Dunkin Donuts and Chamchuri Square
Posted by Stuart at 11:36 AM on March 28, 2008When I was in High School, I was on the local city swim team. Our team was pretty hard-core, and in addition to working out every day after school, we were in the pool practicing 2 or 3 times per week in the mornings before school started. After burning thousands of calories during morning practice, on the way to school, my friends and I would be starving. Our favorite breakfast stops were Hardee's for their awesome biscuits and cinnamon rolls, and Dunkin' Donuts.
One day my health-conscious father gave us a ride from the pool to school, and we convinced him to take us to Dunkin' Donuts. We told him they had nutritious things too, like croissant sandwiches. We ended up eating jelly donuts anyway and I remember him fussing at us a bit for having such a bad diet. Maybe we weren't such hard-core athletes after all.
I was thinking about this as I ate my breakfast this morning at Siam Square... at Dunkin' Donuts. They have whole wheat glazed donuts on the menu now. That's healthy, right? I am not sure about that, but I do know they are delicious. I also had an egg and ham croissant, which was amazingly good. It was much better than the egg and bacon croissants that I have been eating lately at Au Bon Pain.
As I sat at Dunkin' Donuts, reminiscing about high school and enjoying my healthy whole wheat donuts, I gazed across the street at the gleaming glass facades of the newly remodeled Siam Center and brand-new Siam Paragon shopping malls, with the waterfalls and fountains and huge screens playing pop videos and commercials. None of that was there when I moved to Thailand 5 years ago. Siam Center was there, but it was run-down and looking it's age (over 30 years old, by the way). Bangkok certainly has changed a lot since I've lived here, at least on the surface.
New malls and new high-rise condos office buildings are popping up everywhere. One in particular that I've been watching is the new Chamchuri Square shopping center/office building/apartment building combo that has been going up near my office at the Sam Yan subway station. It will be connected by an underground passage to the subway, which is definitely cool.
I am looking forward to a closer, air-conditioned place to eat lunch, instead of having to walk all the way over to Silom if I am not in the mood for the street vendors and outdoor markets in this area. (And yes, sometimes I want to be pampered in the AC!) And even more exciting, is that I have heard that the Chulalongkorn University bookstore will move here, creating Thailand's largest bookstore. I am looking forward to checking that out.
I hope they have a Dunkin' Donuts, too!
I remember that. Even with doughnuts in the gut, I would be hungry by 10. Of course, even with Hardee's or something I would be asleep by 11, in Mr. Reddig's psychology class. (Had to get my nap in before afternoon practice, ya know.)
i maintain that dunkin' donut uses a signature aroma in their products. once you develop a liking for it - even your grandma's homemade ones won't do!
my fav is the bavarian cream filled ones. yum.