To be honest, we didn’t want to like Mellow. When we heard of a popular place at Penny’s Balcony, serving pastas and salads and a few fusion items, we yawned. This tired old concept seemed an affront to the sense of adventure and growing sophistication our fellow Thai diners had accrued in recent months. And yet, we cannot help but eat humble pie at the reminder that a beautiful ambience and solid execution can still go a long way to pleasing even the most cynical diners. Mellow lives up to its name, with a warm, cozy, wood-heavy décor involving beams and brick walls, high (but not too high) ceilings and friendly staff. It’s the kind of place you might go to on a Saturday night with your friends, or with your beloved on a Sunday night to wind down after a long weekend of partying. The menu, while lacking fireworks, is thankfully brief and well-done. The buffalo wings appetizer (B150) is superbly executed, with a crackling batter that holds up firmly against the sauce and moist, seasoned chicken inside. The rocket salad with Italian sausage (B260) packs generous amounts of seared sausage and a mountain of fresh rocket, even if it falls victim to some slight overdressing. It’s very easy to forgive, especially when accompanied by the well-grilled, slightly charred vegetables with spicy almond dip (a kind of nam prik om with sliced almonds). The range of vegetables—zucchini, eggplant, leeks, asparagus and more—is impressive, as is the lovely presentation on a large, wooden chopping board. The sirloin steak is tender and affordable and comes with a delectable jaew sauce. But while this goes against all our instincts, we wish that the linguine in the well-flavored seafood black ink linguine would be the slightest bit less al dente, simply because combined with the generous mixture of prawns, calamari and mussels, we get a bit tired of chewing by the end. Cocktails are also delicious and complex, particularly the specials, and Sun-Thu from 5-7pm, you can enjoy a two-for-one deal. All in all, Mellow is a lovely surprise and we will certainly be visiting again.
