Bangkok Restaurant - Anniversary Dinner
 

Help! I am trying to choose a restaurant for dinner to celebrate a wedding anniversary for our last night in BKK in April.
I am looking for somewhere a bit special, good food, ambience, not too formal etc. probably Thai or Japanese. So far my short list includes:

Vertigo
Supatra River House
Harmonique
Baan Kanitha
Mahanaga
TsuNami (JW Marriott)
Wyndham Thai

Any comments on the above or other suggestions would be much appreciated!

not harmonique, although i love their food---no ambiance, just good reasonable food...

we enjoyed our lunch at supatra....it is quite nice there....this is a possibility...

have not been to the new baan khanitha on sathorn, so can not speak to that but the one on soi 23 is quite nice....
food is good and the house is attractive....

vertigo is nice because of its location...i have only had lunch there for dim sum...maybe a good choice...

how about biscotti in the four seasons hotel....our favorite in bkk....italian however.....or angenelli in the shangri-la, also italian...

how about jestors in the peninsula?? it is really nice....good thai fusion food, lovely ambiance, on the river with a huge window overlooking the river....quite festive and of course expensive.....this would be my choice...unique table settings...great food....


jw marriott thai is really good too....nice room, good food, but not really anything special for an anniversary...

mahanaga....on kathie's praises we went in november....we were totally disappointed....terrible service...food was ok....ambiance is nice....kathie later went and was disappointed as well i believe....we would not return there...not cheap either...

what is the wyndham thai???

have fun and enjoy your meal

Thiptara at the Peninsula might also be nice for an anniversary dinner. The ambience is lovely -- traditional Thai open-air salas right along the river (you could request a table in your own sala or an uncovered table right along the river itself). The food is very good (a bit pricey for Thai, but the ambience is special). It is not formal (you can choose to dress up or not), but it is a romantic atmosphere. There is a photo on the Peninsula website at: http://bangkok.peninsula.com/pbk/dining_07.html.

Have a lovely anniversary!

Hi

I would also love to get some tips on this. My wife and I are going to Thailand in May and it is just after she turns 30 so I would like to find a nice Thai restaurant where we can enjoy a great dinner.

Regards
Gard
http://gardkarlsen.com - trip reports and pictures

I"d say vertigo has the best view and atmosphere of the lot, but not the best food. Vertigo is also far too formal for you liking maybe. Mahanaga may fit the bill too. Good food, ambience, not too formal and thai food.

Has anyone visited the restaurant Khinlom Chom Saphan? It is on the river and it looks great from its website, khinlomchomsaphan.com. I could only find the short blurb below describing it:
********

Khinlom Chom Saphan (££) - which means 'cool breeze by the bridge', in this case the Rama VIII suspension bridge just north of Banglamphu. The cuisine is upmarket Thai – try the hand-rolled leaves containing baby shrimps, peanuts, lime and coconut cubes – and it's very popular with locals, including royalty. But the atmosphere is totally unpretentious – buzzing tables on a wooden deck over the river, with frantic waitresses, sport on TV, and occasional live music. No tourists (yet).
******

Thipatra at the Peninsula looks great, but the menu, unfortunately, has no prices, a pet peeve of mine. Frankly, my view is that if you are going to post your menu, and some pictures, then post your prices too. That is always a bad sign for me, as in "we are afraid we'll scare off customers if we post our pirces." The Peninsula site also says its the "new" Thipatra. Is it new?
Thanks

We loved Thiptara. Not sure if it was new or not when we went in December, but it would be perfect for an anniversary.

We had our own candle-lit sala on the river. The setting, with bamboo torches, traditional music and canals is incredibly romantic and exotic, reminded me of Bali (or the tribal council area of Survivor). Our bill came to around $60 two adults and two teens.

Friends had recommended the multi-course taster's menu. We were too jet lagged for that much food, but it looked amazing, with samples of northern and southern Thai cuisine, and would be perfect for your anniversary. I believe it was around $80 for two, but not certain.

