River Dining On The Chao PhrayaPrepared by Harold Stephens
Travel Correspondent for Thai Airways International
What is it about dining by an ocean side or along a river that adds romance to a meal? And how much better it is when the food is good.
Those who are looking for a romantic place to dine, who want good food and who are either visiting or living in Bangkok have it made. In Bangkok there are so many great places to dine along the river that making a choice is difficult. There’s cuisine along the river for everyone’s taste and pocket book, from top-notch five-star hotels to small non-descript riverside eateries. Indeed the Chao Phraya, the River of Kings, is one of the great rivers of the world, and what better way is there to enjoy it by having a pleasant meal along its banks. When darkness falls the river traffic doesn’t stop as one might think. Tour boats, river cruisers, boats for dinning, they all appear en masse adding to the excitement and color of the river.
Let’s look into some of the eateries, starting at the top. And where else would that be than the Normandy Grill at the top Mandarin Oriental Hotel. Some might dispute that the Normandy is not actually a riverside restaurant, and I may have to agree, but the view of the river there is like no other in the city. And for the record, many epicureans hold that the Normandy is the best French restaurant in Southeast Asia. When you dine there you have to agree. Look at this menu: For a starter, cappuccino soup floating with mushrooms; Golden sautéed frogs' legs, mild garlic confit and vegetables with sage. Main courses: Fillet of Black Angus beef, braised veal cheek, and medley of spring vegetables in Bordelaise sauce; whole Canadian lobster served with tender-braised fennel & roe pan-jus. Desserts are from the trolley with dishes like chocolate souffle cake and the cherry-torte.
The Oriental, however, does have a restaurant on the river, the Sala Rim Rim Nann. When I have friends visiting and want to impress them, I take them to the Sala Rim. The restaurant is actually across the river from the hotel on the Thonburi side, but the excitement begins the very moment guests step aboard the hotel teak ferry-boat with the river alive with a billion lights from the city and boats navigating the river.
The restaurant is traditional Thai with entertainment by dances from old Siam court, and episodes of masked Ramakian.
Not to forget, the Oriental also has the Riverside Terrace and the Verandah. The barbeque dinner buffet served at the Riverside Terrace has one of the best selections of grilled seafood and meat dishes imaginable, including everything from kebabs to Chinese noodles. The Verandah offers all-day dining featuring a wide variety of Asian and Western dishes. When I am in town I enjoy having morning coffee on The Verandah, perhaps because I am reminded of Joseph Conrad who wrote about seeing hotel guests at the very same spot in his novel The Shadow-Line. He was aboard Ortega, his first command, and departing from Bangkok. I have to admit, I wrote parts of my latest book For the Love of Siam sitting on terrace at The Verandah. The setting is an inspiration.
A hotel restaurant I like is the Salathip at the Shangri-la down river a short distance from the Oriental. If you take a table along the walkway it is about as close to the river as you get without falling in. Or, if you like comfort, you can dine behind floor-to-ceiling glass windows and still have a view of the river. Salathip has a wide selection of superb Royal Thai dishes and desserts elegantly served by Thais in beautiful tradition dress.
Aside from the hotels, if you are looking for class and fine dining there’s the gracious Supatra River House. Situated right on the river on the Thonburi side it has views of the Grand Palace and Wat Arun. Diners can opt to eat al fresco or in air-conditioned comfort in a traditional Thai house. This is indeed a most interesting restaurant aside from having great food. This two-storey traditional Thai house is a piece of Thai history. It was formerly the home of Khunying Supatra Singholaga, who was a leading advocate of women's right in Thai society. In her memory, and to open up this beautiful property and its river frontage to the public, her daughter Supapan has converted the house into this first-class restaurant that it is. In the evening you can watch the sun setting and the lights coming on across the water in the Grand Palace.
But what about the food? The a la carte menu offers a fine selection with dishes priced at around 120-750 baht. During the daytime there is a seafood set menu at 800 baht including tea or coffee and seasonal fruits. For dinner, Khun Supapan recommends the set menus which offer dishes such as shrimp or crab salads, the famous Tom Yum Goong, a seafood basket, pineapple fried rice, and tea or coffee with seasonal fruits. The evening set menus range in price from 800-1,250 baht.
But there is more than good food and ambience at Supatra River House. There is live theatre held only on Friday and Saturday nights with refreshing and creative interpretations by true performers. You are not locked into dining and can order a drink and enjoy the show.
Farther down river at 288 Rama 111 in Klong Toey is a very famous restaurant, noted for its seafood, the Baan Klang Nam. It is a large clapboard house with atmosphere and with a wooden pier extending out over the river. The food is authentic and the restaurant is favoured by many foreigners. What helps is that the menu includes pictorial representations of the dishes.
The house specialty, crispy noodles, should not be missed. Nor would a visit be complete without sampling their fried crab with black pepper. For fish, try steamed goby with soy sauce which, for certain, will be perfectly fresh. Meat lovers will also enjoy fried ostrich with black pepper and baked goose legs with noodles. And for the adventurous, the menu also extends to exotic sounding snakehead fish, duck’s tongue soup and gooseweb.
Another recommendation is the Khinlom Chom Sa Phan riverside restaurant located near Banglampoo intersection. It’s open air with three pavilions set amidst lotus ponds. There’s a dock so that guests can go look at the river up close and tables where they can sit and dine right on the river.
A restaurant that one can hardly miss when traveling on the river is the Yok Yor restaurant. It boasts as having the perfect dining place overlooking the Chao Phraya River whether sitting in the open air terrace along the river side or air-conditioned room with live music in the evenings. The cuisine is Thai, Chinese and International. Not to be missed are the shrimp salad, sour soup with coconut milk, and Fried Chicken Wings in Red Wine.
These mentioned are some of the better-known restaurants but also scattered along the river from North of Bangkok down to Samut Prakarn (Pak Nam area) there are scores of other smaller restaurants.
As a closing note, aside from dining by the river there are the Chao Phraya river cruises. The boats for the most part are converted rice barges, all beautifully restored. Just to mention a few, the Shangri-la has Horizon and the Marriott Resort and Spa has Manohra Song for overnight cruises and, for dining and cocktail cruising, Manohra Moon. Others are Chao Phraya Princess, River King Cruise & Jak Kaew Boat, Grand Pearl, River Side and a few others that appear one day and vanish the next.
But regardless of where you dine, you can be certain the seafood will be tops.
Next week we will continue with Legends of Indo-China and visit the famous Raffles Hotel in Singapore. QUESTIONS & ANSWERSQ. Dear Mr. Stephens, My wife and I plan to visit Thailand and in reading up on Thai culture and history we learned that the Thais use a different calendar than used in the west. Will this be a problem for us? Henry Sims, North Carolina
A. Dear Henry, It’s true, the Thais do use a different calendar but don’t let that worry you. The western calendar is also used. However, for your information here is the Thai calendar:
The official Thai calendar is calculated from the beginning of the Buddhist Era in 543 BC. The year 2000 AD is therefore 2543 BE. The year is subdivided into 12 months, the same as the Roman calendar. This year it is 2551.
Harold Stephens
Bangkok
E-mail: ROH Weekly Travel (booking@inet.co.th)
Note: The article is the personal view of the writer and does not necessarily reflect the view of Thai Airways International Public Company Limited. | 
