My number one fine dining is SORN (two Michelin-starred restaurant and ranked number two on Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants 2022). It was the first fine dining restaurant I went to in Bangkok, and I’ve been to most of them now. The food is incredibly complex. It’s sort of elevated Thai food which remains true to what it is. It is refined and delicious but you still feel that it’s very authentic. You get a lot of complex small plates, and then you get one or two main servings plus lots of dishes for sharing, but everything comes progressively.

They tailor the spice level to each guest and ask how spicy you’d like your meal or if you want to tone it down. But I went full spicy. They have four head chefs who are in charge of pastes, curries, cold plates etc. it’s interesting how they operate.

I remember we were running very late, and we took Grab scooters to get there. We sat in the private room in front of the kitchen. And all the chefs welcome you and come out to ask you about your preferences. It’s also about the level of service and detail.

For casual food, it would be Sri Trat (which serves rustic Eastern Thai cuisine). I wanted to go to a casual traditional place for lunch and was recommended Sri Trat. It was mostly full of locals – which obviously says a lot when you go to restaurants that’s full of locals.

And there was a sweet old auntie who was looking after 10 tables. She was the most humble, sweet, nice person. I thought she looked so busy and overwhelmed. But she managed to juggle everything. I asked her to recommend the dishes, and they were incredible. I remember she served us crab red curry – that was the thing she told me I must eat and it was delicious.

I went to a food market in Chinatown. And I met up with friends – I’m good friends with Ton (from Le Du) and Pam (from Potong). We went for roast goose (Chinese Thai style) for lunch. And then Pam took us to the spice markets and look at the dried products.

I brought a lot of Thai chillies home. We talked to some of the local suppliers and I tried every sweet snack possible. We spent three to four hours there, and talked about food and shared knowledge and all sorts of things.

What did you think of the famous Jay Fai street food spot run by Supinya Junsuta. Was it worth the hype?

One of the things that is very inspiring to see is her passion for food and cooking, and delivering incredible products … when she stands and cooks for 12 hours a day, and actually cooks for every customer. If she doesn’t work then they’re not open.

She has two to three commis chefs to help prepare things, but she stands all day, and cooks every single dish herself. And the food is delicious. It is absolutely worth the hype. But it’s also incredible to see how busy it is. I’ve heard that people queue for five hours to get in. The crab omelette is amazing and I really enjoyed it.

It is something quite new. It’s very Nordic driven. It is more casual with a lot of interesting flavour profiles that a lot of people might never have tried. It’s got the Frantzen DNA –understated in the sense that it’s got less ingredients on the plate, but lots of complexity. It’s also got a fun vibe and lots of social interaction. It is a big part of Nordic culture and hospitality. You get that sort of feeling like a family vibe, and it’s a cool place to hang out.

The building is incredible and the grounds and the gardens are beautiful. I believe it’s an old embassy. It’s just next to Suhring. The house itself has an open plan kitchen with a beautiful big table. It feels like a Scandinavian house in the tropics. And there are three private rooms on the second floor. The beautiful private dining room has a big table and sofas on the side,  and there’s a private washroom too. So it’s like this self-contained PDR of sorts. So you can have a private party there the whole night. Villa Frantzen serves extremely good food, and it’s a place you can probably visit once a week.

Text: Amy Van/The Peak

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