Blue Spice is the upscale, big sister of the ever-popular chain Seefah restaurant. They’ve got branches at Centre Point serviced apartments, which includes the one at Thonglor. This one has pleasant décor and looks really roomy thanks to huge windows. Modern orange ceiling lamps are all over the place, and the restaurant is bright, new and clean. Waiters are smartly dressed in formal waiter attire, and it almost feels like a hotel restaurant. But once you take a look at Blue Spice’s menu, you’ll come to realize that it’s just the normal fare that you’d find at any other Seefah branch. Though it’s a little different with some new farang dishes, you can still find all the old favorites. Next to the decor, what you’ll notice right away are the higher prices. For example, the yogurt ice cream we used to enjoy at Seefah is at Blue Spice. Figuring since we were in a modern setting we should think like modern Thais and eat farang, we went western and ordered baked spinach with mozzarella cheese, Blue Spice Chef’s Salad, grilled salmon steak and spaghetti carbonara. Conventional Thai restaurants that try their hand at incorporating western dishes into their menus usually get it wrong, and Blue Spice is no exception, at least on this day. Nearly all of the dishes were mediocre, lacking in flavor and hopeless failures in the presentation department. The carbonara was more like a carbo-no-no and the baked spinach in cheese had no cheese flavor. The salmon was passable, but only the beef, tender and juicy, was worthy of praise—too bad it was served on a bed of wilted greens. We realized our folly in ordering farang and returned to food from our roots: good old Thai food like plaa ka phong ob laoh daeng maw din (baked white snapper with Chinese whisky sauce in clay pot) and phat phet talay chan ron (sizzling spicy combination seafood). Unfortunately, both dishes looked much better than they tasted. Would the third time be the charm? We noticed other tables enjoying Seefah bamee raat naa adsawin (gravy yellow noodle with fish ball and pork) and khao na kai ratchawon (rice topped with gravy and chicken), and the memories flooded back. How could we have forgotten these trusty old friends? Finally, some food that we could relate to, and we left semi-satisfied. Still, though we can see the appeal of Blue Spice (trendy decor, fancy uniforms), we’ll stick to Seefah in the future.
