The Water Library restaurant at Chamchuri has been one of the top spots in Bangkok’s fine-dining since opening six years ago. Not only has the brand survived this modest test of time (along with the stigma of being located in a shopping mall) but they’ve also gone on to open up half a dozen other venues around the city. It’s this Silom spot that still remains the Water Library’s flagship restaurant, and probably the most exclusive.
Before our latest visit, we were preparing to have to throw around vague terms such as ‘contemporary western’ or ‘European with a twist’. However, after trying their newly introduced seasonal menu (2,900 baht for five courses), there’s not so much need. It’s essentially French haute cuisine, with plenty of the classics making an appearance such as foie gras, langoustine, scallops and pigeon. Plated immaculately, the sparing use of non-traditional French ingredients enhances the overall menu, rather than defines it.
The obvious starting point here is the venue itself. Despite its mall-slash-office tower location, Water Library feels like a standalone restaurant thanks to its signature cylindrical design, complete with a giant tower of water bottles as the centrepiece. The tall floor-to-ceiling windows also help to create a more open feel, just don’t expect anything spectacular in the way of views from the second floor. Water Library Chamchuri is open for both lunch and dinner. The set lunch menu is priced at 880 baht (two courses) and 990 baht (three courses), while the five course tasting menu in the evening is priced at 2,900 baht per person with wine paring for 1,900 baht on top.
To start, the foie gras is quite possibly the boldest dish of the evening, both in terms of flavour and aesthetics; resembling a pretty little cabbage patch, the mounds of foie gras cream are dotted around specs of sweet beetroot moose, alongside sprouting greenery, crispy pumpernickel, and it’s all arranged neatly on a thin layer of hummus. Amazing! The second dish, a seared Canadian scallop, is just as impressive in appearance, served in its shell atop a bed of sea salt.
Strong flavours from the yuzu sake and shaved truffle are certainly present – but the end result is simply not as satisfying as the rest of the evening’s menu. Things quickly pick up again with the Norwegian langoustine, which is served surf n’ turf style with a thin shaving of robust, crispy bacon. Having Norwegian langoustine in Thailand is always a rare treat; thankfully the meat here is succulent, fresh, and the cream cauliflower and parsley sauce retains the strong seafood flavour. A fruity, almost apply Chablis (Patrick Clergot AOC, Burgundy 2013) is served as part of the wine paring, which was excellent all night.
Water Library Chamchuri has a choice of two mains, fish or pigeon, and we opted to try both (if there’s two of you then you can just mix and match in the same fashion). The fillet of red mullet definitely stands out as a detour away from France and into the Mediterranean with its Spanish sobrassada and piquillo peppers. The pigeon, on the other hand, keeps things more classic; rich and cooked medium rare – just how we like it. Highlights from the additional wine paring included the Chablis (Patrick Clergot AOC, Burgundy 2013) as mentioned before, and a 2008 Esprit de Pavie from Bordeaux with the main. Our delightful mango soup and white chocolate dessert was also paired with an equally sweet 2010 Chateau Megyer from Hungry – not a bad way to end what was quite a memorable meal.
Opening Hours: 11:30-14:00; 18:00-22:00 daily
Location: The Water Library Chamchuri, Level 2 Chamchuri Square, Rama IX Road
Tel: +66(0) 2160 5188
A trip to the famous Thai Food Restaurant – Blue Elephant in Bangkok is about so much more than the food. It’s an immersive experience that allows you to time travel and enjoy the best of Thailand, from excellent service to the beautiful surroundings. Set up in 1980, with the impressive Chef Nooror at the helm, there are branches in London, Paris, Dubai and Malta, but none of them quite have the same aura as the antiquated yellow house on Sathorn Road.
Although the road and skytrain outside seems very busy, once you are inside Blue Elephant Restaurant Bangkok you forget about the din of the city. This beautiful property comprises three floors. On the ground floor is the main dining room, which is split into two and lined with polished wood. Slatted blinds cover the windows and display cabinets stuffed with Asian trinkets and the restaurant awards.
Head upstairs and there’s a series of private rooms of varying sizes, for entertaining anything from a crowd to a small dinner for four. There’s also the jazzy blue bar, which has hints of the 80s to it and mixes an excellent aperitif. Up another flight of stairs is the spacious cooking school, with classes running every day, twice a day, including a trip to the market in the morning.
The setting is stunning, with beautifully designed china and the crisp white table cloths with embroidered blue elephants on them. The service is a perfect blend of being unobtrusive yet catering to your every need. The menu is split into sections, Thai food from the past, present and future. We start with khang khao phuak (240 baht), a mixture of minced prawn and chicken seasoned with spices and wrapped in taro pastry, served with a sweet dipping sauce.
