Bogotá en Bangkok

Last night's adventure began with dinner at a Colombian/Thai fusion restaurant and ended with the most breathtaking view of Bangkok.

Carla and I had dinner and drinks with a friend at La Cuchara, a cozy Colombian restaurant in the heart of downtown Bangkok. It was a bit surreal sitting in the brightly decorated restaurant with Botero replica paintings hanging on the wall, a drink menu that included mojitos, caipirinhas and pisco sour and salsa playing in the background. We ordered mojitos to start off the evening, which were delicious (I think any Cuban would be proud), and shirmp ceviche and empanadas as appetizers. The ceviche was O.K. and the empanadas were dry and hard. But dinner had yet to arrive so I held out hope that my ropa vieja would be better than the empanadas.

The music was very nostalgic. They played old school cumbia and salsa. I don'tknow who set-up their playlist, but I really felt like I was in a chic Latino restaurant in Chicago or New York. Overall, the atmosphere at La Cuchara was warm, festive and very Latino.

Carla's dinner arrived first...she ordered pork chops in a tomato stew. Her dish was very good, but I couldn't tell if it was Colombian or Thai. The spices they used must have been a fusion of both cuisines. I enjoyed her dish (we split both orders), but every time I took a bite, it took my brain and taste buds a few seconds to decide if I liked it because I couldn't place the flavors.

My ropa vieja was a whole 'nother story. It was not ropa vieja...it was a spicy mixture of onion, whole garlic cloves, red and green peppers and very sparse pieces of shredded beef. I would describe the presentation of the dish as a"fajita gone wrong" (minus the tortillas), but it was still yummy. It has been the spiciest dish I have eaten in Bangkok so far. My lips were still throbbing after dinner from the chile. Both dishes came with white rice and something that resembled yuca and plantanos, except the yuca was sweet and the platanos were bitter. It was still appetizing, but not Colombian and not Thai, which made it an interesting eating experience.

After La Cuchara, we made our way to The Dome at State Tower for drinks on the 63rd floor for a view of the city. I do not have the words to describe how beautiful and breathtaking that experience was. Sixty-three floors above the hustle and bustle that is Bangkok, the view from above is exciting and calming all at once. You feel magical, or at least I did. I have seen beautiful skylines from rooftops in Chicago, DC, New York and Madrid, but nothing beats the 63rd floor rooftop experience in Bangkok. The Dome includes two outdoor bars and an outdoor Mediterranean restaurant. The scene was very European, very chic and hip. I kept telling Carla, "Oh god we're so bright, so Latina!" But we loved it. The Dome experience and the La Cuchara experience were on opposite ends of the spectrum, but they fit perfectly well together on our very Latino and very magical evening in Bangkok.

Some reads on La Cuchara and The Dome

La Cuchara: http://mag.ttoasia.net/la-cuchara-restaurant/

The Dome: http://www.lebua.com/bangkok/dining/