Lhong Tou Cafe: Dim Sum Breakfast in Bangkok's Chinatown

After breakfast, it was time for coffee, and coffee in Yaowarat is best served with dim sum.

Lhong Tou Cafe in Chinatown

We made our way to the highly-rated Lhong Tou Cafe, which was just opening up as we arrived. It's a super popular cafe, and due to social-distancing restrictions, it can only accommodate a small number of patrons. We were just in time, because it began filling up shortly after we got there!

The cafe serves Thai-Chinese tea house staples with a modern twist. Even though we had already had breakfast that morning, we couldn't resist ordering a dim sum set. In particular, the Chinese New Year set looked too good to pass up.

As we waited for our dim sum set to arrive, we relaxed in the calm and zenlike atmosphere of the tiny cafe, which was decorated in a classic yet modern design consisting of Chinese motifs like cherry blossoms, peacocks, and rich darkly-furbished wood.

The cafe does have a few specialty drinks, such as Hong Kong flowering tea, but what they are best known for is their simple, strong, black coffee. I ordered a cappuccino. My coffee arrived dusted with the Chinese characters for the name of the cafe.

the decoration on the foam is the name of the cafe in Chinese

While we were waiting for the dim sum set to arrive, we sipped our coffee and ordered a snack to share. This is a dim sum mushroom bun that is actually made to look like a shiitake mushroom! It's really just a flour bun stuffed with shredded mushrooms, but doesn't it look neat?

dim sum made to look like a shiitake mushroom

Presently, our dim sum set arrived!

12:00 - shrimp dumplings with soy sauce

2:00 - mini red pork buns

3:00 - little steamed buns

6:00 - fried crab cakes with sweet and sour sauce

9:00 - shrimp wrapped in crispy fried potato and dipped in a sweet, spicy sauce

11:00 - egg custard cake

center - mandarin orange cake

The shrimp dim sum was especially tasty! A delicious sweet shrimp was wrapped in thin slices of potato and deep fried. The entire bite was then served with a sweet chili dipping sauce. 

The egg custard cake was also delicious. Very sweet, and it went really well with a cup of strong coffee.

We saved the mandarin cake for last.

The cake itself was shaped like an orange and covered in a sweet mandarin orange glaze. It was stuffed with a delicious orange filling. 

This is what travelling is all about, even if it is right there in your very own city.