Going wild at Tropical Monkey

CONSIDERING ITS location in a posh sea of luxury-brand stores, Tropical Monkey is amazingly homey, a lovely, shaded “backyard” where you can enjoy ice cream, pancakes, waffles and healthy drinks.

Designer Passorn Subcharoenpun and chef Warussaporn Lawrance certainly didn’t get the location wrong – they knew that Central Embassy needed just such a relaxed place to eat, somewhere to tuck into home cooking and get your mind off the head-spinning prices for a while. 

Warussaporn took a course in molecular gastronomy at Le Condon Bleu Australia, but she’s basically been cooking forever. She’s always preferred being in a kitchen concocting meals, pastries and ice cream for family and friends.

“We’re neighbours and Warussaporn often shares her creations at my home,” says Passorn. “We serve as the ‘gastronomes’, giving her feedback, and then Warussaporn makes little improvements to suit our tastes. 

“We opened the original Tropical Monkey three years ago at the Rain Hill community mall – one of the pioneers among ice cream cafes-cum-bakeries in Bangkok. We had milk-based ice cream in 12 flavours, served with homemade brownies and waffles, and then added sandwiches on freshly baked bread.”

It was a popular enough place, but the duo wanted a location in the heart of the city’s shopping area and found it last year at Central Embassy. The cafe is appealing with its charming decor, Passorn having turned the floor-to-ceiling window into a vertical garden and making the spot feel as inviting as your best friend’s house.

The small pantry is all wood, the tables and chairs are fashioned from tree trunks and a long couch is fitted with earth-tone cushions.

The ice cream display case is enormous. The hundred-odd flavours, with milk or sorbet bases, alternate with the seasons. Among the choices are Banoffee, Yoghurt Jelly, Coffee Brownie, Banana Cheese, Earl Grey Tea, Lavender Princess, Sweet Bacon, Caramel Whisky, Chocolate Red Wine, Lychee Mint and Japanese Melon.

They ensure that the ice cream is healthier by making it less sweet. They use an Italian-built gelato maker for a smooth texture and the ice cream melts very slowly. For the cakes and other easy-to-eat dishes, they use top-quality imported butter and cheese.

“The emphasis is on healthy desserts,” Passorn says. “We don’t use eggs in the ice cream because a lot of people are allergic to eggs, and people from the Middle East don’t usually eat eggs at all. Besides, if the egg isn’t absolutely fresh, it can give off a bad smell. We serve only the same healthy fare that we eat at home ourselves, and all the sauces, the pork sausages and the pancakes come from our own recipes.”

Warussaporn has a genius for mixing and matching ingredients to bring out the best textures and flavours. You should try the “R&B” – the Red and Black. For Bt225 you get a filling Red Velvet Cream Cheese Swirl Brownie with Oreo cookies as the base, and dark grey “charcoal ice cream” made from powdered bamboo charcoal and adorned with whipped cream and sliced fresh strawberry.

Crunchy Cloud Lava (Bt245) is warm molten chocolate cake is topped with gummy grilled marshmallows and served with a vanilla bean and chocolate ice cream. 

If you’re on a diet – well, you shouldn’t really be here, but go ahead and get the Less Guilty Sundae (Bt325), five defensibly small scoops of mango sorbet, ice cream made with Thai tea and pistachios, pink milk and orange panna cotta. That comes with diced green and red apples, strawberries and caramelised orange peel.

For light meals, the choices include the Sunrise Pancake (Bt225), actually three cheesy pancakes, topped with crisp bacon and maple syrup and accompanied by a salad of green and red apple, and the Make My Day Sandwich (Bt245), a grilled spinach focaccia sandwich stuffed with spicy homemade sausage and served with salad. The Cheese Bacon Waffle (Bt225) is nice too – thick cheesy waffles with bacon, maple syrup and salad.

The range of refreshing drinks here is just as creative. The Lemonade Ice Cube (Bt120) comes with Butter Pea Juice and a shot of lemon juice, the fizzy Root Beer Float (Bt120) packs a scoop of vanilla ice cream, and the Tipsy Affogato (Bt195) combines alcohol and vanilla ice cream. The Iced Macha Latte (Bt140) is pretty yummy as well.

Alternatively you can have aromatic coffee from the Italian brand Illy, or a rich milk shake (Bt195) containing chocolate brownies, nuts, coffee ice cream, cookie chunk chip or chocolate sauce with whipped cream perched atop.

 

JUNGLE RHYTHMS

Tropical Monkey is on the fifth floor of Central Embassy on Ploenchit Road. 

It’s open daily from 10 to 10. 

Call (081) 616 3909 or visit the “TropicalMonkey.BKK” page on Facebook.