The Place: Soul Food Mahanakorn is truly a star among the many choice eateries we have in Bangkok. From their awesome concept of simple local dishes ‘served in a comfortable setting’ to the produce (organic) and meats (free-range) and the friendly, personable and efficient wait staff and delicious cocktails, it is no wonder it is packed on any given night. Their philosophy of Wholesome Ingredients, Honest Cooking and Serious Drinks pretty much sums up this little gem of a place. My friend, Yada and I, of course, didn’t plan ahead and tried to book a table at the last minute, but the tiny restaurant was booked up. We ended up at the bar which wasn’t such a bad experience as we had front seats to all the yummy cocktail mixing and even got to eavesdrop on conversations between the owner and his tourist patrons. And there were plenty of both tourists and local expats around that it almost felt like we were in some New York City bar and restaurant. If you do decide to give this place a go, be sure to book way in advance and make sure to either leave your car at home and take a cab or the BTS (Thonglor station) because the only parking is on the sidewalk…unless your one of those lucky people who always manages to find parking somehow. (Yours truly is definitely not in this group.)
The Grub: The restaurant serves traditional Thai dishes that can really be categorized as comfort food, from the well-known Gaeng Massamun Curry with chicken to nam prik (dip) served with quail eggs, vegetables and pork rinds – all with a twist making each dish its own unique version of the traditional ones you’ll find elsewhere. We ordered the yum makua yao, which is an eggplant salad with bacon bits, mint and coriander and served with soft boiled duck eggs. This dish was a bit spicy but with just the right amount of sweet and sour to balance it out and can be eaten as an appetizer or with rice. Next up we had Royal Project organic snap peas stir fried with pork which were also delicious and on the specials menu. The best dish of all had to be the Sticky Tamarind Ribs, succulent and tender morsels of braised and barbecued pork ribs served with a sweet and savory pineapple chutney. By the time we were done licking the ribs clean, we were too full to have dessert (I know, I know, what a waste of a trip!), but the tourist couple seated at the bar next to us ordered ice cream which looked like it was coconut ruam mitr. Soul Food’s menu says that they serve a daily dessert, so next time must remind myself not to pig out too much and leave some room for dessert!
The Drinks: Soul Food offers many signature cocktails all at pretty reasonably prices, the one I tried was called Soul Punch and is a refreshing and sweet concoction of amarettto, guava and passion fruit mixed in with the best-tasting local Thai rum, Sangsom. (My girls and I have been drinking this cheap rum since our teenage years and I don’t plan on stopping any time soon.)
The Price: For three dishes, plus rice and two cocktails the bill came out to about 1,300 baht for the two of us, which relative to the quality and taste of food, location, the atmosphere and service is a very good deal.
You should get paid for doing all these great reviews!