For A Culture So Obsessed With Food

[Chunky1]

there aren't many/any famous restaurants in Thailand? There is Cabbages and Condoms but I don't think that they are famous for their food. I can't even think of any restaurants that have a sign up "Since 1950/whatever" but maybe that sign is in Thai language?

[onnut]

There are a few, Cabbages and Condoms, as you said already, Blue Elephant, Naj on Convent.

one thing, all of these restaurants would be 5-10 times the price of Thai food sold on the streets and in little Thai Restaruants.

to eat good Thai food and to experiance a Tha restaurant you only need a couple of hundred baht so why go to these expensive places where all you get extra is better service and A/C?

[tigerfish]

mango tree is quiet a well known establishment in bangkok. it also has restaurants in belgravia london and i do believe also one in dubai.

patara is also another with branches worldwide, as is the blue elephant previously mentioned by onnnut

Edited September 19, 2010 by tigerfish

[Rumblecat]

The Royal Dragon. For a long time it was officially the biggest restaurant in the world.

We have unique style of serving that you have never experienced before, such as serving by walking on water, flying on the sky, and skating for speedy service and save time.

Think I'll to pop in there tonight and take a look. It's the idea of flying waiters that does it for me.

[gotlost]

What do you mean.? http://www.mcthai.co.th/ Billion and Billions served.

[Jingthing]

I get the OP's point. For Thai chefs, there doesn't seem to be the kind of "celebrity chef" culture there is in the west. I think there are many well known restaurants, many of them small places known for decades by locals.

[Chunky1]

Blue Elephant? Isn't that a chain restaurant? Put it this way, if it's sandwiched between a Sizzler and a McDonalds I am not holding my breath.

[powderpuff]

Across the street from Royal Dragon was a place that shot roast chickens out of an air canon. Might still be there. KM1.

[Moonrakers]

Across the street from Royal Dragon was a place that shot roast chickens out of an air canon. Might still be there. KM1.

Were they roasted before they entered the canon?

[Jingthing]

The late not so great PM Samak Sundaravej was an expert on "famous" Bangkok food stalls.

[longstebe]

Give me a food cart at the side of the road anyday. Mmmmmmm carbon monoxide.

[MiG16]

'Chitr Potchana' used to be a famous restaurant in Bangkok - one of those places where one must dine at least once.

there are other similar places for different types of cuisine, or what the place is famous for.

eg. the Scala restaurant (which is still in existence) - for its peking duck

or the Ambassador hotel for its late night congee

or 'Sorn Daeng' for another famous Thai food place - practically everyone older than XX would know of the place --- without revealing my age too much, and I have said I am NOT 16

or Narai hotel for its pizza (remember this was before the days of all the fast food chain, or foreign cuisine opening up restaurants all over Bangkok)

and etc etc

but in the past 15- 20 years or so...with so many new restaurants popping up all the time, and the trend moving so quickly, the old days of having one or 2 'the' restaurants to eat at seems to have changed.

[Jingthing]

Old famous restaurants tend to get stale. Change isn't bad.

[Rumblecat]

Across the street from Royal Dragon was a place that shot roast chickens out of an air canon. Might still be there. KM1.

Yeah, it's still there- The Flying Chicken. Here's a photo I took there a few months back at a wedding reception there- this man is waiting patiently for the chicken to be shot out so he can catch it on his spiked helmet. The chicken tasted pretty good as well. Not sure if seeing men on unicycles catching chicken on their heads is the most romantic venue for a wedding reception though...

[Chonburiram]

Across the street from Royal Dragon was a place that shot roast chickens out of an air canon. Might still be there. KM1.

Yeah, it's still there- The Flying Chicken. Here's a photo I took there a few months back at a wedding reception there- this man is waiting patiently for the chicken to be shot out so he can catch it on his spiked helmet. The chicken tasted pretty good as well. Not sure if seeing men on unicycles catching chicken on their heads is the most romantic venue for a wedding reception though...

That could've also be posted on the "Strangest thing" thread.

[prometheus]

"there aren't many/any famous restaurants in Thailand? There is Cabbages and Condoms but I don't think that they are famous for their food. I can't even think of any restaurants that have a sign up "Since 1950/whatever" but maybe that sign is in Thai language? "

There are, go and read some guide books or ask thai people

[Chunky1]

ty for the help prom. couldn't have done it without you!

[roamer]

ty for the help prom. couldn't have done it without you!

Hey, he's improving, best post yet.

[PhilHarries]

I get the OP's point. For Thai chefs, there doesn't seem to be the kind of "celebrity chef" culture there is in the west. I think there are many well known restaurants, many of them small places known for decades by locals.

JT you are correct but why should chefs be "celebrities"? They are an artisan doing their job. I am an engineer, whay am I not a celebrity (answers on a postcard)?

Why is it today that everyone is fixated with this celebrity status, What about the poor souls that sweep the streets? Are they somewhat lacking?

[chickenslegs]

In some parts of the world great cooks and great restaurants are so rare they are celebrated.

In Thailand (and other countries) great cooks and great restaurants are commonplace - no need for celebration.

JMHO

[IanForbes]

Just how many different ways can you cook Kow Padt, Pad Thai, Kai te ow, Kai hut Sai or fried chicken? Of course I do know at least 5 diifferent recipes for curry. Over cooked tiapia in the skin isn't all that difficult to prepare. Fried water beetles are a tastey treat... if you like that sort of thing. So tell me what I'm missing when dining in an over priced restaurant.

