2/F, Duangthip Bldg., 68/1 Silom Rd., 02-233-8969
Banana House’s goal is not to impress diners with delicate Thai recipes or an elaborate setting. Instead, what you can count on is fuss-free, home-style cooking that won’t break the bank. The dim dining area, with little light seeping past the narrow strip of windows that runs along one of the walls, can host some 30 diners. At lunchtime, Banana House turns into a canteen packed with office workers avoiding the outdoor heat. The sound levels can be earsplitting though, so better go at 1-2pm after the crowds head back to their cubicles. Dinnertime is more relaxed as it brings in more mature and leisurely diners. Banana House’s extensive Thai menu can be overwhelming as it features almost everything you can crave for and more. There is a good range of rice and noodle single dishes on offer, which is not cheap considering that the food you get is just a step above what you might find at any street side stall. The trick here is to bring some friends along and have a real Thai meal with a variety of dishes you can all share. Our favorite, yam thua poo (wing bean salad with shrimps and boiled egg), is reliably delicious, striking a balance between sour, sweet and coconut-y flavors. Accompanied by crisp roti, the green beef curry, though lurking beneath a half-inch of oil, is packed with flavor and tender slices of beef. The tom kha gai is mildly sweet with subtle galangal scents. Of course, there are occasional mishaps: kaeng som cha-om tord (sour soup with shrimps and cha-om omelet), for example, lacks the punch of zest and spiciness we expect with that dish, at times tasting almost more like kaeng lueng, the spicy Southern-style soup. Service ranges from attentive to a tad sluggish when the house starts getting really packed. Perhaps not the best Thai restaurant in Bangkok, but probably the most authentic and flavorful in the neighborhood. No corkage.
