Places to Eat in Bangkok: Rave Restaurant

Categorized | Living in Bangkok, Places to Eat, Thai Food

Tags | pratanum bangkok restaurants, pratunam, pratunam bangkok, pratunam restaurants, rave, rave pratunam, rave restaurant, rave restaurant bangkok

Places to Eat in Bangkok: Rave Restaurant

Posted on 29 October 2009 by Mike Behnken

Location

I found myself in Bangkok’s Pratunam district specifically to get some material for this blog about a fish foot massage and visiting Baiyoke Sky Hotel, Thailand’s tallest building. Needless to say I hardly ever go in the area of Baiyoke because it’s very touristy and there is nothing really out there that I can’t find closer to where I live. Needless to say I worked up an appetite taking pictures and fighting past crowds of European, Russian and Japanese tourists in Baiyoke and needed to eat.

Right after I got the fish foot massage I was walking down Ratchaparop Road when I saw a brightly lit restaurant that looked very clean inside with set tables, wine glasses and cloth napkins. It was located right across from the Indra Hotel. It was around 9pm and there was a lone Indian couple eating. It authentic Thai and international cuisine on the door but what really drew me into the restaurant was the wall mounted plasma TV playing some UFC fights.

Service

The staff of young Thai ladies were really nice although they couldn’t speak a word of English ordering was pleasant and easy. After I ordered I noticed the Indian man who was wearing the traditional Sikh Dastar (turban) go behind the counter and show the ladies how to make the lychee and cranberry icees which I ordered. I assumed he was the owner although he made no attempt to talk to his lone patron which was understandable if he was entertaining his wife, but it looked like both ran the place and it would be nice if they attempted to be hospitable for the atmosphere they seemed to be trying to create.

Food & Drink

I ordered the T-Bone steak as well as an order of salmon fried rice and had the aforementioned lychee and cranberry blended ice drinks. The blended ice drinks (I call icees) were not like most I’ve had in Bangkok. They reminded me of alcholoic beverages without the alcohol. They were not slushy like icees which was good. The lychee blended ice drink was very good but I love lychee.

I’m sad to say that for 480 baht ($14.34USD) the T-Bone steak was a huge disappointment. I’ve had better steak in a can of Chef Boyardee as this was flat, dry and tasteless although the sauce was very tasty. It came with your average french fries and a minute proportion of steamed vegetables. I would say the T-bone was worth 200 baht and that is being generous.

The salmon rice which in effect served as my dessert was excellent although the portion size was small. Considering that I’ve never had fried rice I didn’t like anywhere in the entire world the price the salmon fried rice at Rave was 110% not worth it as you can get just as tasty if not better fried rice from any street stand in Bangkok for 35 baht ($1USD). The overall rating of 2 Buddhas is rounded up from the 1.80 rating I give Rave restaurant considering the price and quality of the menu items which is hardly something to rave about.

Very Good Salmon Fried Rice although Overpriced

Overall Impression

Although Rave was definitely a pleasant place to have dinner it didn’t strike me as a place that should be charging so much for run the mill food. My bill by myself (although I essentially ordered 2 meals and 2 non-alcoholic drinks) was a whopping 897 baht ($26.80USD) which is far more than I ever spend on food and equivalent to 25 better tasting meals on Thai food street stands or indoor/outdoor mom & pop style restaurants.

The location is very close to major tourist hotels so that may explain why there was no one there when I was there and the prices were so high for Bangkok. Right after I paid the 897 baht bill a lady from somewhere in the restaurant said, “hope to see you again” just as I was thinking about how I would never go to Rave again, if anything because the food was average and the prices were high as well as the location is inconvenient for me.