Travel back in time to a bygone era when Bangkok was the Venice of the East, Palladian architecture was having its season in the sun, and court ladies were laying the foundations of modern Thai cuisine.
Simply hop a taxi to Praya Palazzo Lounge at Phra Athit Pier (parking practically impossible) and catch the stately shuttle across the wide reaches of the River of Kings (the only way) to Praya Palazzo boutique hotel + restaurant for lunch or dinner. Or check-in for a weekend if you can get your hands on one of the 17 heirloom yet internet-ready rooms and suites before the property closes for major renovations from next June that will make it good as when it was new around 100 years ago.
All you preservation society dweebs restrain your indignation: the dreamy inner-city escape has already been through a few reincarnations. The original owner (a favoured royal retainer) and his heirs handed it over in 1946 to a Muslim community school which vacated it for a vocational school. It was then completely abandoned for 10 years until 2006, when architect Wichai Pitakvorrarat made it his last labour of love to bring it back to life, succeeding in 2009, shortly before passing on.
Cue Montara Hospitality Group (Trisara Phuket), three years hence, to reincarnate it as catnip to a coterie of discerning travellers from Asia and elsewhere and spiritual home of the eminent cooks who prepared the way for Thai cuisine to become a global superstar.
Foremost among them is King Chulalongkorn's head chef, Princess Saisavali Bhiromya (d. 1929). Recipes of other exalted cooks, including Princess Yaovabha Bongsanid, Thanpuying Plian Pasakorawong, and Thanpuying Kleeb Mahidhorn, are also reprised by Praya Palazzo's talented chefs. Plaudits for recreating the recipes with uncompromising authenticity down to vanishingly hard-to-find half lemon, half lime Som Sieow,
We started with one old- and one current-era appetizer. The crunchy-creamy vegetable spring rolls (B150) are a modern innovation but the chicken wrapped in pandan leaf (170) is pre cooking-gas. Chunks of coconut milk-marinated chicken are steamed in the leaves, imparting a floral fragrance, then deep-fried to caramelise with a sugary sauce and added nuttiness.
Crispy betel salad with seared scallops and spicy sauce (240) and roasted river prawn dipping (350) with the distinctive tang and aroma of said Som Sieow, plus herbs and spices organically-grown in Praya Palazzo's garden, juxtaposed with crispy catfish, are impeccably authentic and delicious.
Praya Palazzo's spicy river prawn soup (Tom Yam Goong to you -- 420) conveys a sense of being the definitive dish, ambrosial almost beyond compare.
Traditional spicy beef or pork soup (350) "Keang Run Juan" with shrimp paste and chapu leaf was originally created to save precious shrimp paste condiment from the master's table going to waste by turning it into a flavourful curry. Now it's a retro revelation.
"Moo Pad Som Sieow" (350), Stir-fried pork with yellow chilli paste, true to its "ancient" origins, fries pork tenderloin with bai sieow leaf, making it sour, sweet and rich -- a treat with hot white rice.
Thai desserts such as sago balls and palm balls, with young coconut, both benefit from an exquisitely finely poised coconut milk broth (180).
Some steaks (1,150 -- 1,450) with sauces and sides and western desserts cater to those allergic to spice.
For a minimum 2 nights, a ‘Culinary Weekend Getaway' in a standard room or suite, including riverside or dining room 3-course set dinner, is priced B4,590 nett room/night including brekkie.
Praya Palazzo, tel. 081402811802 email: reservation@prayapalazzo.com.
