When I was young, before I went to England for school, I went to secondary school at Pratom Sathit on Sukhumvit soi 23. This soi was then known only by its proper name as soi Prasanmitre. There were no houses on one side of the road, which led to the school. There were only weeds and grass. It felt quite desolate in those days. I felt that I was in a country school, although the hustle and bustle of Sukhumvit road was only two blocks away. Ah, the good old days when Bangkok was not polluted and we knew everyone by name. Not like the impersonal, selfish, money conscious world that we live in today. A bowl of noodles was only 1.50 Bahts then. I miss those days and sometimes when driving down this same road to eat at a new restaurant that I discovered. I think back with nostalgia for the time when things were so much simpler and our nation was, to burrow an expression of a US president, a “kinder and gentler nation”.

           I happened upon this new restaurant on Soi 23 near Silom Village, Prompong, because I use to go out drinking and relaxing in that area. This restaurant came to be as a result of the new social order, which closed down many entertainment venues, which were not in the designated-zoned area. They did not know what to do, from serving drinks and kareoke they decided to serve food. It happens that the owners liked food and have been to all kinds of restaurant in town, tasting food and reproducing those dishes that they liked for their own enjoyment and occasionally their bar customers.

           They duplicated them so well that they decide to open a restaurant/bar called Dinner. Don’t ask me why they called their restaurant “Dinner”. It did not make any sense since the place opens foe lunch as well. They decorated their place the same fashionable style of the day, gray concrete, black and white. They put in a row of glass windows, which over looked the street. You could also look in and see people inside. They could not resist putting in a D.J. booth and a good sound system. I think they could not part with the identity of their past business so retained some of it in this restaurant. I am writing about this restaurant because despite some inconsistencies of the interior concept their food is very good and quite imaginative.

           The cuisine here, one would have to call it new Thai food. It is still the old Thai recipes but new combinations are created. Let’s start with a common soup, known all over the world, Tom Yum Kung. Instead of making it a soup, they have taken all the herbs and spices, dry and then roasted them, ground them up and stir fry in oil and make a seafood fried rice out of it. Consequently the rice is aromatic and smells like a Tum Yum and the flavor is sour and salty like you regular Tom Yum. This dish is wonderful and this restaurant has many dishes like this. They do a very delicious and not too spicy green curry fried rice served with salted egg.

           There are many other kinds of imaginative one plate dish or fired rice. Just ask your waiter for recommendations. Apart from one-plate dishes, there are many appetizers, which are designed to be eaten as snacks while you are wailing away on the kareoke machine. Mieng Hed, is a good example. This is basically a lettuce cup filled with sauteed mushrooms of all sorts, topped with poached shrimp and eaten with chili peppers, lime and peanuts. There is also a very unusual fresh fruit salad served with batter-fried shrimp and salad cream.

           This is a recipe borrowed from the Chinese. The acidity of the fresh fruit helps to breakdown the greasiness of the batter fried shrimp and the salad cream adds a touch of richness to your palate. You can order a Som Tum, our famous Isan papaya salad, but here they take a piece of marinated pork, fry it and sliced thin and dress it with a som tum dressing and served with rice noodles. This is a spicy and delicious combination. All their appetizers are quite spicy because they are designed to be eaten with the drinks you order. You can also order steaks and it is quite tender.

           One steak that they created a topping for which is quite interesting is they “dinner” steak. A steak cooked to your liking and then topped with Nam Prik Ong which is a Northern Thai dip made from ground pork, herbs, spices and tomato. This spicy dip when eaten with the steak is like eating steak with a very aromatic and spicy tomato sauce! I am sure Thai would love it but I am not sure if Westerner would find it as interesting as I did.

           There are many other interesting dishes here but I rush to write about this place so you can go try it before they decide to turn it back into a cocktail lounge which I would rather they decide to concentrate on being one or the other. It would be a shame if it should revert back to a lounge because their food is quite imaginative and good and the ambiance is quite pleasant.