Flavors to remember at Krua Sa Rot Jat

COCONUTS CRITIC’S TABLE — The subject of this week’s review, my last for Coconuts Bangkok, was originally going to be the oh-so-hi-so Vogue Lounge, the much-hyped magazine-in-bar-form in Sathon’s MahaNakorn Cube. Vogue is frighteningly expensive, though undeniably “chic.” What else could it be? Out on the terrace, you sit literally in the shadow of the unfinished MahaNakorn tower, watching what will soon be Bangkok’s tallest skyscraper rising from the ground, cranes straining away. Surrounded by the kind of beautiful people who can afford to spend THB350++ on two-bite tapas dishes, I felt out of sorts. Two days later, trying to write the piece, the thought struck me: Did I really want to devote my last review to this shiny – yet ultimately soulless – new outpost of Big Fashion? I did not.

So at the next opportunity, I decided to head out of central Bangkok, and into a restaurant of a different kind. Krua Sa Rot Jat, in business for more than 20 years, sits a 100-or-so meters down Soi 44 of monstrous old Viphawadee-Rangsit Road. Idyllic suburbia it ain’t. But inside the grounds, you’ll find a different Bangkok here – an older, more genteel Bangkok that felt refreshing to someone weary of the fickle dining trends that hold sway in BTS-land.

The clientele are the kind of conservative old ladies and gents you’d never see in a place like Vogue Lounge. Where the walls of the latter are bedecked with arty shots of models, here, Ramas V and IX hold court. The space, which feels like the inside of a stately home, is full of antiques: crockery, fine cabinets, gilded elephant tusks. The waiting staff, mostly Burmese, wear chintz aprons. It’s willfully old-fashioned, right down to the antiquarian Thai crooners wailing in the background.

The menu is equally conservative – but when it comes to the grand old tradition of Thai cuisine, that’s no bad thing. It’s not exactly cheap, but in terms of that all-important deliciousness-to-baht ratio, it’s a reasonable value – clearly only the best produce finds its way into these dishes. And it’s a haven for the impatient: Dishes reach your table almost before the words have left your mouth. Hoy klaeng “disco” (THB150) is typically great: blanched cockles in a zesty green seafood sauce, almost foam-like in consistency. Green curry with fish balls (THB280) was refreshing and aromatic, with plenty of mini eggplant and squidgy fish balls made in the kitchen. Less satisfying was the sheatfish fried in garlic (THB450), which was a veritable minefield of bones, and probably a little scary to warrant ordering again.

The fried crabmeat with yellow curry (THB580) was less unctuous than the dish can be, but bursting with huge chunks of palpably fresh crabmeat, and bright celery, scallions, peppers and onion. The real highlight, though was river prawns in chu chi sauce. To be sure, at THB1,300, they’re expensive, but so large they might have been used as stunt doubles in a sci-fi movie. Krua Sa Rot Jat is exactly the kind of place that makes you wonder why you don’t break out of Central Bangkok for dinner more often. After six years here, I’ll be leaving Thailand permanently next week. This is exactly the kind of cooking I know I‘m going to miss like hell.

Coconuts Critics Table reviews are written based on unannounced visits by our writers and paid for by Coconuts Bangkok. No freebies here.

FIND IT:

Krua Sa Rot Jat

Viphawadee-Rangsit Road, Soi 44

Dan Waites is the author of Culture Shock! Bangkok, a guide to the culture, customs and expat life in the Thai capital. Follow him on Twitter: @danwaites



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