like driving a BMW or wearing a Rolex.

Despite its continued popularity in Asia, this Jan 1, 2012, Peninsula hotels around the world (including Bangkok) ceased to serve shark fin soup at its restaurants. And the Banyan Tree had stopped serving the gelatinous “delicacy” since 2008. We contacted around ten other five-star hotels in Bangkok who all refused to comment on the Peninsula’s decision, or on the continued presence of shark fin soup on their menus. One public relations officer even candidly declared, “Because of our environmentally-conscious image, we’d rather not comment on the fact that we continue to serve shark fin soup.”

Indeed, with many shark species endangered, it’s not very green to eat shark fins. (To be fair, it’s getting harder to find any kind of fish that’s not severely depleted, see our recent story on this issue at http://ow.ly/84ThR). But it’s also the particularly cruel—and wasteful—method of fishing for fins that turns stomachs. The fin is slashed off, and because shark meat is worth very little, the shark is thrown back into the water, left to die a slow, agonizing death.
Of course, not everyone agrees with these concerns. We spoke to a manager at old-time Yaowarat favorite Lao Lee, who said, “There’s no possible way that sharks are going to be extinct. They are limitless to catch and people love them.” Our visits to other major Chinese dried goods shops Cho Roongrueng, Cheng Nguad Heng, Chai Nguad Huad produced similar comments. At Cheng Nguad Heng, the vendor even tried to sell us some shark fins. “Honestly, shark cartilage is a wonderful New Year present”, he said.

Yaowarat imports its shark fins from across the world, though mainly from Europe (Spain, Norway). According to a famous shark fins dealer who imports his produce from Boston, USA, Western hemisphere sharks are preferred to those in Asia because the deeper the sharks live, the thicker their fins.His products are distributed to many famous Chinese restaurants and hotels in Bangkok, the Philippines, Hong Kong and China. He too, did not believe sharks were a threatened species, due to fishing zones and seasonal fishing.

It’s going to be difficult to make Yaowarat’s restaurant owners and dealers change their minds. But can consumers be made to give up shark fin? The Peninsula’s eight wedding menus with shark fins will be replaced with dishes like braised conpoy (dried scallop) soup with shredded winter melon and fish maw soup with crab coral. It’s a sign that there’s no shortage of expensive delicacies that are less harmful to the environment. But maybe sharks’ best ally is the fact that their fins are not even healthy. The USA’s FDA has warned that shark fins contain high levels of mercury, particularly dangerous to pregnant women and children. To be precise, environmental pressure group Wild Aid claims shark fin mercury levels in Thailand are up to 42 times higher than the safe limit—a potential cause of sterility in men and a sadly ironic side-effect given the food’s supposedly virile benefits.

68%

Percentage of Bangkokians who still eat shark fin soup

61%

Percentage who said that they eat it because their family has it, or only on special occasions because they think it would be rude to refuse it.

19%

Percentage of respondents who eat shark fin but feel bad about it.