It only takes one step in front of Thanying restaurant to feel the puudee or aristocratic atmosphere. The staff here is so polite. Even one of the partners of the restaurant—actor Kriangkrai Unhanandana—greets customers at the front door. Thanying is now owned by M.R. Sorut Visuddhi—a son of H.S.H. Princess Sulabh–Valleng Visuddhi who was a former head chef in the Sukhothai Palace kitchen. The restaurant maintains Sukhothai palace’s recipes, and is one of the few places that serves genuine royal Thai cuisine. This bistro is flawless in all aspects—fare, service and ambience. We arrived to Thanying on Friday around 7pm, but it was already crowded, fortunately for us, we reserved a table in advance. We felt like we were dining on the set of the popular TV drama Pritsana. In an adorable white house, Thanying is neat with pleasant pastel wallpaper. In the corners, antique dishes and cups are displayed in wooden showcases. Old portraits are on every wall for all to see. A fine Buddha figure, gracefully carved cabinets and dazzling wooden partitions with Thai traditional paintings embellish the restaurant. Tables are immaculately clean with white and colored table cloths. Napkins are hidden in exquisite wooden pyramids. We began with common Thai dishes—grathong tong (eight pieces of minced shrimps with green peas and sweet corn with sliced potatoes in pastry shell) and puu phat phong karii (crab stirred fried in curry powder with eggs). The crab dish is a meat-only affair (no shells) and very tasty. Soup is served in a small bowl for each person like farang-style soup, but as our group was 100 percent Thai, we shared it family style. Kaeng liang (soup of herb and various greens) and tom khaa kai (spicy chicken coconut soup) were great choices. We also tried one vegetarian dish—yam ma-kheua yao jay (grilled eggplant with basil leaves and black pepper). The last dish wasn’t an authentic royal Thai dish, but we couldn’t refuse—kha kob thawt kra-thiam phrik Thai (fried frog legs with garlic). Every item was a delight, from the vegetarian dish to the soups. As the restaurant calls upon royal recipes, it dished up milder and slightly sweeter flavors compared to those of ordinary Thai restaurants, but everything was packed with flavor. It’s no surprise that the place was full of tourists and foreigners who probably weren’t used to traditional Thai spices; and we weren’t really disappointed with the milder taste. Actually, we were pleased to experience a restaurant serving royal traditional food, which is very rare to find these days. Corkage B400.
