It’s been a few months now since EmQuartier has opened and I was really looking forward to an opportunity to visit the place. I mean, there are so many malls within short vicinity of my accommodation in Bangkok that the trip downtown to EmQuartier wouldn’t be worth unless it was for something special.
That something special was the first month anniversary of my engagement so I decided to take my fiancée for lunch at EmQuartier. After the compulsory window-shopping at all the bags and shoes stores, we crossed the bridge to the Helix Quarter. Here, from the 6th to the 9th floor, you are invaded with tens of restaurants to choose from.
Obviously, the theme here is suggested by the name of the building: an amazing helical floor slab and a 100-meter long cylindrical rainforest chandelier invades your visual and olfactory senses. It’s not easy to choose from the almost 50 restaurant outlets that spiral their way up to the rooftop, but since I wanted to treat my future wife with some yummy European food, we decided to stop at Jones & Mowlem.
Established in 1699 in London, Jones & Mowlem is famous for its traditional fish & chips as well as the market-fresh seafood they offer. The Bangkok franchise at EmQuartier lives up to this British tradition.
The restaurant has seats on both sides of the spiraling floor, with the main area overviewing the vegetation hanging in the middle of the mall. Although the smaller space set up around the bar looked neat too, we decided to enjoy the hustle and bustle of our Saturday date by choosing a table with a grander view of the chandelier. (Also, the light was better for selfies!)
I knew from the start what I wanted to choose, but my fiancée took her time to check out the menu. We finally settled for the Lunchtime Special Set which offered my Fish & Chips plus a Chargrilled Prawn Caser Salad (340 baht) and a plate of Fettuccine with Smoked Salmon Carbonara (320 baht). For drinks I ordered an orange juice (80 baht) – someone has to drive back home – while my fiancée chose a Strawberry Mocktail (170 baht).
The drinks came first followed almost immediately by the salad. Usually when you order shrimps in Thailand, you get the smallest shrimps possible, but the salad came with nice fat shrimps in a decent size bowl. Wanting to take a selfie with the entire meal, we waited for the main dishes too.
The staff at Jones & Mowlem were very nice and prompt and our food was put on the table soon. It was quite a shocker to see the size of the fish & chips. The pasta came in a big plate too, but the fish & chips were just huge! After the waitress took a photo of us, we snapped a few more selfies and photos for our Facebook pages and started digging in.
Needless to say, the amount of food that we had could have easily satisfied three people, so we ate slowly, deliberately chewing and enjoying the food. After all, it was a special date and we were in no rush. The chips were well done, the fish was crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, and the pasta was just right. The gravy and sauces that came along were finger-licking…
We both had a great time at Jones & Mowlem. The bill came at a net total of 1,071 baht which was of great value for the quality (and amount!) of food we had.
I’ve been in Thailand for more than 13 years now and I’ve eaten in hundreds of restaurants. Based on my experience, on a scale from 0 to 5, here’s my rating for Jones & Mowlem at the Helix Quarter:
Food: 5 stars (will be back for dinner!)
Value for money: 5 stars (the portions were so big)
Service: 5 stars (friendly and polite staff)
Ambiance: 5 starts (Helix Quarter is an urban architectural masterpiece)
Location: 5 starts (next to BTS Phrom Pong)
You can check them out on Facebook or just pay them a visit. Don’t forget, the fish & chips are huge, so make sure you’re hungry…
looks really great, excited to check it out