First was the Basic Spirit Cafe, surrounded by the ancient ruins, and home to the famous "Cococano", an iced cafe americano mixed with coconut water.
This tiny neighborhood in Ayutthaya was once a small Japanese village for diplomats and traders from the Japanese Empire, back when Ayutthaya was the capitol of Siam, and one of the biggest and most important trade hubs in the world. There are still (a very few) traces of this Japanese culture preserved in Ayutthaya today.
My cococano was great, and it even came with slices of fresh coconut mixed in. Pinky ordered another drink, which was a mix of coffee, hazelnut, and orange peel.
I can't remember the name of the next cafe, which is too bad, because it was really good too! It was also really close to the historical park. This place was famous for its ice cream!
Clockwise from top right: blue anchan flower ice cream in a traditional Thai dessert; vanilla ice cream served with Ayutthaya's famous traditional candy floss snack; cookies and cream s'mores; and charcoal ice cream with assorted traditional Thai snacks. Pinky and I shared the s'mores.
S'mores! What can I say? I love s'mores!
Anchan is a blue flower that's used in a lot of Thai desserts. It's also called "butterfly pea", and is used to make a bright purple herbal drink.
Every province in Thailand has it's famous snack. Whenever you take a trip to another province, you should seek out that particular traditional snack and bring it back for friends and co-workers. In Ayutthaya, the most famous traditional snack is something that I call "cotton candy burritos". I tried them for the first time years ago at Grant's Welcome to Bangkok party. The treat is made of freshly spun candy floss, and wrapped up in a super thin crepe. In this ice cream, it was sort of deconstructed, and made to look a bit like a bird's nest.
Charcoal is becoming quite a popular flavor in Asia. It's common to find charcoal croissants, pastries, cakes, and ice cream. It doesn't have much of a flavor, but it definitely looks cool. This dish was served with a few tiny Thai snacks.
The cafe was a little bit hipstery and a little bit minimalist.
Especially when it was so incredibly hot outside (as Ayutthaya always seems to be), it was good to cool off indoors with some ice cream.
Feeling sleepy, we made one last stop for coffee before heading back to Bangkok. This cafe overlooked Wat Mahathat, the centerpiece of the historical park.
Bangkok's only about an hour away from Ayutthaya, depending on traffic, but in the late afternoon, after hurrying all over Ayutthaya all day, we were all sleepy. One last coffee was a good idea. This cafe was also a craft shop, selling scarves, handbags, and more made from Thai cotton.
We were feeling tired, but that's nothing a macchiato can't fix.
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