Once Upon a Time Restaurant

Name: Once Upon a Time
Cuisine: Traditional Thai
Address: 32 Petchburi Soi 17, Pratunam, Bangkok. (Opposite Pantip Plaza)
GPS: N13°45'10.08", E100°32'17.72"
Tel: (02)-252 8629 / (02)-653 7857
Open: Daily from 11.00 a.m. to 11.00 p.m.
Payment: Cash & major credit cards
Web: http://www.onceuponatimeinthailand.net/
Remarks: -
Originally posted: April'2010
Last updated: -

The restaurant (indoor) ...
The indoor dinning place is in an old two storey wooden house painted in pink. The small air-conditional restaurant occupies the first floor. The upper level houses two studios which mock up as bedrooms. As these studios are small & the angles are tight, I don't have a wide-angle cam to take any representative shots of these rooms. Suffice to say, we were very impressed by the nostalgic Victorian decor.
A demure signboard that doesn't say much of what lays behind. Main entrance to the indoor restaurant. Servers are donned in traditional Thai costumes. Warm lighting. We were informed that the owner is an professional photographer. Posh. Table setting in the restaurant. A place where time stood still. Wooden stairs leading to upper floor of the bungalow. The upper level is not air-conditioned. Hence, it gets a tad stuffy here. A corner of a studio room. Canopy bed in one of the studios.

The restaurant (Outdoor) ...
We adjourned to the outdoor garden for some small bites. And indeed, our wish was granted by the blood thirsting mozzies. ^_^" It was so very thoughtful of the restaurant to have, strategically, planted a few mosquito coils. To further combat these flies, homemade lemon grass based mosquito repellent was also available for application. The bf loves the aroma of this repellent and he finds it rather effective. We bought a bottle of this spray which costs, iirc,THB80 (or THB120?).
Homemade lemon glass mosquito repellent. Dining in rainforest. There were more outdoor diners than indoor. If not for the hot weather, we would have had our full course dinner here. A secret garden indeed.

Our order ...
We had the appetizer and main course in the restaurant. Desserts were served in the garden under the starry night.
Iced blended coconut juice. The glasses looked kinda kitschy!!! Miaeng Kham THB98.50 Moo Daed Dio THB163.75 Phad prio wan moo THB197 Gaeng som gung THB289 Mark Phao Oon THB265.75 Our table full of mouth-watering good foods. Desserts were served in the secret garden. Me: Coffee and Kluay Buat Chee. Him: Tea and Chinese lychee. The Kluay Buat Chee was the star of the night. The main thing is these bananas were cocked just nice and not soggy at all.

Table for 2: THB1656.88 for 5 dishes, 2 desserts, 2 hot & 2 cold drinks.

My verdict:
+ Fantastic ambiance at both indoor & alfresco
+ Smiling servers
+ Above average foods
+ Banana in coconut milk aka Kluay Buat Chee (Strongly recommended)
+ Moderate pricing but justifiable
+ Homemade lemon grass mozzie repellent (The bf loves its aroma)
- Cheesy drinking glasses
- Mozzies
- Main course served when we barely started on our appetizer
- Their web site reminds me of the ancient Netscape Communicator @ @

Getting there ...
The restaurant is located in a small soi directly across Pantip Plaza. They are about 5mins walk in to the alley and on your RHS.

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