Food for thought is no substitute for the real thing
Home is where the heart is, and tonight's nosh was just like eating with Mama.
Bangkok’s best restaurants are the tiny little open-street neighbourhood establishments seating their clients on plastic seats. This is our local. And our favourite...Dinner in Soi 2, Sukhumvit
Loving Thai Tea, writes Rachelle, “my new obsession, as orange as an orangutan, with sweetened condensed milk…”
This place is so popular and goddamn good they make very few concessions to farangs, despite being located a stones thrown from the most popular tourist site in the Kingdom. And God Bless them for that.
Life the very best establishments, this superior hole in the wall has a signature dish. The Por Pir Fresh Spring Rolls were just that, whipped up in seconds by the mama at the door, combining Rice Sheet Roll, Boiled Bean Sprouts & Chinese Sausage, Cucumber, Tofu, with Sweet Brown (plum sauce-esque) Sauce, topped with Crab Meat: what the f*ck’s not to like? The perfect start to the weekend…
We are now residents at this most precious of Bangkok treasures. The following grainy iPhone photos* are but a snippet: more to follow...
* (I am playing with my new app)
Lunchtime, February 22: I am sitting opposite an engraved mirrored stating that just to my right, amid plush surroundings of teak panels and silk drapes, white table linen, solid silver cutlery and gloved waiters in tails, Her Majesty Queen Rampai Consort of King Rama VII dined here regularly on Wednesday nights in the early 1960s.
We are now in residence at Bangkok's most brilliantly eccentric hotel, the infamous Atlanta. Checking in on Sunday, I was ever so slightly disappointed to discover they've added the establishment's name above the door, where previously the only sign read: "This is the place you are looking for, if you know it. If you don't, you'll never find it".
Everything else is just as wonderful as I remembered from when I last stayed in 2002. The spectacular 1950s Art Deco lobby has never been updated, classical music is piped into the restaurant all day (including an hour of compostions by the King of Thailand at lunchtime), replaced by jazz in the evenings: most of the staff have been here for decades. I could go on, and probably will over the next few days.
The menu is one of Thailand's jewels, supposedly the biggest vegetarian menu in the world, but also boasting huge varieties of carnivourous nosh.
After several days of sweet talking, the very stern, wonderfully enigmatic restaurant manager/cashier Ms?* has today taken me under her wing, spoon feeding me muesli at breakfast, and producing this lunchtime's brilliant dish, the Conrad Paulus Special, off menu.
Mrs Paulus was a former editor of Fodors Guide, who like many guests at The Atlanta came as a guest, and left as a friend.
A Thai variation of beef meatballs made with cornflower, these were sour, sweet, salty and hot all at the same time: the sauce employed garlic, chilli and a secret tomato ingredient that may very well have been Heinz Tomato Ketchup.
The manager says she won't reveal her name for anything less that one million bhat (£20,000). I'm working on it...
[Update: a couple of days later Anong finally revealed her name]
The Atlanta has strict rules, and the restaurant is not normally open for non-guests. The hotel only takes reservations by fax (yep, not by telephone or email). You are strongly advised to carefully study the hotel's website, at www.theatlantahotelbangkok.com, before booking.
Lunch for one including steamed rice and a Coke, 145B (£2.80, US$4.40, AU$4.85)
The Atlanta Hotel, Soi 2 Sukhumvit Road, Bangkok, Thailand +66 2252 1650
By now it should be quite obvious that we had a pretty life changing experience at the Mandarin’s flagship: service starts here and goes south.
After our exceptionally brilliant Ayurvedic massage, we retired for the biggest buffet lunch we have ever seen at Thai restaurant Sala Rim Naam, which offfers more than 50 dishes representing every corner of the Kingdom. They’re obviously all good. But the desserts were particularly Amazing Thailand..Massage: www.simoncrerar.com/health/ayurveda-oriental-bangkok
If a city becomes ever more appealing the more cuisines it offers, Bangkok is winning more brownie points each day.
Thai: massive tick. Chinese: tick. Every variety of European cuisine you can image: tick. Indian: tick. Brazilian: tick. Nigerian: tick. And now tonight, Egyptian: tick. According to its genius name card, Restaurant Shishah Nasir is: “The House of Authentic Cuisine The Great Egyptian Delight We Offer The Selected Original Taste of Arabic Barbequed Fresh Lamb Also Relish The Pakistani & Thai Well Known Delecate Also Available”. Anywhere open from 08:00 to 04:00 wins points in my book, particular somewhere that offers brilliant Egyptian-style hummus and meze in a friendly, booze free environment at half one in the morning. Add in the most futuristic US Diner/Sci-Fi fushion interiors you have ever seen, turbo fans and endless silver, and I’m sold. AND Schweppes Lemon in Bangkok styleee… Restaurant Shishah Nasir 4/6 North Nana Sukhumvit, Bangkok 3/1
We checked in to Thailand's leading hotel after 8pm this evening after six head-spinning, energy-sapping hours in Chatuchak market, the world’s most brilliant place to shop.
Exhausted, we didn’t feel like leaving our room’s comforting embrace, so dived into the room service menu.
In room dining can be a disappointing letdown in even the best hotels, but this dinner was a fantastic a la carte-esque experience, served on a round table wheeled in by a bow-tied water, who whipped off the silver food warmers to reveal our superbly presented, generously proportioned orders from the All Day Thai Favourites menu...
Gaeng Phed Ped Yang
Barbecued duck simmered in roasted red curry sauce with jujube plums and sweet basil leaves served with steamed Hom Mali rice: 520B
As if one kick-ass national cuisine wasn’t enough, Bangkokians are lucky enough to enjoy the pleasures of the world’s biggest Chinatown: up to 80 percent of Bangkok residents are believed to have Chinese roots (often dating back centuries).
We ventured out very late last night, tummies grumbling, with no idea at all whether we’d find anywhere still open for a midnight snack. Inevitably, the whole district was jumping and our only difficulty was choosing which one of the delicious-looking options we were going to go for.
Every great country needs a great beer...
Lovingly crafted boutique hotel offering those rarest of Bangkok qualities, serenity and calm, in a residential neighbourhood just north of the old city centre. Lots and lots of clever little details and bags of personality: just far few too many kids running around causing chaos…
