Before World War II, Neejiew Sae Phu set up a restaurant in Trok Toh, opposite Assumption College. During the war a fire broke out, forcing the Chinese-Thai to move his eatery to its present location on Silom Road, now known as Soi 15.
It is one of those quaint, slightly antiquated restaurants specialising in Thai and Western food, yet heavily influenced by Chinese style. This particular type of restaurants is known in the vernacular as "cook shop". Silom Restaurant is among the last of its kind, and for its regular customers, the sad news is that the place is closing down at the end of September.
Supattra Dispanurat, 75, is the daughter of the owner who has continued the tradition of serving fine ox tongue stew, beef steak salad, ox tail stew and chicken curry. "Silom Road back then was just a two-lane street with a tram going up and down," says Supattra. Back then, there were no hotels on the road, and people who wanted to eat Western food came here. We had waiters in white uniforms serving people. We also organised weddings and other functions."
On every table there's still a bottle of Worcestershire sauce, an indispensable seasoning that has become a symbol of cook shops.
But Silom has changed, and Silom Restaurant is no longer able to resist. Supattra now remains behind the same counter she has for decades, but come Sept 30, she will serve her last customers. And when they leave the place, she will move the chairs, close the door and turn off the lights _ for the last time. Another chapter on Silom will soon be lost forever in time.
