Guest fountainhall Posted March 10, 2013 Posted March 10, 2013 If you had been browsing through The Nation in October last year, you might have come upon a review praising the delights of a centrally located restaurant. Part of it reads: “There's always a special pleasure in finding a new jewel among Bangkok's dining establishments, and no more so when the little gem is hidden away in a narrow, nondescript alley off busy Saladaeng Road . . . The result is what one can describe as a marriage between Thai tastiness and meticulous French presentations: every ingredient on the plate is there for a reason.” The restaurant is La Table de Tee. No, that's not a misspelling of the French word for tea, nor is it a tea house. Khun Tee is the highly talented 27-year old chef who learned his craft at the one-star Michelin restaurant Roussillon in London's fashionable Sloane Square district. It was there he met up with his friend Khun An. Three years ago they decided to open up their tiny restaurant off Saladaeng. I had heard about this restaurant and just assumed it was a cafe - until last night. I met up with three friends for dinner, two of whom had flown in from Hong Kong. One had tried to book this restaurant but, as we discovered, it is booked solid every week-end. However, Khun An, the waiter, took our friend’s number and said if there were any cancellations, he’d get in touch. At 6:00 pm, he called to say he was really sorry but there had been no cancellations. As we were having drinks deciding where we would eat, around 7:15 he called again to inform us they did have a last-minute cancellation and could offer us a table after all. Excellent service before we even got there! The restaurant is situated in Saladaeng Soi 3. Coming from Silom, you reach this on the left just before you get to the longer Soi 1. It is only around 40 meters and the restaurant is half way in. Tiny is the right description. The maximum it can seat is 20 and it is only open for dinner from Tuesday to Sunday. There are just Khun An and Khun Tee (although I suspect there was an assistant upstairs in the kitchen). I was amazed on entering to realise I knew Khun An from way back at least 18 years ago. He recognised me immediately which started the evening with a lovely reunion. I could not believe I had never before been to this restaurant. It has a fixed price menu – 5-courses at Bt. 950 + 10%. We had a perfectly good bottle of Chilean Sauvignon Blanc for Bt. 1,000 and I also had a huge glass of Shiraz at Bt. 200. The menu changes at least once a week and so you are unlikely to find the same dishes as we enjoyed. We started with a soup, followed by a mixed seafood salad. There was then a choice of sea bass or risotto, a choice or duck or the tenderest melt-in-the-mouth beef I have tasted in years, with a strawberry concoction or chocolate mousse with ice cream and other taste sensations to finish. Whilst all that sounds desperately simple, the dishes looked magnificent and were far more complex than I’ve described (a friend took photos and I will post these once I receive copies). Compared to Indigo, this is fine dining of a higher quality in a totally informal ambience. If we had one tiny concern it was that there could have been more of the Thai flavours. But overall we loved the meal, thought it excellent value at Bt. 5,700 total for four and will definitely return. I have never been crazy about French nouvelle cuisine, but the mixture of ingredients made this menu fascinating. All four of us have worked in Tokyo. We felt this was very much the type of tiny restaurant you used to find on the ground floors of small apartment blocks in out-of-the-way neighbourhoods. These would usually seat no more than 16 people and be run by two young Japanese with a passion for the cuisine they offered. So it was a special delight to discover a similar sort of restaurant in La Table de Tee in Bangkok. The restaurant has been open for 3 years. It gets a 4.5 rating on tripadviser. Do check the website for some menu descriptions. http://www.latabledetee.com/index.php PS: As there have been concerns expressed on other Boards that restaurant recommendations come with free meals as part of the deal, let me add that Khun An did give us a 10% discount on the basis that we are old friends. It was totally unexpected and he has no idea that I am posting any review anywhere. Quote
Guest fountainhall Posted March 11, 2013 Posted March 11, 2013 Unfortunately the photos do nothing like justice to the dishes, so best just to look at the website. Here is the location from the restaurant's card. Quote