[travelmann]

I get the OP's point. For Thai chefs, there doesn't seem to be the kind of "celebrity chef" culture there is in the west. I think there are many well known restaurants, many of them small places known for decades by locals.

JT you are correct but why should chefs be "celebrities"? They are an artisan doing their job. I am an engineer, whay am I not a celebrity (answers on a postcard)?

Why is it today that everyone is fixated with this celebrity status, What about the poor souls that sweep the streets? Are they somewhat lacking?

Because people are twa*s in a superficial world. Someone who cleans the streets and does it well should be as good as a brain surgeon, people who take pride in their job etc sadly the world has become one big "X factor".

[bonobo]

I get the OP's point. For Thai chefs, there doesn't seem to be the kind of "celebrity chef" culture there is in the west. I think there are many well known restaurants, many of them small places known for decades by locals.

JT you are correct but why should chefs be "celebrities"? They are an artisan doing their job. I am an engineer, whay am I not a celebrity (answers on a postcard)?

Why is it today that everyone is fixated with this celebrity status, What about the poor souls that sweep the streets? Are they somewhat lacking?

Because people are twa*s in a superficial world. Someone who cleans the streets and does it well should be as good as a brain surgeon, people who take pride in their job etc sadly the world has become one big "X factor".

Isn't that a just a little pie-in-the-sky?  The fact of the matter is that not everyone can be a brain surgeon, but a fairly high percentage of people can sweep streets.  This says nothing on if a particular person is a "good" or "bad" person, however you define that, but it does say that brain surgeons are a little harder to train.

And while I am sure that amongst engineers, men or women who can build or run something amazing are well-known in engineering circles, for the general public, people do not flock to a bridge because a certain engineer did the structural test on it, or tour a water treatment plant because a specific engineer runs the operations there.  However, they do go to restaurants because of a specific chef.

Those are the simple facts of life.  Even in high level sports, the fact is that an Olympic gold medal winning Greco-Roman wrestler is never going to achieve the same level of fame and fortune as a professional football player.

As far as celebrity chefs in Thailand, I don't know any myself.  But I did notice that when Iron Chef chose a Thai competitor, she was not a restaurateur or restaurant chef, but a chef for the royal household. 

[ballpoint]

Yeah, what this country needs is some foul mouthed kitchen Kaiser plastering his face all over our television screens. Gordchai Ramsayattha anyone? Can anyone name a truly world famous restaurant in any neighbouring country? Singapore? China? India? Famous for its food, that is, not for some novelty like the chef stirring the soup with his grandmother's jaw bone, or the food is dropped onto your plate from a helicopter hovering 10,000 feet above you while a rollerskating midget with a shaved head, a glass eye and a crystal ball fires plucked geese at it from a Napoleonic War cannon.

Mind you, didn't Keith Floyd have a place in Phuket? Or don't farangs count?

[TheWalkingMan]

I would like to believe that there are tons of both well-known and little-known excellent restaurants in Thailand and the problem is that we never hear about them. Maybe they only get write-ups in the Thai language press(?) Or maybe it is a lack of marketing which is holding them back from being considered famous.

I noticed that Le Cordon Bleu Bangkok (one of the sponsors here) is now offering a Thai culinary course, so who knows... Perhaps in the future we will find their graduates dazzling our pallets with wonderful creations using locally sourced materials.

TheWalkingMan

[Jimi007]

I haven't been in BKK for over a year, but there is still,I'm sure an old wood place, that has the has duck hanging in the window, somewhere around Soi 15 Sukumvit, on the left as you walk towards where Robinsons. It says established in 1969. And there's an old Chinese Thai place across the other side and further up in Soi numbers, that has live fish tanks out in front that has been there very long time. I eat at both anytime I'm up there to go to my Embassy...

[Mossfinn]

Someone who cleans the streets and does it well should be as good as a brain surgeon, people who take pride in their job etc sadly the world has become one big "X factor".

I do not deny this is a superficial world and I do agree, if I can use a different analogy, that a Skoda and a Rolls Royce are both, as long as they fulfil their own quality regimes, a quality car. However if you have a brain injury would you use a brain surgeon or a street cleaner? If you wanted your street cleaned, would you use a street cleaner or a brain surgeon?

If it comes to the right choice, for whichever dilemma, I hope you make the right decision.

[Lammbock]

Hey Guys...!!!! You forgot the 2 most famous restaurants in Bkk of all time.

1. Nana Hotel with the Nana Coffee Shop and Restaurant

...and...

2. The Hidelberg down Soi 4

Both since the 60's, i guess??? But not sure.

[roamer]

I haven't been in BKK for over a year, but there is still,I'm sure an old wood place, that has the has duck hanging in the window, somewhere around Soi 15 Sukumvit, on the left as you walk towards where Robinsons. It says established in 1969. And there's an old Chinese Thai place across the other side and further up in Soi numbers, that has live fish tanks out in front that has been there very long time. I eat at both anytime I'm up there to go to my Embassy...

......with all those wonderful old business cards pinned up on the walls and grandma thumping the mortar and pestle in the window, brilliant roast duck. Have not been back that way on the ground for a while, someone tell me it has survived the developers ?

Mrs Balbir's has been on Soi 11 for over 35 years and just recently moved to bigger premises a few doors away, still my favourite Indian food in Bangkok.

[bkkjames]

Yea jimi they are both still there but I would avoid the one on the other side of robinsons unless you like your msg flavored with food.