zehner

a refresh of the TC review:

The restaurant bills itself as "international" because James, the friendly owner-manager, wasn't sure what else to call a menu that has Thai, Italian and North African. James cheerfully admits he has no kitchen training (though he loves to watch the Food Channel when he's in California), preferring the management/business side of food service. All the cooking is done by his Thai staff. Given the awkward location and his lack of restaurant experience, I wondered why he would choose to open a business so far from home. Answer: he loves Bkk.

SD and I dropped in specifically for the Moroccan dishes promised in his advertising. We started with the hummus and "eggplant caviar", or metebel. The former was fairly good while the latter was dry and totally uninteresting. The little rounds of pita bread were, however, very good...far better indeed than most pita I've had in Bkk. I moved on to a tabouleh salad with salmon that bore no resemblance to tabouleh I've ever had: no bulgar wheat, little parsley, some chopped cucumbers, a bit of very dry couscous, and chunks of smoked salmon. Bland in taste and texture. This is one innovation that definitely didn't work. SD tried the Italian seafood soup: a thick marinara sauce poured over steamed shellfish. Consistancy-wise neither a soup nor a stew, it was edible, but not very appealing.

The last dish, purportedly Moroccan, we shared. It was a chicken leg stewed in a yellow sauce with 3 olives and a quarter lemon. In my year of living in North Africa I had never come across a dish as flavorless as this. It turns out that James included these "Moroccan" items because they had been on the menu of the restaurant's previous owner and the Thai chef knew how to prepare them. He did, however, note that he had once driven past a famous Moroccan restaurant north of LA. I wish he had told us all this before we ordered.

By this time, I was on my 3rd (rather generous) glass of the house Italian merlot that was very smooth (B170). SD decided to try the mud pie for dessert. At last we had on the table something that at least one of us enjoyed: chocolate ice cream on an oreo crust, covered in a chocolate sauce with a side of whipped cream. SD thought it was magnificent.

Unfortunately, James has given up his day job to become a restauranteur. I wish him well, but fear the client base he hopes to impress will not beat a path to his door.

Checkbin: B1800 (with 3 glasses of wine).



dunno about you CM but tc's review seems rather tame to me. i think you have a dose of drama-queenitis unfortunately...

this is a discussion forum where people are free to give opinions or reviews on virtually any topic they wish. last i looked there was no professional criteria for said reviews or opinion-making. you may not agree with tc's review but pursuing him under the pretension of his "credentials" to review is quite lame imho

and finally as for proper flaming reviews....

i think this one is far more fitting the criteria

The duke is a crap pub run by 2 guys who dont take care of their regulars. They dont even talk to them. One of the owners just sits at his laptop all the time and the other spends most of his time walking in and out of the front door cos he has nothing else to do. The beer is cheep because they are trying to compete with the 2 irish pubs in that area. There is no atmosphere in there and its like sitting in a barn. They have hired a new Thai 'manageress' (a butch looking lesbian type who i believe got fired from Oreillys) The service is poor and just lately they have cut back on staff drastically because the are apparently losing money hand over fist. The place is full of farangs looking for the cheapest pint and Thais trying to be hi so without having to pay the sort of prices you would normally pay in an English pub here. The manager/owner? that used to be the manager at the Robin Hood hasnt got a clue what he's doing and has the personality of a deaf mute! A classic case of opening a bar and thinking by offering cheap grog that it will be a success. They should head to the xchange/oreillys or any other pub on their night off and maybe pick up a few tips on how to run a pub!! I predict it wont be in business for much longer. Mind you if you like cricket then head down there. Its all their t.v's seem to play.

http://www.ajarnforum.net/vb/669709-post29.html (Duke of Wellington, Silom)

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