From the kitchen of tomorrow, which recommends original dishes created by Chef Nooror, we enjoy the eggplant salad (380 baht), which combines the vegetable with grilled scallops and a touch of truffle oil. The flavours are rich, but the dish remains light. We’re also big fans of the foie gras with sticky tamarind (720 baht), a favourite of the head chef. Blue Elephant has its own range of wines, and a bottle of the Cuvee Royale Thai, Blanc d’Alsace is fruity and balances the spice of the meal.
We stick to a variety of old and new for our mains too, with a lamb massaman curry (580 baht) and nam tok tuna (680 baht), which comes with two sauces: one creamy with a hint of tamarind, the other a fiery, zingy mix of herbs, mint, chilli and lime. The spice level is noted by number of elephants next to each dish, but the kitchen can be flexible, so be sure to ask when you order. Side dishes include the popular blue elephant phad Thai (380 baht) and fried rice with crab and vegetables (360 baht), as well as portions of sticky rice and brown jasmine rice (60 baht each).
Getting there is easy as the BTS station at Surasak is right in front of the restaurant. In fact, it really stands out with its European colonial façade, dwarfed by the skyscrapers that surround it. The restaurant is open for lunch from 11:30 until 14:30 and for dinner from 18:30 until 22:30. We recommend booking for dinner or large groups.
Opening Hours: 11:30 – 14:30 and 18:30 – 22:30
BTS: Surasak
Address: 233 South Sathorn Road, Bangkok, Thailand 10120
Tel: +66 2 673 9353
Website: https://www.facebook.com/BlueElephantBANGKOK
Nahm Restaurant is consistently ranked among the finest restaurants in the world, and with a Michelin star chef at the helm, Nahm serves Thai cuisine prepared according to ancient recipes with a focus on how the flavours and textures of premium quality ingredients interact together. Whether you are a longstanding visitor to Bangkok or it is your first time eating traditional Thai food, Nahm will both surprise and delight you with fantastic dishes.
Located on the ground floor of Metropolitan Hotel on Sathorn Road, the decor combines a tasteful mix of Thai styled brick columns with subtle gold and blue colour scheme and latticed wooden screens that help keep an intimate dining experience. There are private rooms at the back – the ‘go to’ seats for politicians and celebrities – and also additional seating outside, surrounded by the hotel swimming pool and a water feature – similar to a lily pond. Diners are free to choose a la carte or order the set menu. We recommend the set menu option to really experience the combination of spicy, sweet, bitter and sour – all the powerful and painstakingly balanced flavours synonymous with Thai cuisine.
To begin there is an amuse-bouche called ‘ma hor’. Specifically, it is a delightfully chewy concoction of mined shrimp, chicken and nuts reduced in palm sugar and spooned on top of a slice of pineapple. The richness of the topping and delicate use of chilli is offset by the sweet pineapple and proves the perfect introduction to our dining experience. This is followed by several canapés featuring an interesting betel leaf dish which guests must fold into a cone and fill with a mixture of spicy pork, herbs, and crunchy rice cracker, and – our personal favourite – skewered mussels coated in a southern-style spicy marinade. The grilled mussels are large, fresh and deliciously soft, while the flavour of the sauce has definite note of Indian tikka spice.
The next courses of the set are served alongside one another in traditional Thai style, consisting of a salad, soup, curry and deep fried dish. Fans of spicy and sour flavours simply have to try Chef Thompson’s tom yum soup. While retaining the unmistakable chilli and lime kick, the use of plump straw mushrooms, firm-to-the-bite herbs and succulent chicken make the soup an experience in itself and will be a benchmark to which future tom yums will be measured. There are a range of imaginative and curious salad options, with something for meat and fish eaters, a particular highlight being the lemongrass salad of prawns, squid and pork with toasted coconut. The young lemongrass sprigs are slightly crunchy, again with a delicate use of chilli and coconut milk, and is the most balanced and delicious we are yet to try.
It’s difficult to pick standout dishes from a menu this accomplished, but in terms of intrigue, the spicy stir-fried frog’s legs with basil and cumin leaves are something of an eye raiser and also very traditional, with succulent morsels of meat, and heavily flavoured. In fact, every option at Nahm packs an almost challenging amount of flavour and is best eaten along with rice. The set dinner takes over two and a half hours to finish, and rightfully so, as food at Nahm should be savoured and mused over to really appreciate the punchy yet measured flavours.
