At home on the turf
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Aluco Cafe of Suvarnabhumi Airport fame brings its brews to old Bangkok
AFTER MORE than a year of satisfying coffee lovers at Suvarnabhumi Airport with its seriously strong brews made from beans grown in Chiang Rai, the popular Aluco Cafe is stretching its reach with a new branch in downtown Bangkok that also offers a range of comfort foods and delectable desserts.
A cosy space that seats 40 guests, the new Aluco has taken over the premises vacated by one of Bangkok’s oldest coffee shops inside the Royal Turf Club of Thailand and is under the management of entrepreneurs Montree Rongthong, Uratchata Na Nakorn and a few of their pals.
Aluco is the name for a species of owls and the cafe pays tribute to these birds of the night by devoting plenty of its indoor and outdoor space to owl sculptures.
“Our aim in opening here is to attract locals and visitors to relax over coffee and a light meal. We serve dishes based on family recipes and home-made desserts at affordable prices,” Montree says.
“As we are near Rajavinit Matthayom School and governmental institutions, we also offer a range of promotions, among them the Early Owl Drink deal under which customers can order any drink for Bt50 and the Happy Owl Set, which combines any cold beverage with butter-and-sugar toast for Bt69.”
We’re here for more serious food though and start our meal with a dish recommended by Montree – Northern-style Rice Noodles in Spicy Pork Sauce, which is served with crispy pork rinds, lemon slices and fresh vegetables (Bt89) and Southern-style Rice Noodle in Spicy Yellow Curry Sauce with Crabmeat (B159).
“My partner prepares the spicy Northern-style curry at his home in Chiang Rai so I can guarantee the taste is authentic. We use fresh rice noodles to achieve the sticky but tender texture,” Montree explains. “And each dish comes with several side dishes to make customers feel like they’re eating at home.”
Other favourites are the tender Fried Pork served with spicy jaew sauce for Bt99, Fried Rice with Crispy Fried Gourami Fish that comes with soup for Bt129 and Chicken Fillet Salad with a Japanese-style sesame dressing (Bt129).
“The Chicken fillet salad is among our best-sellers. It’s very healthy too as the chicken is tossed in spices, special sauce, pepper and salt before being grilled,” Montree says.
Uratchata is responsible for the dessert menu and keeps the sugar content low while retaining the sweet taste. There are seven kinds of layer cakes including banoffee, mango mousse, carrot, chocolate and Oreo, along with green tea tart and blueberry cheese pie, which range in price from Bt95 to Bt115.
We particularly enjoyed the Browngie (Bt95), which combines soft cookie and brownie and comes with an optional scoop of ice cream for Bt30 as well as the craffle, a mixture of croissant and waffle, filled with ham and cheese, spinach, vanilla, green tea and ice cream.
“I use only the best ingredients such as French chocolate ganache, fresh milk and butter rather than margarine, while our bread is guaranteed chemical free,” Uratchata says.
And of course there’s plenty of that aromatic coffee, along with Mariage Freres tea (Bt209), a Wingy Wingy smoothie (Bt99) made with mango juice, passion fruit and mint leaves and a Caramel Latte Frappe (Bt105).
NOT JUST FOR OWLS
>> Aluco Cafe is in the Royal Turf Club of Thailand next to Gate 1 on Phitsanulok Road. It’s open Monday to Friday from 6.30am to 6.30pm and Saturday from 10am to 7pm. Call (098) 923 2322 or visit the “Aluco Cafe” page on Facebook.