My husband's recollection is that the Thai set menu is 4400b per couple.

For those interested, I found this short video on thiptara, and the chef preparing what looks like one great fish dish. Looks terrific:

www.usefulandagreeable.com/cities.php?id=39

We had a wonderful dinner at Mahanaga in November, 2005. When we returned in Nov 2006, we were not impressed with the food. The atmosphere is lovely, but I would carefully examine the seasonal menu before going again. So it's not a place I'd recommend to you for a special dinner.

What about Face? I love Face, it has excellent Thai food and the ambiance is lovely, all candle-lit at night. The Thai restauranr there is LaNa Thai, and they have an Indian restuarant as well, called Hazara. I thought the Indian food was very good, but that teh Thai food was better.

I udes to recommend China House for their Peking Duck, but alas! the remodel is awful.

Thiptara sounds like a possibility. When there first opened several years ago, the reviews were really awful. But it sounds like they have gotten better.

Correction to my previous post: My husband said the taster's menu at Thiptara was 4000B for FOUR people. But I think it might have been less.

Kathie,
They must have gotten over their growing pains. The food was really excellent - fresh ingredients, creative, not westernized.

Agree with Bob mahangna was a bit of a disappointment
Thiptara is nice and not too expensive but Supatra at night is simply lovely and if you plan in advance the hotel can order their boat to pick you up so you arrive (and can leave) by the fab river.

face is a good suggestions....very casual and lovel ambience....soi 38, sukhumvit...

I am not sure your budget, but you might want to start at State Tower. It is so much prettier than Vertigo. You can eat dinner there but the Japanese/Thai rest. is a bit expensive. You can have a couple of drinks then go to Supatra River house or the Penisula Hotel. Jesters is yummy. I would skip the JW even though I eat there almost every week. It is not real romantic.

"You can eat dinner there but the Japanese/Thai rest. is a bit expensive"

Can you define expensive?

Regards
Gard
http://gardkarlsen.com - trip reports and pictures

Would not recommend Thiptara but Rang Mahal at the Rembrandt (26th floor) is in the league. Additional comments on the Craig and Jeane from Bangkok 2007 thread.

The prices that people have mentioned for Thiptara sound about right. The food itself is not all that expensive, but there are not many reasonably priced wines on their list. If you decide to go, it might be worth checking to see if they have a corkage fee that would allow you to bring your own special bottle for your anniversary (we found several good wine shops in Bangkok with good prices on European, Australian and South African wines).

Wow! thanks so much for all the great ideas.

I wpould agree with various posters that teh 2 Penn reataurants, Thitipatra and jesters are amongst teh best in BKK. However we have eaten at both when staying at the Penn so have discounted these.

Sad to learn that the Mahanaga seems to have gone a bit downhill. We had dinner there on Xmas day 2003 and had fantasitic food in one of the best setting in BKK (the great jazz was a bonus!).
In the end I have decided upon Supatra River House and to heed the advice of Smeagol (arrange collection by boat) and Wmccawley (pre dinner drinks at the State Tower).

On checking out some of the other suggestions we might well pay a visit either to Face Bar or Khinlom Chom Saphan.

I will report back upon my return.

Finally, in response to the question from rhkkmk, Wyndham Thai is situated at Sukumvit Soi 16 and got some good reviews on the Thai Tatler website. Apparently they have had a successful operation in Hong Kong for some years and have recently opened in BKK - it looks like an interesting place.

Thanks once agin for all your inputs

thanks for the info...

YOU HAVE MADE AN EXCELLENT CHOICE...

their boat is quite nice....

Make sure your hotel prebooks the pick up and drop off. It really is a lovely resturant with nice evening views of The Grand Palace Oh and the Maitre D REALLY reminded us of Fronk off the film Father of the bride.....
And of course the food is lovely