Cuisine: Thai
Address: Soi Convent, Silom, Bangkok
Tel:
Payment: Cash and major credit cards
Web: Nil
Originally posted: July'2008
Having dined here a few times, our experience with this restaurant has been positively consistent as such there is not much of difficulty writing about them.
The restaurant located at Soi Convent, another food haven in Bangkok. Coming from Thanon Silom, the restaurant is only a short walk from Saladang BTS station in to the left-hand-side of the Soi.
To begin with, the 2-storey restaurant is small and bare. There is really nothing to talk about on the interior decor and its ambiance. The ground floor consists of a dining area, service counter and a kitchen behind it. More dining tables are available on the upper floor and it is also where the washroom is. Since the restaurant is sitting on a small footprint, whatever that is cooking in the kitchen, the dining hall at lower floor smells it. ^_^" This is probably the only gripe we have.
Considering the location of the restaurant which is in Bangkok's financial district, we find the food to be reasonably priced. Honestly, I am contemplated to say 'dirt cheap', should I compare the price that I've to fork out for the same dishes back home in Singapore. Ouch! As a gauge, a dinner for two would probably cost around THB500-600 inclusive of non-alcoholic drink. In our case and because of the extensive varieties, we tend to over-order which explained our inflated bill. :)~
Table for two: THB776 inclusive of two non-alcoholic drinks.
P/S: 'Bua' is Lotus in Thai language.
In a nutshell
Likes:
> Good selection of Thai foods
> Economically priced
> Accessible location
Dislikes:
> Dining hall smells
Mixed Seafood Salad (120B) - A variation from the typical Thai Yum Woon Sen. The veg is fresh. Recommended.
Yum Pak Boong Krob (120B) - This tempura-like crispy morning glory (kang kung) is one of their signature dishes. Thumbs-up.
Fried Shrimp Patties (80B) - Passable.
Tom Kha Gai (120B) - Generous ingredients, clean thick white gravy and most importantly, appropriate sized skinless chicken fillet. A very typical standard in Bangkok. Strangely, the same level of satisfaction can hardly find in Singapore.
Goong Ob Woon Sen - Lackluster of the night. The size of the prawns were a tad too small and overall taste was flat. Not recommended.
We were ushered to a table very close to the counter/kitchen. We should be grateful that they didn't charge us for sniffing.
Simple and minimalist. While it didn't score much points in the ID department, it stood up with good and cheap foods.
Cuisine: Thai
Address: Thonglor Soi 13, Bangkok
Tel: (02) 185 2874
Payment: Cash and major credit cards
Web: Nil
Originally posted: June'2008
Gotten to know this restaurant from a review in Bangkok Post not long ago. Apart from the good referral, I was also very curious with the much touted 'Yum Tawai' mentioned in this article, although I still have very little clue what it is.
We made a reservation at the restaurant. During the telephone converastion, we were asked to choose between alfresco or indoor. We opted the latter since the weather was rather hot that day. The restaurant, located at the intersection of Soi Thonglor (Suk55) and Thonglor Soi 13, was not difficult to find. Despite arriving after 8pm on a Saturday night, the place was still packed to the brim. If not for the reservation we could have to wait to be seated!
As we entered, our first impression to the indoor dining area was compact and the greasy air was plagued by poor air circulation. It smelt exactly like a kitchen. We had this feeling that we would be leaving the place smelling like one too! So much for the first impression ... which we hope it didn't last as long as the smell does.
We were seated and promptly presented with menu where dishes were orderly categorized in to starters, main course & etc. Food entries were also printed in both Thai and English with prices clearly tagged. With faith from the newspaper's review, we ordered a Yum Tawai as starter. For our main course, we had a serving of Hor Mok, a crispy fried Pla Samlee (cotton fish), fired Chinese Kai Lan with mushroom, Tom Yum Goong and pineapple rice.
Amazingly, the veg and Tom Yum Goong were promptly served withing minutes. Our starter, Yum Tawai, was still nowhere in sight. OK we had a sticky situation where the main came before the starter. For a while, we ain't sure should we go ahead with the 2 dishes or should we keep on waiting for our starter who had became a 'follower'. While we waited patiently and were still maintaining our best composure, the starter eventually turned up along with the rest of the dishes. Yes, ALL but the pineapple rice. ^_^"
As the clock was ticking away, we still had a table full of dishes but no rice. Two servers were dispatched to check for the whereabouts of our pineapple rice. They too, along with the rice, never came back to us again. We had to stop a 3rd waitress, instructed her to cancel the pineapple rice, replaced it with ordinary steamed rice. By then, our pot of Tom Yum Goong had already lost much of its steam. Well, so much for the terrible services.
Table for two: THB871 (SGD36.27) inclusive of two non-alcoholic drinks.
In a nutshell
Likes:
> Good selection of Thai foods
> Choice of alfresco or indoor dining
> Cheap
Dislikes:
> Dining hall smells
> Service that left much to desire
> Excessive MSG in Tom Yum Goong
Yum Tawai - Despite of the look, this is my favorite of the night. It resembles our 'kang kong cuttlefish topped with satay source'.
Tom Yum Goong - Excessive MSG! Avoid at all costs.
Hor Mok Kanom Krok - One of the better dishes which we both enjoyed. The souffle was tender and not too spicy.
Crispy Pla Samlee - The green mango source was good but the cotton fish literary became cotton soft while we were waiting for our rice.
Stir fried kai Lan with Chinese Mushrooms - Passable.
About THAIoholic
THAIoholic, the blog, is setup with the initial intention of keepsake. As time goes by, I find it harder and harder for my gray cells (of what left) to remember traces of great places we have been to, good foods we savored but missed, details that I should remember but they slipped away unknowingly.
Then, we have also friends and folks asking little details I thought I should blog them here, because my pea brain is simply no good at recollections.
My partner is a devoted Buddhist, his religion forbids him, and therefore me, from taking beef. As such, it's unlikely that there will be any info about beef dish found in this blog.
About BODYholic
BODYholic, also known affectionately as
moo ooan (a.k.a fat pig) by his little kratai noi (a.k.a little rabbit), has intense interests in Thai foods, traditional Thai architecture, coffee and cheesecakes. I've to add that I'm not a prolific blogger.
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