To end the meal in suitable style, desserts are also taken from antiquity, which means tropical fruit, beans, and vegetables, prepared around a staple of coconut milk. ‘Nam keng sai’ (shaved ice dessert) is a staple of Thai dining, with seasonal fruits and vegetables hidden beneath the coconut milk and mini-mountain of ice. Personally, we can’t resist the other classic of Thai dessert, mango and sticky rice, which is covered in thick coconut cream and garnished with sesame. Nahm is open for lunch from 12:00 – 14:00 (set menu 1,100 baht ++) and dinner from 19:00 to 22:30 (set menu 1700 baht ++). The menus are similar for both sittings, but the dinner menu is more extensive and offers more courses for the set menu.
The Metropolitan Hotel is located on Sathorn Road, next to several other high-end hotels such as The Banyan Tree and The Sukhothai. To reach Nahm, take a taxi to the hotel as the closest BTS station, Chong Nonsi, is a little too far to walk.
Opening Hours: Lunch – 12:00 – 14:00, Dinner 19:00 – 22:30
Address: Ground Floor, The Metropolitan Hotel, 27 South Sathorn Road, Bangkok
Tel: +66 (0) 2625 3333
Website: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Nahm-Restaurant-The-Metropolitan/256899850997503
The Issaya Siamese Club is a charming Thai restaurant so well hidden on a small street near Rama IV Road, even with a map it’s not easy to find. Standing proudly in the middle of a luscious green garden, this 100-years-old house with its wooden verandah and old fashioned staircase instantly sets a romantic mood, making it a perfect place for duo dining.
This is not another pretty tourist place: Thais, expats and the few travellers who make the effort to discover it are unanimous – the combined charm of a heritage house, exceptional service and the renowned culinary flair of Chef Ian Kittichai makes Issaya Siamese Club an outstanding restaurant.
Driving though narrow streets of Klong Toey doesn’t prepare you for the superb two storey house in a tropical garden peppered with many colorful bean bags where guests can causally enjoy a drink before dinner. Before settling down for dinner, wander around and discover the house. The ground floor is divided between the indoor dining room and, adjacent to it, a large and pleasant outdoor verandah which is usually reserved for smokers.
Don’t forget to walk upstairs to discover several small salons and private dining rooms dedicated to groups and parties. With lots of wood and velvet sofas, it does feel like a time jump taking you back a hundred years ago. The dining room is a daring mix of classic and modern furniture on terracotta tile floors with unusually colourful wallpapers. The whole room basks in a very soft light and the result works surprising well. The menu, both in Thai and English, is not illustrated but cleverly written, keeping the phonetic dish names instead of an elaborated but hard to visualize description. The wine list is substantial and several excellent wines are available by the glass.
The dishes are resolutely Thai, moderately spicy and always skilfully presented. To discover new tastes as well as how authentic the food is, a good way to sample the menu is to order a mix of chef recommendations in addition to anything out of the ordinary, plus some really local dishes. The chef recommendations are indicated with an icon and for the rest – just pick the most unusual names on the menu. The Yum Hua Plee – a banana flower salad (260 baht) is a delightfully crunchy dish, enhanced with sweet dipping sauce, and the Tdom Klong Seafood – a clear sour and spicy seafood soup (280 baht) – is carefully flavoured and seriously delicious.
The Double Boiled Beef Short Rib (1,350 baht) melts on the bone but is surprisingly crispy on the outside outside. Meat portions are generously served and sufficient for two. Another stand out dish is the Poo Nim Tod Kai Kem – soft shell crab with a salty egg sauce (480 baht) – which is a great variation of the classic crab dish.
All the dishes are excellent, but whatever you order, do not miss the sweets! Clever and subtle variations of traditional Thai desserts are presented with great taste. The most surprising touch is when a tiny candle is lit inside the box carrying your Coconut Panacotta and Kanom Dok Mali (220 baht) just to add faint candle scent most Thai people remember from their youth. To end the dinner on a perfect note, someone brings another wooden box to your table and serves few complimentary ‘little-nothings’, a set of delicate cookies and some surprising cotton candies wrapped on a tree branch.
Small touches make great impressions. In addition to such a magnificent dinner, a special mention should be made of the faultless service, staff are polite and diligent with excellent English and they are always attentive so no need to catch someone’s attention – you need something and someone just appears. So if you are looking for one of the most romantic dinners in Bangkok together with an excellent and uncompromising Thai cuisine, you shouldn’t miss this hidden treasure.
Opening Hours: Daily 11:30am-3pm, 6pm-midnight
Location: 4 Soi Sri Aksorn, Chuaphloeng Rd.
Tel: 02 672 9040-1 (reservations for dinner strongly recommended)