Menu in Bangkok

This was a meal that will last long in the memory. But the exact details might not stick around much longer in the old leaky cranium, which is why blogging was invented, I guess!

Date: 23rd February (Friday)
Time: Approx 8.30 pm (after around 7 hours of temple trawling in the Old City sector of Bangkok)
Dinner venue: Orangery @ Siam Paragon

Food items ordered (to feed two people who had skipped lunch):

Deep Fried Spring Rolls (with chicken) - Thai style
Chicken and Coconut Milk Soup served in Young Coconut Shell - Thai
Deep Fried Puffs with 3 types of Cheeses - Lebanese / Greek
Vegetable Moussaka - Lebanese / Greek
Beef Lasagna - Italian

Drinks ordered (to hydrate two VERY thirsty people):
2 lemongrass juices
1 bale fruit drink
1 aloe vera drink

The Orangery is actually a cluster of six restaurants under one umbrella. Six types of cuisine are represented - Thai, French, Chinese, Lebanese/Greek, Italian, Japanese. The Thai kitchen is a branch of the very venerable Blue Elephant group of restaurants and cooking school.

The total damage to the credit card was around SGD55. For the amount of food ordered, this was very reasonable. This is, after all, a restaurant in one of Bangkok's swankiest addresses (home to luxury brands like Hermes and Gucci).

In fact, the waiters kindly moved us to a bigger table after they took our orders. (Exactly one week later, back in Singapore, we had dinner at Sakura Restaurant (famed for Chinese Malay Thai food) and ordered enough to justify being moved to a larger table. Ahhh, the pleasures of gluttony.)

All said, this was more than just reasonable. It was astounding value for money because the food was fantastic. Everything we ordered was memorably good, whether it was Thai, Lebanese or Italian. The coconut milk soup was a marvelous change to the usual tom yam soup served in Thai restaurants - spicy, rich and refreshing all at the same time. A big culinary bravo.

It was my second visit to the Orangery, having been there for an official work dinner the previous night. On that occasion, I sampled a little of many different things and everything was excellent. Particular standouts were the Thai style satay, the green curry and the very excellent roast chicken with kous kous.

I am definitely going to eat here again the next time I am in Bangkok. Very highly recommended.