Having already been to their Sukhumvit Soi 23 restaurant, this one is closer to where I live. Therefore no having to traipse or drive around Bangkok for ages. I decided to take my mother here for Sunday lunch.
We were the first ones in today. Despite our mantra of 'an empty restaurant is never a good sign', we decided to just go with it.
The restaurant is large and spacious and can easily accommodate big parties and lots of diners. It is decorated in the traditional Thai house style.
We got the signature complimentary 'meang kum' as an appetite tickler. It certainly did the trick and made us even more hungry than we had been when we arrived.
Since our order of grilled fish would take about half an hour, we decided to order a starter to keep us from wilting.
Our appetizer: 'Krathong Tong' (160 baht), which is basically minced shrimp, crabmeat and corn in a crispy pastry shell arrived in good time.
They looked fairly pretty, but unfortunately were rather sweet. Whilst corn has a natural sweetness to it, I think these had been bumped up with extra sweetness. A shame, because they would have been good otherwise.
We duly waited for the rest of the dishes to come out, and the first dish to be served was the stir fried bok choy with garlic (160 baht).
Thankfully, it wasn't greasy, but in my personal opinion, I thought it could have done with a tad more garlic to really impart their flavour onto the bok choy.
The grilled cotton fish in Thai herbs wrapped in banana leaf (520 baht) was the next to come out. The fish was moist and tasty. My mother thought it could have done with a little more spice. It had already been de-boned and beheaded, so those a little squeamish about being served a whole fish with head still on need not worry here.
The final dish to arrive was the 'Gai Phad Khing On', chicken with sliced young ginger (190 baht). Again, not greasy, but not enough ginger. I only got little morsels of ginger here and there, which for me, just wasn't enough to really love this dish. Personally, I love this when it is loaded with lots of sliced ginger, in fact, an insurmountable amount, the better.
I have to agree with my mother, the food is catered more to the foreigner. The dishes just didn't reach the point of spicyness that Thai food (catered to Thais) should be and the tastes of the dishes were more subtle in flavour.
It makes sense that many foreigners love Baan Kanitha and the fact that the other tables occupied today were indeed occupied by foreigners.
Service is polite and friendly. There is also a bakery and cafe to the side of the restaurant.
Baan Kanitha & Gallery
69 South Sathorn Road, Thungmahamek, South Sathorn, Bangkok 10120
Tel: +66 (0)2 675 4200-1
Nearest Station: Lumpini MRT, take exit to Sathorn Road. Get a taxi or motorsai or walk about 8 minutes. Baan Kanitha will be on your left hand side.
HOURS
Daily 11am-11pm
