Who would have thought by having Vietnamese food when you
are in Thailand where Thai food dominates almost the entire dining scenes
without any question on its authenticity in its own gastronomy. But, never say
never. Thien Duong Vietnamese restaurant in Dusit Thani, Bangkok is an open eye
for mylifestylnews to have a second
thought by savoring some true Vietnamese food without any hesitation……
Thien Duong means ‘paradise’ in Vietnamese, which is fitting given the restaurant’s elegant surroundings and fantastic menu featuring the authentic flavors of Vietnam. This signature restaurant was created at a time when no one was doing Vietnamese cuisine in Bangkok, so the powers that be at Dusit Thani had a desire to introduce this fine food to Bangkok and after our lunch, we can see why.
Since its opening in the 1970, it had become an icon of the hotel delivering the bona fide Vietnamese cuisine underpinned by Thai artistry and graciousness.The menu has all the classic dishes you wish to experience, it was rather challenging deciding what dishes to focus on for a lunch and we suggest you come with a fee more company to enjoy a much more variety offered from the menu.
We came up with a menu that we thought it would cover a fairly broad cross-section of Vietnamese ingredients, starting with the Thien Duong Khai VI, a combination platter of fresh spring rolls, beef in Good King Henry leaves, fried sugarcane skewers with minced shrimp and charcoal grilled pork balls. This classic combination platter is a great way to set the taste buds flowing and nothing dampened our expectations with a beautiful plated presentation is the best way to sample Vietnamese starters in such introduction. Fresh spring rolls is the all time favorite to everyone when comes to Vietnamese food without fail, the beef in leaves was juicy and flavorsome where the deep fried prawn with sugar cane is the best company with beers to wash down the heat and light grease. Simply delicious!
Something will be missing if pho is not ordered as it is a staple on every Vietnamese menu, so we opted to try Pho Bo and Pho Ga, the classic rice noodle soup with beef and chicken. Both were incredibly satisfying in taste and generous in portion and we gleefully slurped our way through this delicious noodle soup as the clear broth is the soul on pho and each variety was as good as the other, the meat was of a high quality and flavor and only needed to be light cooked by the hot broth while served.
Goi Tom served next, a spicy shrimp salad with lemongrass and delivered on all fronts with very fresh prawns and a spicy/tangy lemongrass sauce that was utterly delicious and refreshing.
Meat sausages is another most popular on demand dish when comes to enjoying Vietnamese food, Goi Lua Hap Nuong, steamed or fried Vietnamese pork sausage wrapped in flat rice flour noodle. Such a dish conveyed very delicate flavors with a little zing of spice in the chili which we loved.
The Tom Lan Me Chien, deep-fried river prawns with sesame seed served with garlic plum sauce gave us another chance to enjoy a different style of cooking prawns and river prawns is utterly rare to find in Hong Kong. Hence, this is a supreme opportunity to be able to savor such delectable dish. It was a beautiful presentation and the outer casing was superbly deep-fried and came with the crispy basket made with prawn cracker equally delicious and easily break off a piece and best enjoy by itself or with the dipping sauce.
Such a variety of spice and rich palate of flavors meant that we had to have something sweet to balance out the lunch; we were offered the Nuoc Vai Trong Qua Dua Tuoi, lychee sherbet in a young coconut shell and a Kem Chuoi Vanilla, a banana fritters served with vanilla ice cream. Yum, Yum, Yum!
Each dessert was rooted in classic tropical fruits that never fail to please when simply prepared like this to let the key ingredient shine. We dutifully scraped out the sweet coconut flesh inside to eat with the lychee sherbet and the French influenced fritter batter on the banana was so light and delicate in composition. Both were a great palate cleanser after a huge variety of food to leave you that ‘sweet’ feeling on departure.
There was so much other food we didn’t try from the massive menu but we had so much to enjoy with what we sampled and quite clearly the chefs have a handle on making Vietnamese flavors to please the connoisseurs. We could tell that all the ingredients were freshly prepared and of a quality that you expect when dining in such salubrious interior that has a certain Vietnamese vibe. Despite the low ceilings, it is a more restrained elegance compared to their Thai restaurant’s grandeur but very easy on the pocket when you see the menu prices with such consistently tasty food that dance on the tongue with simplicity and beautifully presented. Dining in Thien Duong is a refreshing change when you savor too much Thai food that is enjoyably livened up the palate again with new flavors. This restaurant is definitely worth a visit in its own right with a truly Vietnamese authenticity taste that comes with passion in his culinary and elegant elegant surrounding.
Tried & Tested:
Location: 4.5/5
Design & Decor: 4/5
Food & Beverage: 4/5
Service: 4/5
Value For Money: 4.5/5
Experience: 4.5/5
Highlights:
Pho
Nuoc Vai Trong Qua Dua Tuoi
946, Rama IV Road,
Bangkok Thailand
Tel: +66 2200 9000
Reviews are based on
actual day of visit and experience. mylifestylenews reserves the right of final decision
in case of any disputes. All images are photographed by mylifestylenews team without any photoshop enhancement
and are the property owned by mylifestylenews unless otherwise stated.
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