R-HAAN, Bangkok
This was my birthday diner for 2025. Compared with last year, I was travelling alone in Bangkok (“all by myself”; hello, you, do you like to sit opposite next year?). It was a hot and humid day in Bangkok. I decided to stay in a shopping mall for cool air.
The place is on a street full of high-end restaurants. Inside is a very imperial style, with much gold and red colours. When I arrived, there were already a few customers. The flowers on the table were very nice!
Table
Even the menu was printed in golden colour, which was fun to read. The set looks very complex. The waiter explained to me on canapés and starters on the left side, and main courses and dessert on the right side; this was a very large menu for sure.
Menu
The first starter, a salad, “Charcoal-Grilled Mackerel with Aromatic Herb Sauce”, was a very interesting course; I was not sure I like or dislike. The mackerel is cold, with a strong fishy taste, not as pleasant as I expected. The herb had, what I would refer, a high pitch flavour, similar to peppermint. The topping caviar, as usual, had slippery feeling and very salty and oceanic tone. Those things did not really blend together but, to me, they gave a strong sense of a unique and characteristic southeast Asian feeling, which is, seafood, fresh and herb spicy. No matter how I commented this plate, this dish certainly was very unique.
เมี่ยงปลาทูแม่กลองแห่งสองสายน้ำ - Charcoal-Grilled Mackerel with Aromatic Herb Sauce
The coconut and lobster surprised me. First of all, it is very uncommon to serve the lobster in soup at high-end restaurant, at least in my experience, I guess, because warm soup covers some flavours of the ingredients, while good quality prawns can provide similar taste. The chef had likely cooked the lobster separately as the lobster was still very tender. The coconut provided a sense of sweetness which worked well with lobster. In fact, I liked this dish, especially, if a customer dislike half-cooked lobster.
กุ้งมังกรเจ็ดสีเจ็ดรสเจ็ดกลิ่น - Thai Coconut Soup with Blue Spiny Lobster
It is very interesting the menu had a sorbet between starters and main. In fact, I liked it. First, the starters had some strong herb and spicy seasoning, while the sorbet clear up the palate. Second, it was a nice pause when I could spy on other customers, guessing their relationship with those at table are, who will pay the bill, whether they like the food, etc. Back to the sorbet, well, it had nothing special, yet the passion fruit naturally has layers of sweet and sour, which were super nice.
SORBET เสาวรสรอยัล - The Royal Passion Fruit Sorbet
The entire main came together, which, I believe, was Thailand tradition. It was undoubtedly a gigantic set. Since I had too many ducks before, so I requested the Wagyu short rib. Compared with the set I get from Ta Khai Phuket, here it is better orchestrated. (1) Each dish had a slightly smaller portion and (2) focused more on the key ingredients. (3) There is better signage between dishes too, two fulfilling meat dishes and one light fruity and light dish, also, a soup, a salad, and a main rich sauce rib. All the plates tasted fine, in a sense that, nothing surprised me but still had highlights. For example, the richer and sweeter curry worked well with the spicy and chili Tom Yum. The fruit and the dipping sauce added some freshness.
หลนปูไข่ทานคู่ใจเครื่องเคียง - Crab Meat Coconut Milk Dip Served with Deep-Fried Stuffed Salted Egg Yolk Chicken and Vegetables
ต้มยำกุ้งไทยภาคภูมิใจไปยูเนสโก้ - The Royal Thai Tom Yum Soup with King River Prawns of R-HAAN
แกงพริกขี้หนูสวนเนือซีโครงไทยวากิว - Spicy Thai Wagyu Short Rib with Bird's Eye Chili Curry
Well, I did not dislike this place. The service was excellent, with a very characteristic dining environment. There were highlights and fun parts, especially the restaurant, to me, gave me a sense of traditional posh Thailand dining. However, partially because of the special day of my birthday, and partially because of the busy travelling (maybe, as I flew from Phuket to Bangkok during the lunch time), I did not find myself love the place.
🐼 Score: 4/5
