The buzz: A follow-up to Narathiwas’s well-loved Anna and Charlie’s Café, this Phiphat establishment is a beautiful, enormous former home. Long-time restaurateur and celebrity-chef, Charlie, who already has a string of Thai restaurants in California, won’t be in the kitchen this time around, taking up the front of house duties of general manager instead. Open less than a month it’s already attracting loyal followers of Charlie and fans of the now-defunct Anna’s.
The décor: The sprawling two-story house with front yard is actually two connected buildings fashioned in a bright neo-classical style, with huge windows on all sides and cute floral wallpaper. The all-white furniture adds to the feeling of being in Mary Poppins, without the bad cock-erney accents.
The food: The vast menu is largely comprised of Thai comfort food such as choochee with fried boneless fish and their fatty pork leg with hot basil and chillies. Their inter offerings include a few pastas and grilled dishes like rack of lamb and pork chops. They’re also very proud of their dessert menu, which features numerous decadent Western offerings, such as blueberry cheesecakes and toffee banoffee.
The drinks: The usual, with the highlights being their generous fruit smoothies, especially the strawberry and mixed berry varieties.
The crowd: Lots of large groups, particularly at lunchtime—ladies who lunch as well as teams of business executives and nearby diplomats having a relaxed meal.
Corkage B400.
Anna Restaurant & Gallery
