Som (Bangkok)

It is very rare that I have a bad experience and on top of that bad food in Bangkok. Well, we just experienced it. A new som-tum restaurant opened on soi Thonglor last year around September. We tried it and it was not bad. So, we decided to try it again.

To our surprise, the restaurant changed. It had the same name, but I think it must have changed management or owners. The prices increased. The decor was changed; not to our liking. The restaurant before had an easy going and comfortable atmosphere to it. A som-tum restaurant does not need to be fancy. Well apparently, the new owners of Som think it does. The new furniture was too massive for such a small space and the mix of styles was also a strange.


The first dish was Thai som-tum. This dish was ok. There was nothing wrong with the raw materials. But they added too much fish sauce, which made the dish too salty. There was no balance in flavours from the ingredients.


The next dish was minced pork with sweet basil (phad krapow moo). Actually, there was a slight confusion on this dish. On the menu, it was listed as curry pork fried rice. So, you can imagine our surprise when this dish arrived. There was nothing wrong with this dish. I think the reason for not enjoying it as much as we should have was that our expectations of something else.


The next dish was chicken coconut palm salad. Oh my; just Awful. This normally is a very nice dish. We even had a discussion what on earth could be wrong with this dish. My friend said that the chicken and coconut palm were not fresh. I thought they were ok, but I thought there was something very wrong with the sauce. I cannot even explain to you what it taste like. Just believe me something very bad.


Not only was the food mediocre, the owners were not acting properly as well. The owners were lounging on the sofa, like it was their living room instead of making sure their guest were happy. They were sitting on the sofa and constantly switching the channels on the television. On top of that, they were playing awful music, re-makes of famous songs like 'Over the rainbow'. Very scary indeed.

But, what really confirmed to us that the owners did not care anymore about the quality of food or the ambiance for their guest. We noticed a sign on the window; 'Restaurant for Sale or Rent'. That explained everything.

No need for direction or the address to this restaurant.