Au Bon Pain will keep them humble for you - or jazz 'em up with chocolate, berries, bacon and beef
All Bangkok branches of Au Bon Pain, the US-based bakery-café chain - including the new one in Siam Square - are enjoying a week of festivities with delectable bagels blueberry, chocolate, olive-oregano and apple crumble flavours.
Food stylist Suthinphong "Karb" Suriya is at the Siam Square outlet too, demonstrating how to make tasty bagel sandwiches.
A distinctively European tradition, bagels have long been a popular breakfast treat, plain or topped with raisins, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, cheese and plenty else.
They go great with coffee, and just plainly toasted, a bagel will make fast friends with cream cheese, eggs, ham, bacon and even something heavier like slices of beef.
Keeping an eye on nutrition, Au Bon Pain makes its Bt40 bagels with wheat flour, malt barley flour and fresh yeast, and the healthy toppings run to sesame and poppy seeds, onions and jalapeno peppers and mixed herbs.
"Our bagels contain less than 0.5 per cent trans-fat, but they're chewy and doughy and crispy," says Wipa Boonpalit, general manager of ABP Cafe.
New and highly recommended is the Bt135 roast-beef bagel sandwich with a tomato-red-wine sauce, and a combo set including a soft drink for Bt150.
Yummy sesame bagels make a great tuna sandwich with sweet chilli sauce for Bt120, and the combo set for Bt135 includes apple-crumble bagels with cream cheese.
"Bagels are the all-time favourites that have become the signature treat at Au Bon Pain," Wipa says. "We use recipes created by culinary specialists in the US, and the finest ingredients, together with a standardised dough-making and baking process.
"What guarantees that the bagels are completely delicious is that they're baked and served fresh every single day."
Good bread!
Find out more at (02) 261 5363 and www.AuBonPainThailand.com.
