Issaya Bangkok is #39 on Asia’s World 50 best restaurant list and we managed to get a reservation for some Thai food indulgence. We are looking forward to eating at Gaggan and Nham on this next trip to Thailand.
Well for Issaya Bangkok, had I known there was the same outfit in Hong Kong – which some friends say serve better food, I would have opted for something else.
The restaurant is gorgeous. An old colonial bungalow and the food good, but nothing that impressed enough that was memorable. Except Kitty our server who was a riot!
Our favourite of the night has to be the massama curry lamb shank.
There was the fanfare of show and tell – food served in flower pots – a movement nearly a decade old. Our pomelo salad arrived in a flower pot, and we finished dessert with the overdone replication of Alinea’s creative explosive dessert where the table serves as a canvas. *yawn I’m afraid it’s so overdone and primarily, I have never had a good tasting dessert done that way.
salad in a pineapple.
deep fried fish
a beef curry that was also very flavourful with rich complexities of spices.
bowl of mixed grain rice to go with it all.
Would I recommend going all the way to Bangkok to dine at Issaya? No, I think you have plenty more options to spend your calories especially if you have limited time. I can see how it makes a great date night place, but if food is the top of your priority list, then I’d just say I’d have chosen filling up on delicious street food instead.
That’s just my humble personal opinion and preference, I am certainly not qualified to judge Thai food which is so rich, complex and wonderful. Our meal for 4 persons came up to about 8800baht including a reasonable bottle of Burgundy red.
Here’s dessert done on banana leaves à la Alinea.
Issaya Bangkok
Chuea Phloeng Rd, Thung Maha Mek, Sathon, Bangkok 10120, Thailand
Tel: +66 2 672 9040
