In the context of restaurants, “homestyle” can mean one of two things. It can suggest simple, unpretentious dishes made with common ingredients in a no-frills atmosphere. Or it could be a nice way of saying a place isn’t run very professionally or the chef isn’t that skilled and you shouldn’t expect much. Duilio’s falls into the latter category. This is the second Duilio’s in Bangkok, the first being a casual neighborhood joint (Sukhumvit Soi 49) where the pizzas are adequate but not much else is. Just as the original survives thanks to its location (delivering pizzas to families in the vicinity), the new Duilio’s bread and butter are tourists, the kind who utter phrases like, “Our compliments to the chef,” after polishing off a meal of spinach au gratin, spaghetti Bolognese and garlic bread. You’re generally safe with such edible clichés, perhaps because this is what they sell the most of. The pizzas, frankly, look better than they taste thanks in part to a tourist-friendly overabundance of rubbery cheese; try instead the drippy eggplant parmesan with a side of pizza bread. Basic pastas are fair to good, but our papardelle with chunks of lamb contained a disconcerting amount of bone and gristle, which is perhaps why it was “specially priced". While we appreciated the “homestyle” hand-cut tuna in our carpaccio, we did not appreciate the low quality of the fish. And our beef straccetti (sliced beef with rocket) looked like a Chinese dish but without the flavor. We should have known: When we asked the chef to suggest a meat main course, he told us he doesn’t eat meat—but then recommended this one (or maybe he just doesn’t eat meat here). Impressively, there are nine wines by the glass, but they come ice cold (even the reds) in cheap glasses. The décor isn’t nearly as clichéd as the food (no Chianti bottles with candles); the former basement nightclub has been smartly transformed from cold to cozy, with a cheery yellow color scheme, comfortable seating, a lounge area with sofas in one corner, walk-up bar on the opposite side of the long room and televisions tuned to cable movies or sports. Perhaps the biggest selling point for some—and turn-off for others—is that Duilio’s is apparently still licensed as a nightspot: This (apparently) explains why smoking is allowed at the bar, in the lounge, and at your table, which is much appreciated by the nic-addicted Japanese businessmen and the Italian chef. Smoking included, a visit to Duilio’s is like stepping back in time, when Italian meant Pan Pan, tomato “rose” garnishes were the rage and chefs weren’t obliged to taste the food they cooked.
